2010 HWCI World Cup Pool - Pando! or Gordo?

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PANDO! or GORDO?
2010 FIFA World Cup

TICKER: Former ARG legend GABRIEL BATISTUTA had his room ransacked last nite! . .

Match 18: ARGENTINA v SOUTH KOREA

Date: THU 17Jun10

Venue: Johannesburg SOCCER CITY

PANDO! or GORDO? GORDO?

+ SOUTH KOREA came out with the right idea > Sit back, soak up pressure and counter when you had the chance .. .. ARHENTINA struck first, off a MESSI FK, the ball dropped down into M/Box and off of PARK CHU-YOUNG, who never moved, and the ball seemingly went by a very slow JUNG .. .. And, on ARGENTINA’s second goal, JUNG was happier just watching when GONZALO HIGUAIN headed down in the box and again a very slow-reacting JUNG again just calmly watched the ball roll into the net .. .. ??? .. ..

But, Bolton Wanderer’s LEE CHUNG-YONG saved JUNG’s kimchee when he stole the ball from ARG defender MARTIN DEMECHELIS just in front of the ARG ‘keeper and chipped it home almost at the halftime whistle .. ..

ARG stretched their lead 3-1, against the run of play actually, when MESSI did all the work, put two shots off the post + keeper and the ball fell to HIGUAIN in front of the open net .. .. With KOR stretched at the back, HIGUAIN polished off his facile hat-trick when he had an easy header against an outnumbered KOR defence .. ..

ARG MoM: LIONEL MESSI

Beginning to turn it on now and had a hand in every ARG goal today .. .. HIGUAIN had a hat-trick but GORDO would have to with the service from MESSI .. ..

KOR MoM: LEE CHUNG-YONG

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Match 19: GREECE v NIGERIA

Date: THU 17Jun10

Venue: Bloemfontein FREE STATE STADIUM

PANDO! or GORDO? GORDO?

+ WHAT DRIBBLE > Two bad sides showing how bad they are .. ..

GREECE absolutely reeked until they got a man advantage – How can a country that spends so freely at home, and send all of Europe into a fiscal abyss, be so cheap in scoring goals? NIGERIA never looked dangerous until scoring a soft FK Goal and then ended the half a man down .. .. what dribble .. ..

Actually the NGA goal that started the scoring was pretty cheeky .. .. KALU UCHE took a deep FK to the far post and a NGA striker dummied a flashing header to throw the Greek GK off and the ball gently came to rest in the back of the net with the Greek GK going the opposite direction .. .. And then came a moment of madness on the sideline with the ball out of play, SANI KAITA kicked out at a GRE player and was justifiably ejected – Idiot .. ..

Then, GRE finally woke up, pumping crosses into the box and got the equalizer when DIMITRIS SALPGIDIS crushed a ball from the T/Box and after a slight deflection, flew into the U/Left to draw the match at halftime .. ..

The last half took on the look of comic bombardment as GRE crushed shot after shot at the NGA goalkeeper and GRE finally turned in a rebound when VASILEIOS TOROSIDIS easily tapped in a fumbled rebound to secure maximum points .. ..

The second half became entertaining only because both sides needed to attack but make no mistake > Both sides are poor and will make easy fodder for everyone!

GRE MoM: DIMITRI SALPIGIDIS

Strong and skillful, he gets the honor for scoring GRE’s first-ever World Cup Goal in the first half .. .. Already a hero back home, the Panathinaikos-GRE fan fave scored the winning goal v. Ukraine to send GRE to South Africa .. ..

NGA MoM: none

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Match 20: FRANCE v MEXICO

Date: THU 17Jun10

Venue: Polokwane PETER MOKABA STADIUM

PANDO! or GORDO? PANDO!

+ PHUKH THE PHRENCH! FRANCE has never lost to a CONCACAF opponent in the World Cup .. .. Well, they have now!

Both sides played pretty positively, with MEXICO coming closer to scoring .. .. FRANCE did not threaten the box in the first half and most of their chances came from their 10 set-pieces but nothing actually came close to scoring .. ..

FRANCK RIBERY, a lifetime Catholic who recently converted to Islam, provided most of the play for FRA taking five of their set-pieces and threatening when he moved out to the left .. ..

Whereas MEXICO had 3 shots in the box and looked much more likely to post a crooked number on the scoreboard .. .. Dutch-based defender CARLOS SALCIDO actually was the most dangerous El Tri player when he came forward and had the two most-dangerous chances for Mexico in the first 45 .. ..

After the break, RAFAEL MARQUEZ unlocked the FRA defence with a perfectly-timed, trap-shattering pass from the L/Flank > middle to a free JAVIER HERNANDEZ who rounded the shocked GK and rolled it home .. .. CUAUHTEMOC BLANCO popped in a PK to seal FRA’s fate .. ..

There was just zero quality for FRA up front, ANELKA was ineffective in the first two matches and THIERY HENRY can’t even get in the game .. .. MEX showed why they are so hard to beat by European sides > They soak up pressure and then counter with speed .. .. AU REVOIR FRANCE – VIVA MEXICO!

FRA MoM: FRANCK RIBERY

MEX MoM: RAFAEL MARQUEZ

The El Tri Captain lost his way a bit at Barcelona this past season and had been battling a R/Leg muscle strain, but he led the way with his energy & drive .. ..

WORLD CUP WINNERS BY CONTINENT

Where they play their club futbol .. ..

EUROPE > 153

Belgium, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia (Moscow), Scotland, Spain, Switzerland

ASIA > 26

Israel, Japan, Korea, Russia (Tom Tomsk), Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey,

United Arab Emirates

AMERICAS > 15

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Uruguay

AFRICA > 1

Ghana

OCEANA > 0

Every player who appears for a winning side is counted .. ..

PANDO! or GORDO? SIDE OF THE TOURNAMENT Gordo

GK: Diego BENAGLIO (SUI)

D: Steve CHERUNDOLO (USA) - Diego GODIN (URU)

MAICON (BRA) – Rafael MARQUEZ (MEX)

M: Lionel MESSI (ARG) – Thomas MULLER (GER)

PARK Ji-Sung (KOR) - Siphiwe TSHABALALA (RSA)

F: Diego FORLAN (URU) - Lukas PODOLSKI (GER) – Alexis SANCHEZ (CHI)

Bench: GK Tim HOWARD (USA), F ROBINHO (BRA)