Greeks try to tidy Messi up, Yakubu lowers his price tag

Argentina are wonderful to watch, they slowly came to life in their first game against the Nigerians, ran rampant over the South Koreans and were almost bored to death by the 10 man defense of Greece. Gutierrez being suspended tonight was a small blessing in disguise for Maradona as he was able to try out a more traditional right-back without dropping one of his favoured players. If Burdisso was hoping to impress and make this position his own as the competition progresses the he had a shocking audition. The relative ease with which Samaras turned him or had him beaten is a worry, Samaras, who had a terrible time at Manchester City before they got rich and Stuart Pearce got an England job and who has scored a heady 13 goals in all competitions at Celtic this season in the truly competitive SPL. Samaras fashioned a few chances, mainly of his own making, maybe if he had teammates that ventured past the halfway line he'd have a little more luck.

Messi was man marked all game, it was a torrid afternoon for him and just the width of the post denied him a goal in the final 10 minutes of the game. the great thing to admire about the little magician is his temperament, he doesn't get angry, he doesnt throw temper tantrums, he just gets on with his football, believes in his abilities and plays in his teammates as quick as possible. Glad that they scored and glad that they progressed, incredible that Maradona can rest Tevez and Higuain bringing in Milito and Aguero - who looked incredibly sharp - as back-up.

Also glad to see Greece go home, whilst Switzerland's defeat of Sain was grudgingly admirable, Greece know no other wy of playing football, and whilst it's a way to grind out result when you're chasing a game and there is no other way it's a sad indictment of your players. Even when they were chasing the game to stay in the competition they kept 9 men behind the ball. Compare that too Uruguay, they play some very defensive football but it's beautifully balanced with incisive attacking football. Their coach Oscar Tabarez has a quote from Che Guevara about 'toughening up but never losing your tenderness' and that pretty much sums up their football.

The groups other game saw Korea go through to the last 16 with a 2-2 draw with Nigeria. It's taken Nigeria this long to wake up and it turned out to be to little to late, and wasteful indeed. Yakubu whilst guiding home an assured penalty missed a chance that can only be described as golden. 4 yards out, open net, and he puts it out for a goal kick. That would have been the equaliser ad they then won the penalty 5 minutes later. Football is a game of ifs and buts and Nigeria will be going home feeling 'if only'.