Friday 2

Match 21: The first match on the second Friday of the Cup took saw Argentina take on Serbia & Montenegro in the group that most are labeling the group of death along side Holland and Ivory Coast. Argentina was the favorite in this match after beating the Ivory Coast 2-1; Serbia lost their first match to the Dutch side 1-0. From the opening minutes of the fixture, everyone watching the match knew that the outcome would not be who will win, but rather how big Argentina will win. In the sixth minute the South Americans opened up the scoring with a brilliant drive up field marked by fine play between Maxi Rodriguez, Javier Saviola, and Juan Pablo Sorin ended with Rodriguez tapping in a Saviola pass into the back of the net. Around the 20th minute Serbia & Montenegro were able to streak together a bit of possession, but it was short lived. During the 31st minute Argentina gracefully touched, flipped, and heeled the ball of field with such grace that it looked as thought Serbian defenders were mere wooden pegs in the pitch, and the wonderful interplay ended with a back heel from Hernan Crespo to Esteban Cambiasso who torched the helpless Jervic for the prettiest goal to date in the tournament. Ten minutes later Saviola was able to strip right back Mladen Krstajic and cut back to drive a low shot on net stopped by Jervic, the rebound however was volleyed back by Maxi Rodriguez for his second goal of the game. The match remained 3-0 into halftime, and though the Argentines held possession for most of the second half they did not find net again until the 78th minute. 18 year old striker Lionel Messi (Argentina's next Maradonna) subbed into the game to get some experience and three minutes later he found himself in the 18 then sent a low cross between the legs of a defender and right to the foot of a sliding Hernan Crespo to make the game 4-0. Then in the 84th minute substitute striker Carlos Tevez took the ball up pitch, attacked two Serbian defenders, and struck a brilliant ball low past a disheartened Jervic to go up 5-0. Finally in the 88th minute the Argentinian side saw Tevez feed Messi who attacked the net, and placed a wonderful near post shot into the back of the net, leaving the Serbians for dead 6-0. Finally just twenty seconds past the 90th minute the referee mercifully blew the whistle to end the match to a jubilant Argentinian side who clinched a birth to the round of 16, and a dejected Serbian side who's World Cup fate was sealed in horrific fashion. With a slew of strikers on their side, the rest of the field had better figure out how to mark these high powered South Americans who are firing on all cylinders, it will no doubt be interesting to see how the top rated Dutch defense will fair against them in the final group match..........

Match 22: Holland vs. Ivory Coast was the sandwich match of the day, and it proved to be a top-notch battle between two strong clubs. Holland had disposed of Serbia and Montenegro 1-0, and Ivory Coast lost a tough match against Argentina 2-1. In a back in forth match both sides were very evenly matched, Holland had 51% of possession to Ivory Coast's 49%. Meanwhile Ivory Coast put 9 shots on frame, while Holland had 8 of their own on net. In the 23rd minute Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie was fouled by his Arsenal teammate defender Kolo Toure and won a free kick for the infraction. Van Persie struck a beautiful ball over the Ivorian wall and past the outstretched fingers of keeper Jean-Jaques Tezie to give the brilliant orange an early 1-0 lead. Just 4 minutes later game 1 hero Arjen Robben drew three defenders as he cut across the 18 and then slid a beautiful pass to Manchester United's Ruud Van Nistelrooij who blasted a near post shot over Tezie to give the Oranje a 2-0 advantage. The Africans came back strong though, almost equalizing when Didier Zokora crushed a ball that struck the crossbar from 25 yards out. In the 38th minute Bakary Kone was able to gain possession beat two Dutch defenders and let go a rocket into the back of the net past keeper Edwin Van Der Sar cutting the Dutch lead in half 2-1. To start off the second half, the Ivorians were dead set on equalizing dominating play for the first 25 minutes. Chelsea striker Didier Drogba picked up his second yellow card of the 1st round, but he created many dangerous opportunities that the Dutch were fortunate enough that they never found the back of the net. With Dutch boss Marco Van Basten subbing defensive players in for strikers, the Orange army were able to endure an onslaught of attempts from the Africans en route to a hard fought 2-1 victory. Holland secured a spot in the round of 16; meanwhile the Ivory Coast tournament hopes were crushed after losing two hard fought matches to two of the best teams in the world. Had the Ivory Coast been in a different group they would have had made a strong run to advance, nonetheless they are by far the best team to be eliminated so far in the '06 cup........

Match 23: The final fixture of the day saw Mexico take on a strong Angolan side that barely lost to a strong Portuguese side in their opening match. Mexico was able to come back and barely beat Iran in the closing minutes of their first match. Like the game before it, Mexico and Angola was a hard fought and fairly even match. Mexico was favored to beat the Africans, and they did out-posess and out shoot them placing 8 shots on frame to Angola's mere 1 shot that was saved by keeper Oswaldo Sanchez. In the first 15 minutes Angola almost conceded an early goal as they had against Portugal, but despite a series of free kicks in their own third, they were able to survive the opening minutes unharmed. The last twenty minutes of the first half Angola was able to calm their nerves and gain possession of the pitch after the escaped early pressure from Mexico, and the match went into halftime 0-0. The second half began with a slow, lazy tempo that saw Mexico play with no desire to create strong offensive attacks. The two sides seemed happy to preserve a draw. Mexico had a few late opportunities, but could not capitalize. It was clear that they missed their star striker Jared Borgetti who is out for the group stage after injuring muscles in his left leg early in the 2nd half of their first match against Iran. Mexico needs to put on a strong display in their third match against Portugal, and hope that Angola does not beat Iran too badly if they wish too move on to the next round.