Argentina emerge as genuine contenders but the arrogant French wither away into disgrace

It was time for Diego Maradona’s Argentina side to engage in their second battle of the tournament. Although the South Americans were firm favourites, the game against South Korea was not likely to be an elementary task for Lionel Messi and his team-mates after the likes of Park Ji-Sung impressed in the earlier stages of the tournament.
Argentina invariably threatened to score from the moment the referee puffed on his whistle to signal the start of a potential buffet of world-class goals. With Lionel Messi attempting to firmly put his stamp on this tournament in the manner of Pele in 1970 or his own coach, Diego Maradona in 1986, it was he who forced the opening goal with a spinning free-kick which pitifully parried off of a Korean defender into the back of the net. Typical, admirable persistence from the bullish Carlos Tevez obtained a free-kick for the Argentineans in a dangerous position, link-up play between Messi and Liverpool’s Maxi Rodriguez resulted in a cross meeting the unmarked head of Gonzalo Higuain as he responsively knocked the ball in the goal to double the lead.
As an annihilation was in the reckoning, the game was swung in the opposite direction as the Koreans managed to undeservedly score a goal of their own. However, Argentina went on to seal the game as Higuain completed a hat trick of simple finishes, one being a Messi rebound from the post as ‘the best player in the world’ is struggling to gain firm recognition of his own. Higuain still managed to look unconvincing at times and with Argentina certainly progressing into the latter stages, it’s likely a better side will be able to deal with his threat more easily, perhaps signalling the introduction of Diego Milito, a much better striker in my opinion.
It was now the turn of the other two contenders in what was rapidly becoming ‘Argentina’s group’. With Greece looking extremely lacklustre in their opening fixture and Nigeria some how managing to hinder the threat of the Argentineans, I certainly favoured the Africans to take the three points in this game. Kaulo Uche’s early free-kick from great distance seemed to dance between bodies of defenders and attackers before settling in the goal itself, a very poor and frustrating goal to concede for the Greeks. However, the European side were handed a lifeline when a petulant attack from a Nigerian midfielder on a Greek was spotted by the referee and resulted in a red card. Greece then netted the equaliser on the stroke of half time, notoriously, ‘a great time to score’. Incredibly, being the first ever goal for the previous European champions, Greece finally appeared enthusiastic enough to gain a win, and they did just that when they scored with twenty minutes remaining and managed to hold on to their lead.
In what first appeared a predictable group, group A was quickly becoming an exciting prospect. With a rather dour performance by the French against Uruguay, Raymond Domenech’s men needed to put in a much better performance against a team of focused Mexicans. Mexico always looked the more likely to win as they played with passion, commitment, and most importantly, conviction whilst France arrogantly strolled to defeat. Perhaps Domenech will be regretting the omission of the likes of Samir Nasri and Karim Benzema as his preference for older players, lacking hunger and focus looks to be a huge mistake. Hernandez, who will ply his trade at Manchester United next term opened the scoring and an inconsiderate, careless challenge from Eric Abidal, summing up the attitude of the French, resulted in a penalty expertly converted by veteran, Blanco.
As the whistle blew, Patrice Evra aggressively ripped his captain’s band from his upper arm and smashed it down on the earth whilst Domenech remained casually leaning against the side of his dugout with his arms coolly folded. Clearly the French squad is in disarray with immature rifts within the camp and selfish, ambitionless performances from the likes of William Gallas and Thierry Henry, due to the fact they’ve already won sufficient trophies in their career, is ruining the likes of Patrice Evra’s and Florent Malouda’s chances of ever lifting an international trophy. Whether the international veterans will turn on the style for one more time is unsure, perhaps they will in aid of the fond memories of their own career but it’s unlikely they’ll do it for patriotic reasons as they seem focused solely on themselves and Domenech hardly looks like he has the ability to motivate this side of prime a donnas. Whether Evra can play his part in building up a non-existent team spirit remains to be seen but the sincere arrogance of the withering ‘class of 1998’ is clear as they continue to swim in self-indulgence and patronisingly look on at the younger generation and sneer at their attempts of success. I certainly hope this is the last time the over thirties in that squad play for France and have lost a lot of respect for a number of formerly,great players.
France must be rid of the unpopular Domenech and appoint a young, hungry manager, perhaps Laurent Blanc, or they will continually fail to fulfil their potential and the likes of a potentially new golden generation including Frank Ribery, Karim Benzema and Yohann Gourcuff will go to waste. It’s unlikely Uruguay and Mexico will play out a ‘convenient draw’ which would see both qualify as this would diminish the integrity of the competition but with South Africa certain to be fired up for potentially their last appearance in their own world cup, it’s certainly possible that they will out battle and admirably defeat the disgrace of this year’s French team.