Press that there auto-refresh button for the latest updates. And why not email paul.doyle@guardian.co.uk with your thoughts or catch up with Sean Ingle’s live blog Chris de Burgh update “Chris de Burgh was not born in Buenos Aires, and I should know because I’m watching it here and there’ s no sign of him, unless he’s lipped down the crack between the cooker and the work surface again,” protests Daniel He was in fact born in Venado Tuerto in Santa Fe, Argentina. Venado Tuerto is Spanish for ‘One-Eyed Stag’. Coincidence?” Half-time: Back very soon. GOAL! Argentina 2-1 South Korea (Chung-Young 45) Powerful evidence for all those who insist Argentina’s defence will be their undoing in this tournament. Demichelis dawdled dumbly at the back, allowing the striker to nick the ball off him and lift it over the keeper and into the net. That sets the second half up nicely. 43 min: Glorious from Messi! That was one of his PlayStation dribbles, zigzagging through the middle of the Korean defence before attempting a cute lob from the edge of the area. Sadly, it fell inches wide. “Can we have a big shout-out to the officials at this World Cup (even Howard Webb)?” pleads Fraser Thomas. “I think it’s been outstanding overall (that Seychelles guy excepted). The linesman for the second Argentina goal got it spot on. I was convinced it was offside.” I too have noticed that the refs have ben good. But hold on, isn’t it said that the refs are only good when you don’t notice them? Now I’m confused. 41 min: Messi wins the ball deep in his own half and skitters all the way down the left wing before feeding Tevez. The perfect counter-attack is foiled, however, when Tevez tries to take on a defender too many, rather than pass right to the unmarked Higuain. “German TV have just trotted out a stat that the Korean players are on average ten centimetres shorter than their opponents,” blabs Iain Copestake. “However, they have failed to mention the drag coefficients cause by Argentina having far more hair.” 39 min: Sung-ryong fumbles a Maxi cross but then redeems himself with a terrific one-handed save from Di Maria’s shot. 37 min: The only way South Korea are going to get back into this is if they spike the Argentinian drinks at half-time. The South Americans are lording it over them. 35 min: Chu-Young attempts to bring his team back into the game by smashing a freeekick into the top corner from 30 yards. Instead he found only the wall. GOAL! Argentina 2-0 South Korea (Higuain 32′) Tevez deserves high praise here. He pursued two Koreans into the corner and then robbed the. They responded by kicking him to the ground and conceding a freekick. Messi took it short to Maxi, who chipped it towards the penalty area. Burdisso flicked on and Higuain, at the back post, nodded past a rather maladroit-looking keeper. 31 min: Argentina remain in full control, pinging the ball around with speed and purpose. The Koreans simply can’t get near them. 29 min: Another Argentina move is brought to an end by Mascherano, who clatters characteristically into Jung-woo. 27 min: Here’s trouble: Cho bundles over Messi to concede a freekick about five yards outside the box, quite central. Messi rolls it to Tevez, who thunders it just over the bar. 26 min: A lull. “Re: Ian Burch’s suggestion. As an Englishman, I’d welcome the opportunity to listen to any other anthem rather than a dirge about two unjustifiable entities,” tubthumps Neill Brown. “Why don’t England just play Mamma Mia? A Swedish version of a past-it view of Italian customs. It may be a nice contrast to Capello’s past-it version of Sven’s tactics.” 24 min: Tevez shrugs off the attentions of Jung-soo and drives his way into the box … before being forced back out again by Beom-seok. 23 min: Argentina change: Samuel off, Burdisso on. “I can just imagine a tango version of the Lady in Red, available in all good bargain bins from Monday,” croons Justin Spencer. 21 min: Samuel has hobbled off the pitch to receive treatment, seemingly to his ham-string. With whom will Diego replace the centreback if necessary? Milito? 20 min: Messi dabs in another freekick. It grazes the top of Demichelis’s mane and droops into the keeper’s arms. 18 min: Ki-hun lets fly from 25 yards and it hurtles just over the bar. GOAL! Argentina 1-0 South Korea (Chu-young og 16) Messi fizzed in a freekick from the left and, inexcusably, Chu-young, supposedly helping back in defence, was taken by surprise and let it rebound off him and into the net from six yards. 13 min: Korea have ventured into Argentinian territory for practically the first time, and have decided to spend a little time there. So far all it’s yielded is a succession of throw-ins, and welcome respite for their defence. 11 min: Di Maria has burned brightly in these early stages, and, after a deft piece of trickery down the left, floated over a delicious cross that Higuain narrowly failed to meet. 9 min: Khun booked for a ludicrously blatant barge on Messi. “When Fifa draw the names out of the hat for the groups why can’t they draw the national anthems of each country out of a hat as well> ” drools Ian Burch. “In theory we could get Germany singing God Save the Queen, which in reality is what they should be singing anyway.” Excellent idea. 7 min: Maxi dinks the ball wide to Higuain, who has two players in the box to aim at, but prefers to pick out a photographer behind the goal. 6 min: Argentina are monopolising the ball so far, but mostly in front of the clustered Koreans. “Is there any method at all in playing Guitierrez at right-back?” wonders Alex Hendriksen. “It just seems like pure madness to me.” I guess it could be construed as a declaration of audacious intent. Or pure contrariness. 4 min: Tevez slips the ball through to Di Maria, who darts twixt two defenders but then shoots into the sidenetting from a tight angle. “That’s an awesome photograph of Diego!” jubilates Ivich. “He is always so animated; a delight for photographers. In fact on FIFA’s website, click on Team Argentina and you’ll find more pictures of Maradona than of the players during the training session. I love how he is taking the spotlight away from his star-studded team.” 3 min: Korea’s early ambition is clear: not to concede. All of their players are behind the ball. 2 min: Park tracks back to deflected the ball behind for a corner. Messi takes. Messi botches. 1 min: Argentina kick off. Angel di Maria, who was drab against Nigeria, seeks to atone for that straight away by going on a tango through the Korean defence. He beat two before being dispossessed. National anthems: The Argentinian one sounds like it was written by Chris De Burgh in one of his more mawkish moods. Maybe it was? Chris was, after all, born in Buenos Aires. That’s some quality trivia, right there. The Korean is quite soporofic, but in a pleasant way, the sort of tune you might listen to while dozing in your favourite armchair on a Sunday afternoon, with your trusty copy of the Observer over your knees to keep you warm, and enlightened. That’s some quality plugging, right there. 12:22pm: The teams are in the tunnell, and the cards are on the table: Gareth Southgate on ITV has predicted a Korea win. I, on the other hand, forsee a 2-2 draw. But what about top footballing brain, Jonathan Wilson, what’s on his mind? “I went to Ghana training yesterday,” warbles Jonthan from South Africa. “The highlight was Richard Kingson complaining his Italian wedding shoes (he marries on July 17) have been sent to a neighbour’s place, then discovering one of the journalists there has a brother who lives next door to him.” 12:20pm: “Do you have any indication of why Diego Milito isn’t starting for Argentina?” blubs Adam Subkow. “I ask not just because of the fantastic season he had at Inter, but also because he’s in my fantasy football team, and I need points!” It’s because El Diego prefers Higuain … but not for much longer, I’ll wager, if Higuain misses as many sitters today as he did against Nigeria. Preamble: This could be a cracker. At last. It will certainly be a proper test for Argentina. South Korea are well-drilled, fit, clever and quick. Their movement made loobies of Greece in the last match and of many others, including the Ivory Coast, in pre-tournament friendlies. So they have the wherewithal to expose Argentina’s defensive fragility – Park Ji Sung v Jonas Gutierrez, anyone? – and also to get stuck into a midfield that, I suspect, is also brittle. The best way for Argentina to subdue them will, of course, be to outgun them. They sure have the artillery. So let the fusillade commence. Please. Teams: Argentina: 22-Sergio Romero; 2-Martin Demichelis, 13-Walter Samuel, 6-Gabriel Heinze, 17-Jonas Gutierrez; 14-Javier Mascherano, 20-Maxi Rodriguez, 7-Angel Di Maria; 10-Lionel Messi, 11-Carlos Tevez, 9-Gonzalo Higuain. South Korea: 18-Jung Sung-ryong; 2-Oh Beom-seok, 12-Lee Young-pyo, 4-Cho Yong-hyung, 14-Lee Jung-soo, 8-Kim Jung-woo, 16-Ki Sung-yong, 7-Park Ji-sung, 17-Lee Chung-yong, 10-Park Chu-young, 19-Yeom Ki-hun. Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium) World Cup 2010 Argentina South Korea Paul Doyle guardian.co.uk
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World Cup 2010: Argentina v South Korea – live! | Paul Doyle
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