by John Greece

Created on: July 01, 2010   Last Updated: July 02, 2010

The following article refers to the match between Greece and Argentina which was held in Peter Mokaba Stadium of Polokwane Town in South Africa on June 22, 2010 for the third match day of the second group of the 18th World Cup. The game began at 20:30 (local time) and referee of the reckoning was Irmatov from Uzbekistan. Argentina was the winner of the match with a score of 2-0.

Argentina had cleared the matter of qualifying to the next round (phase of "16") from the previous match against Korea which crashed it with a score of 4-1. So, the Argentines were able to meet the Greeks in a different way and Diego Maradona could relax some of the players in view of the difficult and competitive continuity. This does not mean that  the Argentine players (even the substitutes) will not fight for victory just because it ensured the qualification from the second match day.

On the other hand, Greece was in a difficult position and to succeed in the next round should be accompanied by a group of events. Initially, Greeks had to beat Argentina and Korea to lose or get a draw with Nigeria. If the match against Argentina ended a draw, then Korea should lost or come to a tied with many goals. These are the main ways that Greece could compete in phase with the 16 best teams in the world. As you can see, the qualification to the next round was not only a subject of the Greeks players.

In Argentinians prevailing confidence for winning, while Greeks had the optimism that something good can happen. Until the 77th minute of the match things were rolling conducive to the Greeks. But Demichelis's goal changed the flow of the game while at the same time the other match was tied 2-2 and created hopes for excess. Despite the efforts of the players of Otto Rehhagel, Argentina scored a second goal with Palermo just a few minutes before the end of the match and the matter of qualification to the next round for Greeks got postponed for the next World Cup.

In the remarkables of the match was the great opportunity that Samaras lost in the 59th minute of the game when accepting a distant shot. He managed to control the ball between two Argentinians defenders. Finally, after some pretenses, his shot left a few centimeters farther from the left vertical bar of Romero, leaving many people wondering what they would be if it was entering the goal. At this phase Argentina being threatened intense, but escaped the goal mainly because of the experience of its players.

The efforts that the Greek footballers put on a such a difficult match and the overall appearance and performance throughout the game satisfied the Greek fans who saw a team that was not afraid to fight on the pitch with a team like Argentina. The most important of all was that the Greeks played for victory.

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