Argentina 1-0 Nigeria

Hey!

So just now Argentina won 1-0 against Nigeria, and heres the report:
Argentina got their 2010 World Cup campaign off to a winning start and silenced some of their doubters with a dominant performance against Nigeria in Johannesburg.
While not quite the sum of their supremely talented parts, Diego Maradona’s side were able to capitalise on the space fatally afforded them by their opponents to register a well-deserved victory, secured through a headed goal from Gabriel Heinze.
Nigeria had their chances, primarily down the left where makeshift Argentine right-back Jonas Gutierrez was often exposed, but forward Chinedu Ogbuke Obasi was wasteful.
A vociferous Ellis Park crowd showed their appreciation for the entertainment on show, particularly that provided by Argentine forward Lionel Messi, who was the standout performer, creating opportunities for others and on a number of occasions drawing superb saves from impressive Super Eagles keeper Vincent Enyeama.
South Korea’s comfortable 2-0 win over Greece in Group B’s other fixture on Saturday means the winner of next Thursday’s match between them and Argentina will be in pole position to qualify for the last 16.
Such an outcome would represent an extremely satisfying stride forward for an Argentina side who have polarised opinion in the build up to this tournament between those who identify them as challengers because of the sheer abundance of talent in their ranks and those who hark back to a turbulent qualifying campaign and the perceived flaws in coach Maradona as reasons to write them off.
While Maradona remained a lively source of fascination on the touchlines, his heir apparent, and the man predicted by many to stamp his authority on this World Cup as his iconic coach did in Mexico in 1986, Barcelona’s Fifa World Player of the Year Messi, was a magnetic focal point on the pitch.
Operating in a front three alongside Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain and Carlos Tevez of Manchester City – a trio that has scored 105 club goals between them this season – Messi produced a performance befitting of his billing.
Twice in the first 20 minutes Messi ran at the Nigeria defence and provided scoring opportunities for Higuain, but the first the Real Madrid striker put past the near post from three yards out and then saw his angled drive from further out blocked by Enyeama.
Sandwiched between these two chances Argentina took the lead. Tevez’s superb curling shot wad tipped over by Enyeama for a corner, from which Juan Sebastian Veron provided the cross for Heinze to dive in unmarked and head home.
The South Americans remained the more likely to score, but they were either wasteful or unable to beat Enyeama, who kept his side as a credible threat in the match with further impressive saves from Higuain and Messi.
Nigeria’s preparations for this tournament have been far from ideal, with Swede Lars Lagerback effectively given only three weeks to prepare his squad for the tournament after replacing Shaibu Amodu as coach and star midfielder John Mikel Obi ruled out with a knee injury but they remained committed to the cause throughout.
Had Obasi been better able to capitalise on the poor positional play of Gutierrez with greater accuracy in his shooting in the first half, Taye Taiwo’s toe-poke shot been a foot to the left, or had substitute Kala Uche shown greater composure when unmarked to keep his shot under the bar late on the Africans could have salvaged what would have been an undeserved draw.
There was still time in the final few minutes for Messi to slightly blot his copybook by allowing Enyeama to save from six yards when he should have scored but it is harsh to take away from what was a superb display from the forward and an encouraging victory for Maradona’s men.

Argentina 1-0 Nigeria FT
(HT 1-0)
Heinze, 6

Argentina
22 Romero
02 Demichelis
06 Heinze
13 Samuel
07 Di Maria (Burdisso, 85)
08 Veron (Maxi, 74)
14 Mascherano Captain
17 Gutierrez Yellow card
09 Higuain (Milito, 79)
10 Messi
11 Tevez
Nigeria
01 Enyeama
02 Yobo Captain
03 Taiwo (Uche, 74)
06 Shittu
17 Odiah
14 Kaita
15 Haruna Yellow card
20 Etuhu
08 Yakubu
18 Obinna (Martins, 52)
19 Obasi Ogbuke (Odemwingie, 60)

Substitutes Argentina:
01 Diego Pozo, 21 Mariano Andujar, 03 Rodriguez, 04 Burdisso, 12 Ariel Garce, 15 Otamendi, 05 Bolatti, 20 Maxi, 23 Pastore, 16 Aguero, 18 Martin Palermo, 19 Milito

Substitutes Nigeria:
16 Ejide, 23 Aiyenugbu, 05 Afolabi, 21 Echiejile, 10 Brown, 12 Uche, 13 Yussuf, 22 Adeleye, 04 Kanu, 07 Utaka, 09 Martins, 11 Odemwingie

Venue: Ellis Park
Referee: Stark
Attendance: 50,389

cya
jack

South Korea 2-0 Greece. Match Report

Hey!

South Korea just beat Greece 2-0 in a half empty stadium! Here are my report findings:

South Korea 2-0 GreeceFT

(HT 1-0)

Lee, 7
Park, 52

South Korea

• 18 Jung
• 04 Cho
• 12 Lee
• 14 Lee
• 22 Cha
• 07 Park Captain
• 08 Kim
• 10 Park (Seung-Youl Lee, 87)
• 16 Ki (Kim, 74)
• 17 Lee (Kim, 90+1)
• 19 Yeom

Substitutes South Korea:

• 01 Lee,
• 21 Kim,
• 02 Oh,
• 03 Hyung-ll Kim,
• 15 Kim,
• 23 Kang,
• 05 Kim,
• 06 Bo-Kyung Kim,
• 13 Kim,
• 09 Jung-Hwan Ahn,
• 11 Seung-Youl Lee,
• 20 Lee

Greece

• 12 Tzorvas
• 02 Seitaridis
• 08 Papadopoulos
• 11 Vyntra
• 15 Torosidis Yellow card
• 06 Tziolis
• 10 Karagounis Captain (Patsatzoglou, 46)
• 21 Katsouranis
• 07 Samaras (Salpigidis, 59)
• 09 Charisteas (Kapetanos, 61)
• 17 Gekas

Substitutes Greece:

• 01 Chalkias,
• 13 Michail Sifakis,
• 04 Spyropoulos,
• 05 Moras,
• 16 Kyrgiakos,
• 19 Papaststhopoulos,
• 22 Malezas,
• 03 Patsatzoglou,
• 18 Ninis,
• 23 Prittas,
• 14 Salpigidis,
• 20 Kapetanos

• Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium
• Referee: Michael Hester
• Attendance: 31,500

ok cya

jack

MUSE @ Stade De Frnace First Night Review

Hey!
Last night MUSE performed a stunning gig in paris for 80,000 people. Now ill review it:

POSTER

Poster advertising the gig

SET LIST

1. Uprising (Riff version)
2. Supermassive Black Hole
3. New Born
4. MK ULTRA
5. Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)
6. Guiding Light
7. Interlude + Hysteria
8. Nishe
9. United States of Eurasia
10. I Belong To You
11. Feeling Good
12. MK Jam
13. Undisclosed Desires
14. Resistance
15. Starlight
16. Time Is Running Out
17. Unnatural Selection
    

    Encore 1

18. Unintended
19. Exogenesis: Symphony Part I (Overture)
20. Stockholm Syndrome
    

    Encore 2

21. Take a Bow
22. Plug In Baby
23. Man with a Harmonica intro + Knights of Cydonia

I’m actually quite pleased with this many songs, but i think that feeling good shouldnt be always played (ITS AN OLD COVER!). i like the song, but in small doses. replace FG with one of the rare set list poll songs and ill be happy!

IMAGES
The band (not sure if it was matt, dom or chris) took a picture of the crowd and man was it fanastic! Here it is:

Amazing picture taken by MUSE to which they tweeted "Here you guys at Stade De France. You were amazing! See you tomorrow!"

in this picture Chris warms up for the world cup 2 days before the gig, on the stade de france pitch!

Chris warms up for the World Cup

VIDEOS

UNDISCLOSED DESIRES (+ MK JAM)

END OF NEUTRON STAR COLLISION + PART OF GUIDING LIGHT

MOST OF TAKE A BOW

TIME IS RUNNING OUT

EXOGENESIS SYMPHONY: PART 1 (OVERTURE)

UPRISING

See you tomorrow for a review of night 2!

cya

jack

World Cup 2010 – Uruguay 0-0 France. Match Report

Hey!

Very boring match. Here is a report from BBC Sport.

France and Uruguay contested a truly awful goalless draw in the second match of the 2010 World Cup at the Cape Town Stadium.

The result ensured that both of the opening day Group A fixtures ended in draws – but there was much more to savour in South Africa’s earlier game against Mexico.

The match in Cape Town never really got going; instead of sparking into life, it deteriorated into a largely forgettable contest only briefly illuminated by the occasional moment of trickery and skill.

In a game of few chances, Uruguay came closest to scoring through a Diego Forlan shot that was saved in the opening half, while they finished the contest with 10 men after substitute Nicolas Lodeiro picked up two bookings.

France were arguably the better team and might have snatched the points with a free-kick from a promising position deep into injury-time, but substitute Thierry Henry’s strike hit the wall.

Both teams had laboured through qualification, requiring play-offs to reach South Africa, and their lack of fluency was clear to see.

France, who recently switched to a 4-3-3 formation, lost to China in their final warm-up game and were too ponderous in possession against La Celeste, with a lack of understanding undermining their efforts.

This was encapsulated in one move when Abou Diaby, surprisingly recalled in favour of Florent Malouda amid suggestions of a training ground row with manager Raymond Domenech, played a superb through ball for Sidney Govou.

But striker Nicolas Anelka, who made way for Henry with 20 minutes left, intercepted the pass after returning from an offside position and a promising opening was completely wasted.

Franck Ribery was an early threat down the left and his low cross after seven minutes should have been converted by Govou, while playmaker Yoann Gourcuff had few opportunities to showcase his skills – although he almost caught Fernando Muslera out with a free-kick from a tight angle on 17 minutes.

France’s holding midfielder Jeremy Toulalan was reduced to trying his luck from more than 35 yards, while Uruguay’s Diego Lugano mystified his team-mates by shooting at goal from deep inside his own half.

Toulalan was booked for a heavy tackle on Alvaro Pereira after 68 minutes and locked horns with Lugano seconds later. Domenech came on to the pitch to try to calm the situation, but at least it was something to rouse the crowd, leading to a brief cacophony of vuvuzela sounds.

Forlan, who forced an excellent first-half save from Hugo Lloris after cutting inside and shooting from 20 yards, was impressive for Uruguay.

The Atletico Madrid striker was alive with craft and invention, but he wasted a decent opening with 20 minutes left, shooting wide from 16 yards after a decent lay-off from Luis Suarez.

Striker Suarez, with 49 goals in 48 games for Ajax last season, was all too frequently caught offside, while playmaker Ignacio Gonzalez was a peripheral figure.

Uruguay coach Javier Aguirre brought on the highly rated Lodeiro in place of Gonzalez shortly after the restart, and Domenech replaced Gourcuff with Malouda.

Lodeiro’s only mark on the game was arguably made on the ankle of Bakari Sagna as the Uruguayan picked up his second booking with 10 minutes to go.

Henry almost produced a moment of late drama with a header that glanced across the face of goal and had an appeal for a handball against Mauricio Victorino turned down as Uruguay held on.

thats it!

cya

jack