By ESPN televised the South Korea versus Greece World Cup match early this morning in the US which my wife and I got up to watch. We were both glad we did because the South Korean team looked impressive in their 2-0 victory over Greece:
South Korea eased to a 2-0 win over a lackluster Greece side in Saturday’s first Group B match of the World Cup.
Lee Jung-soo tapped in unmarked to open the scoring in the seventh minute at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium and captain Park Ji-sung doubled the lead in the 52nd with a slick solo goal.
The Manchester United midfielder collected a misplaced pass from Vassilis Torosidis and skipped past two defenders before slipping a shot across goalkeeper Alexandros Tzorvas and in at the far post.
Striker Park Chu-young had another three chances to score for South Korea and Fanis Gekas had a shot saved with 10 minutes left for what was Greece’s first clear effort.
“If we had been a little bit calmer, we could have had an even better result,” South Korea coach Huh Jung-moo said. “In terms of scoring goals, it could have been a little bit better for us.”
Greece coach Otto Rehhagel stood on the touchline at the end of his team’s fourth straight World Cup finals defeat, his hands on his hips and a fierce scowl on his face.
“We really have to get our act together,” Rehhagel said. “We’ve got to improve a couple of things and be brave and courageous enough.” [CNNSI]
Greece was actually lucky they didn’t get blown out by even more points by the Red Devils because they had plenty of more opportunities to score that they missed. All in all though a great opening round victory for the Red Devils who hope to carry their momentum from this win over to their next game against traditional World Cup powerhouse Argentina on June 17th.
4:36 am on June 12th, 2010 1
FIFA ranking 47th Korea blows out, FIFA ranking 13th Greece.
How could such a low ranking team beat one of the top teams? What a shocking upset win for Korea.
5:04 am on June 12th, 2010 2
Only statistics
6:11 am on June 12th, 2010 3
I think Red Devils is actually the name given to the fans. The team's nickname is Taeguk Warriors (전사). I know it seems really weird for this to be the situation, but Korea is kind of wacky about some things.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Devils_(supporte… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Be_the_Reds!
7:50 am on June 12th, 2010 4
They cheated. They bribed the refs. They fixed the match, how can these little yellow people win against the tall whites? The Greeks were robbed!
Watch, I expect to hear the usual whinings..
8:46 am on June 12th, 2010 5
Where is Chickhead on this one? Where is his usual whine.
9:04 am on June 12th, 2010 6
Not sure why anyone would be shocked, or think the refs were bribed, but folks are entitled to their own opinion.
I thought Korea looked really good. Completly controlled the game, out jumped Greece, and should have scored at least two more goals.
9:24 am on June 12th, 2010 7
Tom, sounds like you're doing your usual whining as well…
12:47 pm on June 12th, 2010 8
"FIFA ranking 47th Korea blows out, FIFA ranking 13th Greece.
How could such a low ranking team beat one of the top teams? What a shocking upset win for Korea."
Even the top ranked teams lose some.
4:06 pm on June 12th, 2010 9
Tom, Southern Europeans aren't White.
4:38 pm on June 12th, 2010 10
What are they?
6:26 pm on June 12th, 2010 11
"What are they?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXjcf47y-zk
6:43 pm on June 12th, 2010 12
Archimedes, a Greek Sicilian, proved that the volume of a ball is 4/3 pi times the cube of its radius. He was the greatest mathematician of antiquity.
7:37 pm on June 12th, 2010 13
Did you watch Argentina play, too? Damn that was sweet. It’s obvious Maradona has been coaching them. The next match should be very interesting.