A look at Thursday’s World Cup matches
GROUP B: ARGENTINA VS. SOUTH KOREA
Where: Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg. Time: 4:30 a.m. PDT.
TV: ESPN, ESPN Deportes, Univision. Radio: Sirius/XM, KLYY-FM 97.5 and KDLD-FM 103.1.
The buzz: Coach Diego Maradona’s Argentina — or is it Lionel Messi’s? — can virtually clinch a place in the tournament’s knockout phase by defeating South Korea. Conversely, Coach Huh Jung-moo’s South Korea can do the same if it wins. The Argentines were impressive but not as overpowering as expected in their 1-0 win over Nigeria, but the sheer firepower Maradona has at his disposal should prove too much for South Korea, which beat Greece, 2-0, in its opener. Argentina will be resting midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron because of a right calf injury and replacing him with Max Rodriguez. South Korea midfielder Park Ji-sung said the team is brimming with confidence after its opening victory. “We believe we can produce good results if we play at the top of our game,” he said. “Argentina is one of the best teams in the world. We will have to defend well and then hit them on the counterattack.”
— Grahame L. Jones
GROUP B: GREECE VS. NIGERIA
Where: Bloemfontein. Time: 7 a.m. PDT.
TV: ESPN, ESPN Deportes, Univision. Radio: Sirius/XM, KLYY-FM 97.5, KDLD-FM/KDLE-FM 103.1.
The buzz: Both teams come into the game winless and scoreless after one game. And whoever losses also figures to be hopeless as far as advancing to the second round. But the situation appears to be even more dire for the Greeks, who gave up two goals to South Korea in their first game and have Argentina looming in their group-play final. Nigeria is done with the group favorites from South America, whom they nearly tied. So to have a chance, Greece’s defense-first style will have to be more effective against creative Nigeria than it was against South Korea. “The whole team has to shut down spaces,” goalkeeper Michalis Sifakis said. “So it’s not an issue of individual players or the defense alone.” Nigeria, which has secluded itself in Durban to concentrate on this game, missed injured midfielder John Obi Mikel in its opening loss but goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama played well.
— Kevin Baxter
Group A: MEXICO VS. FRANCE
Where: Polokwane. Time: 11:30 a.m. PDT.
TV: ESPN, ESPN Deportes, Univision. Radio: Sirius/XM, KLYY-FM 97.5, KDLD-FM/KDLE-FM 103.1, KSPN-AM 710.
The buzz: Whoever wins will share the group lead with Uruguay and control its destiny as far as advancing to the second round and whoever loses will need a lot of help to move on. Then there’s the possibility of a tie, which helps only South Africa. All that’s too complicated to break down here but the bottom line is either Mexico or France is going home early if they can’t get their offense on track. The French have scored only once in their last three games, including friendlies, and they don’t want a repeat of 2002, when they left the World Cup without a goal. So expect Coach Raymond Domenech to shake up his lineup, starting midfielder Florent Malouda and bringing striker Thierry Henry off the bench earlier. Mexico, a high-pressure attacking team, needs to find a way to finish off more than one of the multiple scoring opportunities it generates each game. It may try to do that by putting Andres Guardado back in the midfield and by bringing striker Javier Hernandez off the bench earlier. “It is decisive and we must try to get three points to move forward,” Mexican Coach Javier Aguirre said. Mexico is a little banged up but the most significant of the injured players, defender Rafael Marquez, has promised he will play.
— Kevin Baxter
