Argentina 4:1 South Korea: match report

It could have been Valentine’s Day here the mood Diego Maradona was in. He began by embracing every one of his players in the tunnel, ended by kissing and making up with Michel Platini and had us all swooning over Argentine football again.

With Gonzalo Higuaín netting the first hat-trick in a World Cup since Gabriel Batistuta’s heyday, with Lionel Messi still playing dreamily and with one foot planted firmly in the last 16 following this impressive demolition of South Korea, Maradona was asked if the apparent close, loving bond he has created in his side was at the heart of their renaissance here.

Cue the guffaws as Maradona’s eyes blazed wide. “I prefer women,” he was keen to let us know. “I am dating Veronica, she is 31, she is blonde and she is beautiful. No, I’ve not gone limp-wristed!”


Ah, but the enthusiasm for his men is barely less disguised at the moment. Hell, they are making him look like some coach after all the barbs.

“If I have improved, it’s for the players to say,” he shrugged. “But it’s easy if you have such a sensational team.”

Sensational really was the word at times as the understanding, fluidity and interplay in the Argentine attacks left a Korean side, who had appeared so impressive against Greece, looking about as bewildered as their 1986 World Cup team in which current coach Huh Jung-Moo could only stop Maradona with a flying knee in the groin.

Real Madrid’s Higuaín may have earned the match ball but Carlos Tévez, Messi and even 15 dazzling minutes from Sergio Agüero demonstrated that it will take a superb defence to shackle such talent.

Fact: Messi has yet to score at this World Cup. It must be a mirage. “He showed again here why he’s the best in the world,” conceded an admiring if deflated Park Ji-Sung. His 76th-minute shot which hit a post and enabled Higuaín to tap in his second was the nearest he has come with 15 tremendous goal attempts. Heaven help teams when he finds his range.

It would not be Maradona’s Argentina, though, without a question or two to be answered at the other end. This time they hung over Martín Demichelis, the Bayern Munich centre back, whose mind went Awol on the stroke of half-time, allowing a game in which Argentina were strolling to become much more fraught than it needed to be.

Korea had been listless, as if hypnotised by the opposition’s pass-and-move quality, and faced a hammering after Messi’s 16th-minute curled free kick deflected off the hapless Park Chu-Young’s shin into the net and Higuaín had headed home from another free kick.

But when Demichelis slumbered, allowing Bolton’s Lee Chung-Yong to mug him and score, the game changed. Korea returned to the pitch reinvigorated and if Yeom

Ki-hun had converted one fine chance instead of firing into the side netting, Huh felt “it could have been different”.

Higuaín finished the job with a tap-in from Messi’s shot and a header from Agüero’s cross. “It’s an advantage that we’re now all but qualified while teams like England and Spain are struggling,” said Higuain.

“We can concentrate on the next round.” And Maradona can concentrate on winning another title instead of personal battles.

He was so chuffed that, ending his press conference with the sort of flourish only he can, he pulled a letter from his pocket and explained it was from Platini, whom he had insulted in grand fashion on Wednesday.

“Mr Platini sent me a letter, saying he never said what you [reporters] told me he had said,” explained Maradona, referring to suggestions that the Uefa president had criticised his managerial record. “I want to send my apologies to Mr Platini … but not Pele.”

Well, there’s a surprise; hell would have to freeze over before those two big kids ever whispered sweet nothings.