D8 GROUP B
Messi threatens, doesn’t score and Argentina hangs on for win
Even though Lionel Messi baffled Nigeria’s de- fenders, Argentina still had to sweat out Diego Maradona’s first World Cup victory as a coach. Gabriel Heinze scored on a diving header in the sixth minute, the only one of seven shots on goal that Argentina converted in its 1-0 win Saturday in Johannesburg. Heinze took advantage of weak defense to pow- er in his header from 12 yards off Juan Sebastian Veron’s corner kick. After that, it was nothing but missed chances for Albiceleste. “The team made good moves, but we ended up
suffering. That’s the law of soccer,” Maradona said. “Thank God we won the game. “To begin a World Cup in winning fashion gives you a certain sense of calmness. The only thing that concerns me is that we won a big game.” The Nigerians struggled to contain Messi for much of the match, and striker Gonzalo Higuain also failed to convert three good chances. Critics say he rarely plays well for his country,
but Messi — FIFA’s World Player of the Year — posed a threat to the Nigerians all day. “I felt comfortable,” Messi said. “We knew that
Argentina had to show its class and I think we did.” After seeing Higuain miss on an early chance,
Messi tried a solo effort two minutes later, forcing a flying, one-handed save from goalkeeper Vin- cent Enyeama. Enyeama then leapt to thwart Messi after he cut in from the sideline and fired a curling strike. “He was very close to the ball” at all times, Ma-
radona said. “Soccer wouldn’t be beautiful with- out seeing Messi touch the ball.” Enyeama tried to stay upbeat after turning in a
great performance himself. “We’re not going to kill ourselves. We have two more games to play,” he said. “We thank God the score was a little encouraging.”
GROUP B South Koreans sprint by Greece
South Korea opened the World Cup like it wanted to repeat its 2002 run to the semifinals. Greece looked like it was stuck in 1994. In Port Elizabeth, Lee Jung-Soo and Park Ji- Sung each scored and South Korea rolled to a 2-0 win over lackluster Greece in Saturday’s first Group B match.
“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.” Playing in its seventh consecutive World Cup — including its 2002 appearance in the semifinals, when it co-hosted the tournament with Japan — South Korea controlled the tempo from its first scoring chance.
Greece has only been to the tournament once, in 1994. Then, the Greeks let Argentina score just two minutes into the opening game. The Greeks improved this time around — by five minutes. Ki Sung-Yong curled in a free kick from near
the left corner flag in the seventh minute, and the ball brushed the top of Konstantinos Katsoura- nis’s head before reaching Lee at the far post. The central defender tapped it into an unguarded net. Park Ji-Sung doubled the lead in the 52nd with a slick solo goal. The Manchester United midfielder intercepted a misplaced pass from Vassilis Torosidis and skipped past two defenders before slipping a shot beyond goalkeeper Alexandros Tzorvas. Striker Park Chu-Young had another three chances to score for South Korea, and Fanis Ge- kas had a shot saved with 10 minutes left in what was Greece’s best chance. “We really have to get our act together,” Rehh-
agel said. “We’ve got to improve a couple of things and be brave and courageous enough.” — Associated Press
THEY SAID IT
“We should not forgive. . . . In football, to forgive is to pay.”
— Argentina Coach Diego Maradona, who said his team was a bit too lenient on its opponent in a 1-0 win over Nigeria
S
KLMNO World Cup 2010
England Coach Capello evasive when asked if he’ll make change in goal
by Liz Clarke
rustenburg, south africa — There was nothing intimidating about the ball Clint Dempsey struck 40 minutes into the United States’ World Cup opener.
With the United States trailing, 1-0, after surren- dering a goal to England’s superior constellation of soccer stars after four minutes of play, Dempsey saw an opening and fired at the mouth of England’s goal.
Stopping the ball should have been child’s play, given its trajectory — as true as a well-hurled bowl- ing ball heading for the 10-pin — and its plodding creep along the pitch. Goalkeeper Robert Green crouched to receive it with both gloved hands. But he muffed it instead, toppling awkwardly as the ball caromed off his mitts and dribbled past for one of the least impressive and most inexplicable goals in World Cup history. That was the extent of the Americans’ offense in their 2010 World Cup opener Saturday at Royal Ba- fokeng Stadium. But it was enough for the United States to muster a 1-1 draw against the most daunt- ing team in Group C and position itself well to ad-
vance out of the 32-team tournament’s first round. Soccer is a team game, but often the outcome falls on the shoulders of one player. The goalkeeper. Saturday was one of those nights. And even though the United States and England each earned one point by virtue of the draw, one goalkeeper (Green) walked off a goat; the other, America’s Tim Howard, strode off the hero. Green, 30, didn’t dodge culpability but immedi-
ately held up his right mitt, as if to say, “My bad,” to his raging coach, Fabio Capello, and disbelieving teammates. “I take responsibility,” he told reporters after- ward. “It was my mistake. I’ve made mistakes in my career. I’m strong enough to bounce back.” It’s far from clear Capello will give him the chance, sidestepping a question about whether he planned to bench the keeper for England’s next match, Friday against Algeria. “We have time to decide,” Capello said. Howard, meantime, was brilliant for the Amer- icans, whose lax defense cost them dearly in the ear- ly going, ceding Steven Gerrard a clear path to a goal at the four-minute mark. Howard fended off seven shots on goal in all — and most of them after getting drilled in the rib cage by the onrushing foot of England’s Emile Heskey. The blow knocked the wind out of the outstretched Howard, and he writhed in pain for several minutes as trainers assessed the damage. “It felt like agony,” Howard said, asked about the impact. Heskey “had every right to go for that ball,
SUNDAY, JUNE 13, 2010
WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SOCCER Some text here. Some text, some more tex , and yet a on the United States’ tie with England. The Post’s World Cup page will have all the stories from Sunday’s games.
.COM
At Soccer Insider, Steven Goff and Liz Clarkte have more little more text here, if you please. And maybe a little more text, okay?
U.S. keepers feel for Green after costly gaffe
the same as I did. You just leave yourself exposed when you’re at full stretch.” But Howard brushed himself off, gathered his wits and played on, taking painkillers at the half- time break to dull the discomfort. He returned in the second half to make two spec-
tacular saves, taking one bullet-of-a-ball squarely in the gut to deny an England goal and batting away another with his hands at point-blank range to deny another. For his efforts, he was honored as FIFA’s Man of
the Match, an easy choice in a brutish game that turned on ball control and denied opportunities. Howard, a New Jersey native who competes in England’s prestigious Premier League, said he em- pathized with Green. “As we’ve said all week long, this ball is doing silly
things,” Howard said, alluding to complaints that the ball FIFA has chosen for the World Cup is wildly inconsistent. “Unfortunately at this level, those things happen. And of course I feel terribly for him. As a goalkeeper, you just have to have broad shoul- ders.” Fellow U.S. goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann, who
plays for Wolverhampton and is a friend of Green’s, shared the sentiment. “He’s a great keeper, and I didn’t want that to hap- pen to him,” Hahnemann said. “But I’ve been telling the guys all week when we do shooting [drills]: ‘Get everything on target, because the ball is moving all over. You’ve got to make [the keeper] work, because you can’t take your eye off the ball.’ ”
clarkel@washpost.com
IAN WALTON/GETTY IMAGES Tim Howard makes a diving save on a shot by Emile Heskey, part of an impressive effort by the United States keeper that included playing through a rib injury. Despite early miscue, U.S. salvages a draw u.s. soccer from D1
Cup play in recent memory — England, on the strength of Steven Gerrard’s early strike, might very well have cast aside the United States. But the Americans felt better about the outcome because, as they had done so many times during the qualifying stages, they had come from behind to earn a point. They felt better about it because they were the clear underdog, a team that had washed out of the 2006 tournament without a victory and, on paper, were overmatched by England’s collection of marquee players. U.S. defenders Steve Cherundolo, Oguchi Onye- wu, Carlos Bocanegra and Jay DeMerit exhibited courage and fortitude in the second half against Wayne Rooney, one of the sport’s most dangerous strikers, and Howard overcame a first-half rib injury to make several classy saves. With the tie, the Americans find themselves in
good standing to reach the round of 16, needing a victory against either Slovenia on Friday in Johan- nesburg or Algeria five days later in Pretoria. “A big game, a big night,” U.S. Coach Bob Bradley
TODAY ON TV
7:30 a.m. Algeria vs. Slovenia » ESPN, ESPN Deportes, Univision 10 a.m. Serbia vs. Ghana » ESPN, ESPN Deportes, Univision 2:30 p.m. Germany vs. Australia » ESPN Deportes, Univision
on
washingtonpost.com/gog
Where to watch. Take a look at Going Out Guide’s full rundown of the best places in the
area to catch all the World Cup action.
washingtonpost.com/gog
GROUP A
So. Africa 0 0 0 1 1 Mexico Uruguay France
WL T GFGAPt 1 xx xx 1 xx xx 1 xx xx 1 xx xx
0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 0 0 0
0 1 1 1
GROUP B
Ar. Korea 1 Argentina 1
Sogentina 0 0 0 xx 02 xx Nigeria So. Ko
Nigeriarea 0 1 Greece
0 0
WL T GFGAPt 0 3
0 0 0 xx 01 xx 0 0 xx 10 xx 1 0 xx 20 xx
Saturday’s matches
Argentina 1, Nigeria 0 S. Korea 2, Greece 0
3 0 0 0
said. The match couldn’t have started any worse for the Americans, who drifted into a slumber in the fourth minute on an innocuous throw-in by Glen Johnson. Frank Lampard touched the ball toward Rooney, who pushed it along to Emile Heskey. “Next thing you know, there is a big hole in our backline,” Bradley said. “England made us pay.” Before DeMerit could close him down, Heskey one-timed the ball into space for the hard-charging Gerrard, who had slipped behind Ricardo Clark. Howard came off his line but to no avail. Gerrard, the Liverpool standout, coolly used his inside foot to direct a 14-yard shot into the lower right corner. Four years ago in Germany, the Americans found themselves in an equally deflating situation, conced- ing a fifth-minute goal to the Czech Republic that led to a 3-0 defeat. “The good thing about us is that we have showed in the past, when that stuff happened to us, we don’t
GROUP C
England U.S.
Algeria Slovenia
WL T GFGAPt 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 xx 00 xx 0 0 0 xx 00 xx
1 xx xx 1 xx xx
0 1
1 0 0 0
Today’s match Today’s match
Saturday’s match England 1, U.S. 1
England vs. U.S. 2:30 p.m., TVNAME
Algeria vs. Slovenia, 7:30 a.m.
GROUP D
Germany Australia Serbia Ghana
WL T GFGAPt 0 0 0 xx 00 xx 0 0 0 xx 00 xx 0 0 0 xx 00 xx 0 0 0 xx 00 xx
0 0 0 0
Today’s matches
Serbia vs. Ghana, 10 a.m.
Germany vs. Australia, 2:30 p.m.
United States 1, England 1 Shots on target and goals:
the rescue by clearing a cross from the six-yard box and, in the attack, was a refreshing spark on the right flank.
Gerrard, 4th min.
Dempsey, 40th min.
United States
Shots USA ENG
On goal
USA ENG
Corner kicks USA ENG
Possession USA ENG
Fouls USA ENG
Off side
USA ENG
A: 38,646. SOURCE: ESPN.COM
put our heads down and pout,” DeMerit said. “We seem to put it into the next gear. . . . It’s very easy, af- ter going down so early, to say, ‘Aw, here we go; it’s going to be a long day.’ This team never seems to do that.” It wasn’t a smooth rebound. The Americans
lacked the imagination and creativity to mount many serious threats and were pressed repeatedly. Cherundolo, on his third World Cup squad, came to
GROUP E N’lands
Denmark Japan
WL T GFGAPt 0 0 0 xx 00 xx 0 0 0 xx 00 xx 0 0 0 xx 00 xx
Cameroon 0 0 0 xx 00 xx
0 0 0 0
GROUP F Italy Paraguay
WL T GFGAPt 0 0 0 xx 00 xx 0 0 0 xx 00 xx
N. Zealand 0 0 0 xx 00 xx Slovakia
TODAY’S CAN’T-MISS MATCHUP
Germany vs. Australia, 2:30 p.m.: The Germans lost captain Michael Ballack and goalkeeper Rene Adler in the run-up to the World Cup, meaning Coach Joachim Loew will have to make do with youthful players such as Mesut Oezil and Marko Marin. Defense is the key for the Socceroos, who only allowed one goal in World Cup qualifying.
0 0 0 xx 00 xx
0 0 0 0
2 5
Yellow cards: England, James Milner, 26th; Jamie Carragher, 59th; Steven Gerrard, 61st. United States, Steven Cherundolo, 39th; Jay DeMerit, 47th; Robbie Findley, 74th.
4 4
7 8
43%
57% 12
14 12 18 England
England seemed headed to the half with the lead when disaster struck in the 40th minute. Dempsey, who plays for Fulham in England’s Premier League, turned Gerrard not once but twice before firing from 25 yards. Though the shot was delivered with pace, it was headed almost directly at Green, who dropped to make a routine save. He didn’t have his body com- pletely behind the ball, however, and when it glanced off his gloves, nothing stood in the way of the equalizer. Green desperately reached back but the ball was gone — and so was England’s advantage. “These [new World Cup] balls move so much, if you just hit it on goal, you will have a chance,” said Dempsey, who joined Brian McBride as the only U.S. players to score in two World Cups. “It’s one of those goals where you say, ‘Why can’t I get one like that?’ ” A minute later, Howard repelled Johnson’s bid with a diving save. After the break, England mounted a ferocious at-
tack, finding acres of space between the U.S. defense and midfield. Rooney was a menacing figure, and in the 52nd minute, Aaron Lennon’s through ball liber- ated Heskey for a clean run at Howard, who was per- fectly positioned to stop and smother the shot. The Americans began to find traction, and in the
65th, Jozy Altidore stormed the left side before fir- ing an angled shot that Green touched off the near post.
England regained its stride: Rooney whistled a
28-yarder wide of the far post and set up Shaun Wright-Phillips for a rising shot that Howard blocked. The Americans were fading, but Onyewu, in his
first 90-minute performance since recovering from a serious knee injury, stood up to Rooney’s challeng- es.
When the final whistle blew, the Americans re- joiced. It wasn’t a victory, but in many ways, it felt like one.
goffs@washpost.com GROUP G
Brazil No. K
No. Korea 0 0 0 0 0 Iv. Coast Portugal
WL T GFGAPt 0 0 0 xx 00 xx 000 xx xx 0 0 0 xx 00 xx 0 0 0 xx 00 xx
0 0 0 0
GROUP H Spain
WL T GFGAPt 0 0 0 xx 00 xx
Swit’land 0 0 0 xx 00 xx Honduras 0 0 0 xx 00 xx Chile
0 0 0 xx 00 xx
0 0 0 0
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158