Argentina Tops Mexico 3-1 At 2010 World Cup
June 28, 2010- By Jonathan Lowell
The Argentine national football team got a few breaks in their first game of the knockout stages against Mexico, and advanced at the expense of El Tri 3-1. A controversial goal again sparked criticism of the officiating at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Carlos Tevez found the net twice in Sunday’s match, and Gonzalo Higuain joined him on the scorers sheet. Mexico pressed the Argentinians early with most of the scoring chances early in the match, but Lionel Messi found Tevez between two Mexican defenders. The only problem, Tevez was clearly offside.
Several Mexican players congregated around the linesman and began to make angry gestures that prompted head referee Roberto Rosetti to intervene. The Argentine players came to argue their case, and Rosetti ordered play to resume and the goal to be allowed.
The Mexicans couldn’t make a mental recovery quick enough, and suffered a defensive mistake minutes later when Higuain intercepted a weak pass from Ricardo Osorio. Osorio was under no pressure from the Argentinian side, but played a poor ball that Higuain was able to steal and slip past Oscar Perez.
The next opponent for the Mexicans will be soccer powerhouse Germany. The Germans cemented their spot in the quarterfinals with a 4-1 win over the English.
“We know Germany is a different team than the Mexico team we faced today,” Argentine coach Deigo Maradona said. “It’s more powerful, but we’ll have the right players on the pitch to face them.”
Argentina is looking like a strong side going into the quarterfinals with the leading scorer at the tournament Higuain with four goals, and Messi in the thick of almost all their scoring chances. They have reached their third quarterfinal in four World Cups.
“We’re not here on vacation, we came here to leave everything so that the Argentinians can be proud of us,” Maradona said.
The lone offensive strike for Mexico came in the 71st minute when Javier Hernandez saved face for the his team.
South American teams have impressed this year at the World Cup, and are 12-1-4 at the tournament. Two teams have progressed to the quarterfinals thus far.
Soccer sportsbooks have set Argentina as the favorites to win their match with Germany at +120. The German underdog line is set at +230, and the over/under for total goals scored in the match by both teams is set at 2 1/2.Argentina Tops Mexico At 2010 World Cup
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