ARG 4-1 KOR: Player ratings

Another match, another win. It makes it easier to give higher grades even for me and you know I'm not famous by doing that. More of the opposite, I'd think.

Dave P is still travelling, so I'm rating the players again myself.

Here you go:

Sergio ROMERO (6): Not at fault in South Korea's goal. Otherwise, he was his usual solid and sober self. One curious note? He had a shot on goal! I don't know if they gave it to him officially, but that was what happened when he cleared a ball running out of the area and it ended up in the hands of the Korean goalkeeper.

Jonas GUTIERREZ (6): Much better than on Saturday. Was helped by Maxi's inclusion on the right. Joined in the attack in a couple of occasions and he even showed some dribbling skills in the first half! He got a second yellow and will miss our next game. Was he thinking about it and did it throw the ball away on purpose to clean himself up for the rest of the tournament? I don't know, but it sure looked like a silly way of getting booked.

Martín DEMICHELIS (3): Our weakest link this time. Lio MESSI came to his defence and attacked the vuvuzelas after the game. Apparently Micho didn't hear his team-mates telling him he had a man on. However, that's no excuse. He can't be that careless in that area of the pitch. Just a quick turn of his head before receiving the ball would have helped him be aware there was someone coming. He costed Sergio ROMERO his second clean-sheet in his World Cup career.

Walter SAMUEL (N/A): As a rule, I don't give a grade to players that are less than 30 minutes on the pitch. The Wall got injured after only 23 minutes and had to leave. We can only hope it's not a serious injury and that he is available at least for the second round.

Gabriel HEINZE (4): Same old Gab was back today. He looked shaky. He saw a very silly yellow card after touching a ball with his hands and then delaying the resulting Korean free-kick. Got exposed in the second half when he lost his man and got off the hook because their player missed what would have been an equalizer. Never lacked the same intensity and attitude, of course. But that's not enough to give him more than a 4.

Javier MASCHERANO (6): After committing only one foul v. Nigeria, he went up to 5 today and that could be because he had more room to cover and wasn't getting to the man in possession as comfortably as on our first match. He was the player with the most completed passes of our entire team, but was careless in a tackle that resulted in a yellow card for him. Not happy with that, he kept going to the ball full-strength when the match was already 4-1 and he stayed down for a while grabbing one of his knees in pain. I think he should be more careful and manage his effort and his intensity level more wisely.

Maxi RODRIGUEZ (7): A silent warrior. Not flashy to the eye, but his inclusion gave the team a lot of balance and helped our forwards do their game, whilst helping Jonas deal with his defensive duties. He ran more than any other Albiceleste player with 10.363 km. Good to see him perform like this for Argentina and don't forget he played BURDISSO inside the area for Nico to flick it towards Pipita for our second goal.

Angel DI MARIA (6): Started off really brightly. Showed some quality early on and had a great shot on target but was denied by the goalkeeper. Faded out a little bit as the match progressed and was busy helping HEINZE in defence too. He was the only other Argentine player to run more than 10k.

Lionel MESSI (7): I'm tempted to give him an 8 because he played a part in three of our four goals. Took the free kick for PARK to score an own goal. Forced the goalkeeper into a save, captured the rebound and hit the post for HIGUAIN to score his second goal of the game and then sent a brilliant pass to AGÜERO for him to cross it to Pipita for our fourth. He didn't score. So what? Maybe, as MARADONA said after the first match, Lio is saving his goals for later.

Carlos TEVEZ (8): If it wasn't for Pipita's hat-trick, he would have been my Man of the Match. His first half was excellent. Sent a ferocious shot that went close and participated in the game a lot. He also placed a ball between two defenders for DI MARIA to cross it for HIGUAIN only for the Real Madrid striker to be denied by the keeper from close range. That was a really sweet pass from Carlitos who combined very well with MESSI. Maybe the best they have ever combined as my friend Matías pointed out to me by e-mail after the game.

Gonzalo HIGUAIN (9): I'm not giving him a 10 because I think he didn't play the perfect game despite scoring three times. He missed some clear chances and cast a shadow over his level of confidence and his overall form early on, but then he scored three striker-like goals and put the game out of reach for South Korea whilst getting to the top of the scoring chart in this World Cup.

Substitutes:

Nicolás BURDISSO (7): Great game by Nico. Not easy to come on as a sub in the first half for an injured team-mate, but he had no problems to cope. He even had an assist after deflecting Maxi's ball towards the path of Pipita for Argentina to make it 2-0. Very solid at the back when he was called into action.

Sergio AGÜERO (N/A): Talk about making an immediate impact! Replaced Carlos TEVEZ in an attempt to give the team some fresh lungs in that area of the pitch and to have more explosion in the final third of the pitch. And he did just that. Helped create the third goal when he found MESSI against the run of play on the left and then he sent the cross for HIGUAIN to get his hat-trick. The only bad thing he did was not releasing MESSI late on the game and trying an individual effort that was too difficult to manage. Again, I don't grade players who have played less than 30 minutes, but I'm tempted to give him a really high note.

Mario BOLATTI (N/A): Another good decision by Diego. Replacing HIGUAIN with BOLATTI gave Argentina another player in midfield to better distribute the pitch between him, Maxi, MASCHERANO and DI MARIA. At the same time, we still had Kun and MESSI to attack if needed. BOLATTI played 8 minutes in his World Cup debut and didn't have an impact, of course, but he did complete 6 of his 7 passes.