words_Nick Engvall
It only took Argentina 17 minutes to score, but it wasn’t an Argentinian player that scored first. Park Chu-Young of South Korea deflected in a free kick from superstar Lionel Messi to give Argentina an early lead that they would not relinquish. Argentina leaped to a 2-0 lead thanks to the first goal of the match from Gonzalo Higuain, a header put just out of the reach of the keeper’s fingertips.
Aside from a slight defensive lapse just before the half that allowed Lee Chung-Yong an easy goal, Argentina never slipped up. It was all about Gonzalo Higuain, who added a goal at 76 minutes, then again at 80 minutes to grab the first hat trick of this year’s World Cup. Higuain was in the right place at the right time when a rebound of one of Messi’s shots came off the goal post and left him with no place to put the ball but the back of the net. His third goal came four minutes later, again after Messi run on the goal which finished with Gonzalo crossing the goal keeper with another header.
Not only did Higuain’s three goals mark the first hat trick of the tournament, the 4-1 finish is the highest scoring match during group competitive play thus far.
Oh Beom-Seok of South Korea in the Nike T90 Laser defends Angel Di Maria of Argentina in the adidas Predator X FG.
Martin Demichelis of Argentina in the adidas adiPure III (left).
Lionel Messi of Argentina in the adidas F50 adiZero Chameleon colorway.
Lionel Messi of Argentina in the adidas F50 adiZero Chameleon colorway.
Gonzalo Higuain of Argentina in the adidas F50 adiZero (leather).
Gonzalo Higuain of Argentina in the adidas F50 adiZero (leather).
images via yahoo
Messi’s Chameleon adiZERO’s look great, especially when the Sun hits ‘em, great win by Argentina, they’re starting to look like the contender they should be, based on pure talent.