Special Edition: The Golden Nuggets World Cup 2010 - Argentina v South Korea

By Sports Magician

In a tournament that has been laced with the fear of losing rather than the ambition to go out and take games by the scruff of the neck, Argentina, along with Germany, Chile and Spain, are one of few sides to be able to say that have come to South Africa to win by virtue of their own brilliance rather than hoping for opposition mistakes. Lionel Messi, aided by a set up that allowed him to receive the ball in space, rather than with three players around him - which is what he put up with in qualifying - was outstanding against Nigeria and could quite easily have had a hat-trick but for an exceptional display from Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama. Argentina have had good preparation for the World Cup as Diego Maradona has had the time with his players that he was unable to during the club season. The evidence that the time has been spent well was clear to see as Argentina looked fluid and dangerous against Nigeria, as opposed to clueless and patchy during the qualifying period.

Gonzalo Higuain leads the line and will need to get his shooting boots on if he wants to keep Diego Milito out of the starting line-up. Higuain missed good chances against Nigeria, but if he can score one his confidence will go through the roof. Like any good striker, a bad memory is a must, and despite missing chances Higuain continually gets himself into positions to score, he just has to execute. Messi and Higuain both represent strong value to find the net twice or more, and with Carlos Tevez doing much of the leg work, Messi will be at his most dangerous late on when the opposition defence is tiring.

South Korea were impressive in disposing an awful Greek side in the first round of group games. However, defending is an issue for the South Koreans and they will be overworked in trying to stop Messi, Higuain, Tevez as well as Angel Di Maria and Maxi Rodriguez joining the attack from midfield. Di Maria, a player I strongly believe will emerge from the World Cup as one of its stars was not on his game against Nigeria and only showed fleeting signs of his quality. Rodriguez looks set to replace the injured Juan Sebastian Veron and offers Argentina more lung power in midfield and a greater potential goal threat. Scoring goals has been a problem for many teams so far in the competition, but once again outstanding value is on offer for Argentina to score three or more. The chances will come, it’s purely a case of converting them and Maradona has stressed the importance of killing teams off - which Argentina failed to do against Nigeria.

As mentioned, Higuain will need to improve his form if he wants to stay in the side. Argentina are not wanting for attacking ammunition off the bench and that has to be in the back of Higuain’s mind. Despite a below bar performance against Nigeria, Higuain’s match performance still achieved a score of 60pts. Sporting Index have set his buy line against South Korea at 50, which seems very low. Due to the constant movement upfront, Higuain often finds himself coming deep or wide to exchange passes with Messi, Tevez and Di Maria, which is of great appeal to us buying his match performance as Sporting Index award 2pts for every successful pass in the opposition half of the field.

The scoring is as follows;

Goal Scored 25pts
Goal Assist 10pts
Shot on Target 5pts
Forcing a Corner 3pts
Free Kick Won 3pts
Pass to own player in opposition half 2pts
Free Kick conceded (including offsides) -3pts
Yellow Card -10pts
Red Card -25pts

Note: Player must start for bets to stand in relation to Sporting Index’s player performance

The Golden Nuggets will be quite happy to buy Higuain’s player performance at 50pts for 0.2pts. This means, for example, that if Higuain scores 30pts we would achieve a 4pts loss; if Higuain scores 70pts we would achieve a 4pts gain.

PICK: 4*LIONEL MESSI TO SCORE TWO OR MORE GOALS AGAINST SOUTH KOREA @ 6.50 (PADDY POWER)

PICK: 3*GONZALO HIGUAIN TO SCORE TWO OR MORE GOALS AGAINST SOUTH KOREA @ 12.00 (BET 365)

PICK: 4*ARGENTINA TO SCORE MORE THAN 2.5 GOALS AGAINST SOUTH KOREA @ 3.80 (SPORTINGBET)

PICK: 0.2*BUY GONZALO HIGUAIN PLAYER PERFORMANCE @ 50 (SPORTING INDEX)