10 years on: Messi’s man-of-the-match performance in Soccer World Cup 2010
The Argentinian's only man-of-the-match performance during the 2010 Fifa World Cup, happened on this day, against Greece.
POLOKWANE – Today marks exactly 10 years since Argentina and Greece played against each other at the Peter Mokaba Sports Complex in Polokwane in the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup.
The City of Stars was lucky to be dazzled by the ‘little magician’ and to some of the antics by arguable the best footballer of all time, Lionel Messi.
Funnily enough, Messi’s only man-of-the-match performance of the 2010 Fifa World Cup happened in this fixture, which resulted in a 2-0 win for the Argentinians.
Messi however, did not score in the game. The Argentinians’ two goals were scored by Martin Demichelis and MartÃn Palermo.
The Guardian newspaper said in an article at the time that “there was a carnival atmosphere in the stadium as the huge numbers of Argentina fans jubilantly bounced and bobbed during their national anthem, singing loud enough to blunt the reverberating honk of the vuvuzelas”.
Greece proved to be tough opponents and the game headed towards a goalless draw until Demichelis, in scrappy fashion, smashed the ball into the back of the net in the 77th minute.
Palermo sealed the victory in the 89th minute when Messi’s shot was saved and he pounced on the rebound.
Argentina and Greece were part of Group B for this World Cup. Argentina advanced to the knockout stages along with South Korea, as Greece missed out by one point and finished in third in the group followed by Nigeria.
Argentina would meet Mexico five days later at Soccer City, winning 3-1 before they lost 4-0 to Germany on 3 July in the quarterfinals.
