A very exciting game at Frank Clair Stadium in Ottawa that could've ended 5–4 finally wound up 1–0 in favor of Argentina. Argentine coach Hugo Tocalli characterized his team as "lucky today."
Argentina continued its dominant play by doing what they do best—controlling play with their clinical short passing game. The North Koreans, wearing bright red uniforms, had to chase shadows for long periods of time in the warm Ottawa weather during the first half.
Much against the run of play, North Korea scored what looked to be a legal goal until the referee disallowed it for what must've been a foul since there was no way any Koreans were offside.
"We were disappointed that the referee decided the goal was offside," said North Korean coach Jo after the match.
Immediately after the disallowed goal in the 35th minute, Argentina was awarded a questionable free-kick. Questionable or not, Argentine captain Sergio Aguero curled it beautifully past Korean keeper Ju Kwang Min. One could say North Korea was unlucky but truthfully, Argentina deserved the lead up to this point.
One player I've admired in all three of Argentina's matches is central defender Federico Fazio. He stands nearly 6 feet 5 inches tall and moves with the grace and agility of much smaller men. On one play, he took the ball from the middle of his own territory, drove down the left wing into Korean territory leaving two defenders in his dust. With his height, and ability to read the game, look for him to make it big with Seville in the Spanish Primera Liga. Don't be surprised if bigger teams come calling for his services.
North Korea started getting things going in the second half. Argentina remained dangerous albeit in a counter-attacking sense. They really should've put the game away although you could have made a decent case for a North Korean equalizer. A couple of highly exciting substitutes Alejandro Cabral and Angel Di Maria kept North Korea on their toes. North Korea missed at least three glorious chances, two of which fell to substitute Pak Chol Min.
"My players did their responsibilities to the last moment. It's a good team atmosphere," said North Korean coach Jo.
"We should've controlled the game better with the quality of our players," said Tocalli. Tocally stressed that Argentina would have to find a better balance in their team. Despite the praise his team deserves, he didn't want to single out any one performer. "I always like to talk about the team, and not one player in particular."
It's really scary how good these young Argentines are but North Korea played very well, created a few excellent chances and deserve to make it to the next round as a third-place team. They'll have to keep their fingers crossed and keep a close eye on other results as the Czechs took second place in Group E with a 2–1 win over Panama in Montreal.
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