This saw us return to Soccer City for the second game for Maradona's Argentina facing South Korea. For me, it was also my first chance to see Lionel Messi in the flesh and the chance to run the rule over Maradona's Argentina and assess whether they really are going to be a force to be reckoned with in this World Cup.

But first we had to get there and again it was slow going on approach to the ground. There is one hot spot where you get off the five lane freeway to join the two lane stadium approach which creates a huge bottleneck and is woefully unable to cope with the volume of coach and car traffic trying to get to the stadium. There were huge numbers of Argentine fans in the log jam who simply decided to get out and walk the remaining few kilometres to the stadium. It's a really simple logistical flaw in the infrastructure design and one that could easily have been avoided. The traffic before and after this point is fine but it can take over an hour to travel around 1km at this point. I had the other issue of FIFA's cut off time of 90 minutes prior to kick off to pick up media tickets before they are re-allocated to those on the wait list. As you can imagine, Maradona and Messi are two of the biggest drawcards for the international media so this game was massively over-subscribed. Thankfully although I was half an hour late they had not given my ticket away with was a relief. I took my spot in the gods on the top tier of Soccer City and was glad I had the assistance of a TV monitor nearby for the close ups of the action.

There were huge numbers of Argentines all over the stadium and in one corner area they were especially prevalent and huge banners adorned any areas they were allowed to hang. There was a healthy albeit much smaller contingent of Koreans adding to a colourful and noisy occasion. As we saw the Argentine players leaving the dressing room to warm embraces and in some instances full on smooching from Maradona the two hour Maradona show began. The guy is pure theatre as a coach more cheerleader than tactician it seems questioning every call, waving imaginary cards when he believes an opposing player has transgressed, interacting with fans and his own bench. Even with Messi and co on the pitch it's hard to take your eyes off Maradona. At one point he had an at-distance altercation with the Korean coach who gave as good as he got and in the second half he flicked a heel to control a ball that left the field of play to huge cheers. But on to the action on the pitch.

Argentina were very good going forward with their mobile front three of Tevez, Messi and Higuain full of industry and cunning. I was amazed at the confidence in Messi's ability to retain possession that his team mates are comfortable to give him the ball in such tight spaces where he is often marked by two and three players. Not once did his touch fail him and the attention paid to Messi inevitably allowed space for his team mates to move into with Di Maria and Higuain the main beneficiaries. He had a hand in all four goals in a stunning performance that could only have been capped with a goal. Maradona would not admit as much in the post game press conference but this game was closer than the score line suggests. Having been gifted route back into the game on the stroke of half time by Demechelis' indecision on the edge of his own box, the South Korean's started the second half strongly and could, probably should, have equalised after a great move down the right hand side resulted in a poor finish when well placed. Had that gone in it would have been interesting to have seen the response from Argentina but as it was they ran out comfortable winners with Higuain completing an unspectacular hat-trick with a tap in and close range header after a great team move sliced open the Korean defence. Maradona substituted the hat-trick hero soon after and you couldn't help wondering whether it was for the player to get the plaudits or for Maradona to display another completely over-the-top show of affection for his player. With the best game of the tournament so far won in style and second round qualification earned, the Messi and Maradona show rolls on. With question marks over their defensive abilities and Maradona seemingly happy to aim to score one more than the opposition I have little doubt that no matter how far Argentina go in this competition they will be fascinating to watch.

One word on their fans as well. They are one of the first sets of fans (England included) to be consistently heard over the background din of the vuvuzelas and they are here in great numbers and up for the party which adds the final dimension to the Argentina bandwagon at this World Cup.

 

Our day wasn't over though as we headed into Sandton for the FFA's drinks reception for Australian media at the convention centre. Given the very public spat between Mike Cockerill and Harry Kewell (Mike attended - Harry didn't) over the last few days there was a bit of a stilted atmosphere but it was still an enjoyable evening - watching France self implode always is isn't it?!

The delegation of ex-Socceroos captains sent to be judge and jury over Pim's selections and tactics for Saturday's game has not materialised which suggests that the FFA have chosen to ignore Foz's plan to get our World Cup back on track. Funny that.