Argentina vs England - 2002 World Cup Group Match

Home: World Cup 2002: Korea-Japan Finals: 1st Round: Match Report

Friday June 7th, 2002

Spot On England

This was made out to be the match of the round but after a disappointing second-half against Sweden, we needed to see a different England if this game was to live up to expectations.

With Pierluigi Collina in charge, everybody knew that Argentina vs England was a big game; as England, in red, kicked off from right to left.

Allegiances to Manchester United were forgotten as Juan Sebastian Ver�n challenged Paul Scholes hard enough to concede a free-kick.

When Gabriel Batistuta charged into Ashley Cole, in the 13th minute, Collina approached his assistant referee for confirmation - yes, a yellow card.

The game started so scrappy that the Italian referee hardly had his whistle out of his mouth.

Although David Beckham earned a couple of free-kicks in dangerous positions, nothing came of them for England.

Before getting injured and replaced by Trevor Sinclair, Owen Hargreaves sent Michael Owen down the left.... but Argentina were wise to his pace, after he scored so exquisitely against them in France, and his run was covered immediately.

With 23 minutes gone, neither side had created any real chances.... until Michael Owen drove a shot onto the post, through the legs of Walter Samuel; with Pablo Cavallero unsighted and unable to react.

Killy Gonz�lez had to leave the pitch for a while, after David Beckham's arm accidently caught him in the face and his nose spurted blood.

0:1
Two minutes before half-time, Michael Owen slipped around Mauricio Pochettino and dived over his outstretched leg.

Collina, on the whistle again, awarded England the penalty..... for David Beckham to slam his country into the lead and be totally forgiven for his sending-off in France 98.

Half-time: Argentina 0 - England 1

England have gone in front at half-time before and lost a grip on the match, so euphoria at this stage is always calmed with a healthy dose of trepidation.

At the start of the second-half, Valencia's Pablo Aimar took the place of Veron.

Two minutes after the re-start, Paul Scholes fired a curling shot that Cavallero could only punch away...... England meant business.

David Beckham still looked strong, ten minutes into the second-half, as he ran into the left side of the Argentine area and shot with his dodgy foot.

A minute later, Teddy Sheringham replaced the ineffective Emile Heskey and almost surprised Cavallero.

England were now so confident that they played the ball around, Latino style, and worked it up towards the edge of the area for the experienced Teddy Sheringham to almost catch Argentina out with a well struck volley.

On the hour, Hernan Crespo was brought on for Batigoalless, who sat down on the bench and kicked his boots off in disgust.

With twenty minutes to go, Pablo Aimar tried to look for a penalty..... but Collina is one of the best referees in the world and saw that Nicky Butt had made contact with the ball first.

Argentina started to pour more pressure on the England goal and narrowly missed on more than one occasion.

Although Gustavo L�pez, on for Killy Gonz�lez, was looking hungry England stood fast in the trenches and even General Beckham (expecting a medal from The Queen) and his Lieutenant, Teddy Sheringham, were back with the troops as they tried to defend their advantage.......

And of course the National Anthem rang around the ground, followed by Rule Britannia.

The Argentine threat up front was so strong that Svengali brought on Southampton's Wayne Bridge for Michael Owen, with ten minutes remaining.

England held out to win the battle but the war is not over yet.

Final Score:
Argentina 0 - England 1

Man of the Match:
Pierluigi Collina - For giving England the dubious penalty and not getting trigger happy with his yellow cards, even though he was always on the whistle. A passionate game to referee and only the best in the world could have dealt with it so calmly.

Yellow Cards:
Gabriel Batistuta (13 mins)
Ashley Cole (29 mins)
Emile Heskey (50 mins)

The Teams

Argentina:
12 Pablo Cavallero; 13 Diego Placente, 4 Mauricio Pochettino, 6 Walter Samuel; 10 Ariel Ortega, 14 Diego Simeone, 3 Juan Pablo Sor�n, 11 Juan Sebastian Ver�n (16 Pablo Aimar - 46 mins), 8 Javier Zanetti; 9 Gabriel Batistuta (19 Hernan Crespo - 60 mins), 18 Killy Gonz�lez (17 Gustavo L�pez - 64 mins).

England:
1 David Seaman; 6 Sol Campbell, 3 Ashley Cole, 5 Rio Ferdinand, 2 Danny Mills; 7 David Beckham, 21 Nicky Butt, 18 Owen Hargreaves (4 Trevor Sinclair - 19 mins), 8 Paul Scholes; 11 Emile Heskey (17 Teddy Sheringham - 56 mins), 10 Michael Owen (14 Wayne Bridge - 80 mins).

Referee: Pierluigi Collina