In the end, Argentina beat South Korea by a comfortable 4-1 margin at the Soccer City Stadium here on Thursday. But, for over an hour the match was very much in the balance and a couple of late strikes by Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain, who became the first player to notch up a hat trick at the 2010 Fifa World Cup, sealed three points for Diego Maradona’s men in a tricky encounter.

After a disjointed start to the match, thanks in no small part to the aggressive tackling of the South Koreans especially when the ball found its way to the feet of Barcelona star Lionel Messi, Argentina went ahead in the 17th minute.
Off a freekick from the left flank Messi whipped in a dipping cross which hit the shin of Korean striker Park Chu Young and left goalkeeper Jung Sung Ryong with little time to react as the ball found its way into the back of the net.
Argentina doubled the advantage in the 33rd minute off another cleverly worked set-piece from the left flank. Maxi Rodriguez played the ball short to Messi, who sent it back in his direction. The Atletico winger floated in a cross, which substitute Nicolas Burdisso flicked with his head towards the back post where an unmarked Higuain headed it home.
Diego Maradona’s men had chances to kill off any hopes of a South Korean comeback but a combination of good goalkeeping and narrow misses kept the Asians in the hunt.
With the first-half reaching an end, the South Koreans made Argentina pay for their errant finishing as a defensive mistake bought them back into the match. In stoppage time a long clearance from the goalkeeper fell to Martin Demichelis, who took one touch too many as Lee Chung Yong sneaked up up behind him and stole the ball. With just the goalkeeper to beat Chung Yong deftly chipped the ball over an advancing Sergio Romero to pull the Asians back into the match.
After the breather the Argentines came out with purpose. In the 52nd minute, Higuain came close but his volley was deflected for a corner by the goalkeeper. A couple of minutes later the hard-working Carlos Tevez struck a diagonal shot from the left edge of the box but the Korean goalkeeper was again up to the task and parried the shot to safety.
Spurred by Argentina’s failure to score the decisive third goal, South Korea surged forward looking for an equaliser. In the 58th minute, the hordes of Koreans fans jumped in celebration as Yeom Ki Hun fired a shot from inside the box that beat Romero — unfortunately it narrowly missed the post and hit the side netting.
Argentina put the result beyond any doubt in the 76th minute, with Messi in the thick of the action again. The diminutive winger left a couple of Korean defenders in his wake, and struck a left-footer that the goalkeeper saved. The rebound fell to Messi, who took aim again but was denied by the woodwork. The ball finally broke for Higuain, who tapped it in from two yards out to score one of the easiest goals he’s ever likely to get.
Higuain completed his hat trick, again with a little help from Messi. The Koreans put four men on the little wizard, who managed to slide the ball through on to the path of Sergio Kun Aguero, who lifted a cross towards the far post where Higuain showed a cool head and sent the ball towards the near post and into the back of the net.