Argentina needed two late goals to see off an unadventurous Greece side and finish top of Group B with maximum points. Greece: 0 Argentina: 2
Venue: Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane Crowd: 38,891 Officials Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan) Assistants: Rafael Ilyasov (Uzbekistan) and Bakhadyr Kochkarov (Kyrgyzstan) Fourth official: Peter O'Leary (New Zealand) Yellow cards:GRE - Katsouranis, ARG - Bolatti
Red cards: MATCH REPORT Argentina made it three wins out of three to top Group B whilst Greece bow out of the competition with a whimper rather than a roar. Greece needed a win to have any chance of progressing but their lack of ambition and niggly disruptive tactics frustrated the Argentineans for 77 minutes until the South Americans finally breached the Greek rearguard.
Greece coach Otto Rehhagel was relying on the counter attack for a win but this was rendered meaningless when defender Martin Demichelis hammered home the first goal of a tedious contest.
Skipper Lionel Messi, who endures a quiet game, then hit a post before a second goal duly arrived courtesy of substitute striker Martin Palermo in the final minute.
The South American's have now won their last eight games and are peaking at just the right time.
Argentina finish top of Group B with a 100% record and they will now play Mexico at Johannesburg's Soccer City on Sunday in the last 16. Starting Line-Ups
GRE
12. Alexandros Tzorvas 16. Sotirios Kyrgiakos 11. Loukas Vyntra 8. Avraam Papadopoulos 15. Vassilis Torosidis (Patsatzoglou, 55) 6. Alexis Tziolis 19. Socratis Papastathopoulos 5. Evangelos Moras 10. Giorgos Karagounis (Spyropoulos, 46) 21. Kostas Katsouranis (Ninis, 54) 7. Georgios Samaras SUBS
1. Kostas Chalkias (GK) 2. Giorgos Seitaridis 3. Christos Patsatzoglou 4. Nikos Spyropoulos 9. Angelos Charisteas 14. Dimitris Salpingidis 17. Theofanis Gekas 18. Sotiris Ninis 20. Pantelis Kapetanos 22. Stilianos Malezas 13. Michail Sifakis (GK) ARG
22. Sergio Romero 4. Nicolas Burdisso 2. Martin Demichelis 15. Nicolas Otamendi 3. Clemente Rodriguez 8. Juan Veron 5. Mario Bolatti 20. Rodriguez Maxi (Di Maria, 63) 16. Sergio Aguero (Pastore, 77) 10. Leo Messi 19. Diego Milito (Martin Palermo, 80)
SUBS
1. Diego Pozo (GK) 6. Gabriel Heinze 7. Angel Di Maria 9. Gonzalo Higuain 11. Carlos Tevez 12. Ariel Garce 13. Walter Samuel 14. Javier Mascherano 18. Martin Palermo 23. Javier Pastore 21. Mariano Andujar (GK)
