South Africa finishes off France with a 2-1 win

BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa | Strutting into the stadium dancing and singing, South Africa’s players turned their final game at the World Cup into a rollicking party for the entire country.

Forgive France if it didn’t feel like celebrating.

South Africa became the first World Cup host in 80 years to fail to advance from the first round, but it went out with a 2-1 win Tuesday that at least gave its fans some measure of joy.

Each team needed a big win to have any chance of moving on from Group A, and both stuck to character. South Africa played eager and aggressive soccer, while France imploded.

“The fighting spirit was there,” said Katlego Mphela, who scored one of South Africa’s goals. “It’s a bit unfortunate, but we beat France in the World Cup.”

Bongani Khumalo scored in the 20th minute for South Africa, and Mphela doubled the lead 17 minutes later.

Substitute Florent Malouda scored for France in the 70th minute, but it was too little, too late.

France, the 2006 runner-up, leaves the tournament with a single point — from a 0-0 draw with Uruguay. Worse, it has become the shame of a proud nation.

The low point came when the players refused to train Sunday to protest Nicolas Anelka’s expulsion from the team after he insulted coach Raymond Domenech.

Domenech took captain Patrice Evra and five others out of Tuesday’s lineup in the wake of the protest.

In Paris, fans who gathered near the Eiffel Tower to watch the match on video screens booed their own team and cheered for South Africa.

“Lots of people are for South Africa now,” said radio journalist Angelique Jurquit. “The French are disgusted with the results of their team, so this is a bit to make fun of France now.”

Argentina 2, Greece 0

POLOKWANE, South Africa | Look out, world. Even playing mostly backups Argentina looks good.

Argentina coach Diego Maradona replaced seven starters from the lineup that ran up a 4-1 victory over South Korea — the other team to make it out of the group — but it didn’t matter much. Argentina still got its third straight victory and won Group B.

“We’re showing ourselves that many of the things you (journalists) said were wrong,” Maradona said, referring to predictions that his team, which struggled in South American qualifying, would do the same in South Africa.

Martin Demichelis and Martin Palermo scored second-half goals for Argentina.

South Korea 2, Nigeria 2

DURBAN, South Africa | The only previous time South Korea made it out of the World Cup’s first round was when it reached the semifinals as a co-host in 2002.

The South Koreans added another memorable chapter by advancing out of Group B with a draw against Nigeria.

“Our goal was to reach the last 16. We succeeded in doing this for the first time away from home,” South Korea captain Park Ji-sung said.

Lee Jung-soo and Park Chu-young scored for South Korea after Kalu Uche had given Nigeria the lead in the 12th minute.

Ayegbeni Yakubu netted a 69th-minute penalty kick to draw Nigeria even again — moments after he missed a wide-open net.