Thank You Argentina - Brazil

Saturday September 05 had been a long day of International football.

I'd watched England cheat themselves to victory with yet another Rooney dive.

Seen Italy go without scoring but yet emerge winners 2-0 in a comical affair, put to sleep by France as they struggled to carve out a win at home versus Romania.

There were even parts of Colombia versus Ecuador that I'd tuned in to.

Yes, it had been a long day of International football....the only thing missing was a little bit of, well.....football.

Then comes Argentina-Brazil.

The match kicked off in fine style with Argentina immediately getting down to business at home.

Sublime subtle touches as Maradona's men seemed to take Brazil by surprise, initially, as they worked their way into the Brazilian half.

Finally my eyes had been rewarded with a taste of the beautiful game.

Messi-Teves-Veron...touch touch and go. It was truly beautiful to witness.

But alas, Brazil would end up scoring first from yet another magnificent set piece. On 23 min Elano struck another one of his well placed free kicks finding an unmarked Luisao who headed home 0-1.

Argentina regained their composure and once again pressured only to be halted by yet another free kick which struck the wall and fell to the feet of Kaka then Maicon then to none other than Luis Fabiano for 0-2.

This was no ordinary 2-0 however, as Argentina were having more of the play and were looking extremely good, playing extremely well.

It was necessary to stop Brazil with fouls at times and this was perhaps the reason for the Argentine downfall as Dunga's men were very well prepared for any set piece opportunities.

The Brazilian defense was extremely well organised and there was still Julio Cesar to contend with if one did slip past the defense as when Maxi Rodriguez was denied at point blank range just before half time.

In the second half, perhaps frustrated by Argentina's inability to penetrate, Jesus Datolo unleashed a screamer from 30 metres out and beat the otherwise flawless Julio Cesar for 1-2.

A beauty of a goal thoroughly deserved by Argentina.

Any hopes of a comeback got doused in cold water, just minutes later, as on the counterattack Kaka timed a pass to perfection and found Luis Fabiano.

The reader must understand that this was indeed the perfect pass as Kaka held back a fraction, made that extra pace forward and, in a truly, visibly conscious manner, served up the most perfect of passes to Luis Fabino who scored an equally fantastic delicate little touch of a goal.

OH....the humanity!!  Finally I was being treated to beautiful football, as good as it gets.

1-3 it ended and I just have to say THANK YOU Argentina-Brazil.