Win, Côte d'Ivoire failed to quaify

There were no miracles for Ivory Coast in Nelspruit as the west Africans were knocked out of the World Cup despite comfortably beating a defensively-frail North Korea.

The Elephants' hopes of progressing to the second round in South Africa always appeared slim as they needed to not only emphatically beat their opponents to make up an enormous goal deficit, but also hope that Portugal lost to Brazil in the other fixture in Group G.
Ivory Coast coach Sven-Goran Eriksson's men scored two early goals through Yaya Toure and Romaric but the eight-goal deluge that was most likely needed did not materialise, even though North Korea were more than obliging in defence - just as they had been during their 7-0 demolition by Portugal.

Salomon Kalou came off the bench to add a third goal but in the end the scoreline did not matter a jot as it was Portugal who progressed in second spot thanks to a goalless draw with group winners Brazil.
North Korea coach Kim Jong-hun had regarded this game as an opportunity for his team to restore some pride, but his players still seemed shell-shocked after conceding six goals in the second half against Portugal on Monday.
The Koreans granted Ivory Coast the freedom to surge forward at will and, in truth, Eriksson's men should have led by more than two goals at the break.
The Elephants started with intent as Toure's beautiful pass set the surging Kader Keita free in the box only for goalkeeper Ri-Myong-Guk's outstretched legs to prevent a goal in the opening minute.
Didier Drogba then had a header ruled out for offside, the Chelsea striker wagged his finger in protest but replays proved referee Alberto Undiano Mallenco was correct.
More chances were wasted - Gervinho being the prime culprit - before Toure finally gave Ivory Coast a deserved lead with a well-placed side-footed effort into the corner from the edge of the box.
A mere six minutes later and the Elephants doubled their advantage as the alert Romaric headed home Drogba's fierce volley, which had kindly rebounded off the crossbar.
The Elephants continued to trample over their opponents after the break but they also seemed determined to squander goalscoring opportunities.
Drogba, Ivory Coast's standard-bearer and all-time leading scorer, was the prime culprit as he headed wide from six yards and then failed to make contact with a perfect cross from Arthur Boka on the left. Gervinho and substitute Kalou were just as culpable.
North Korea defended a little more stoically in the second half and could have halved the deficit when Jong Tae-Se had the best opportunity of the match with Toure's brother Kolo blocking his goalbound effort.
Almost immediately, the Elephants whizzed up the field and the impressive Boka produced another fine cross from the left which Kalou side-footed in from six yards.
Substitute Aruna Dindane had an effort ruled out for offside in the closing stages but by then, as far as Ivory Coast's World Cup hopes were concerned, it was all a little irrelevant.

Korea DPR	0-3	Côte d'Ivoire	FT
	(HT 0-2)	Yaya Toure, 14 Romaric, 20 Kalou, 82
Team
Korea DPR 01 Myong-Guk Ri 02 Cha Jong-Hyok 03 Ri Jun-Il 05 Ri Kwang-Chon 13 Pak Chol-Jin 04 Pak Nam-Chol 08 Ji Yun-Nam 11 Mun In-Guk (12 Choe Kum-Chol Choe, 67) 17 Ahn Yong-Hak 09 Jong Tae-Se 10 Hong Yong-Jo		Côte d'Ivoire 01 Boubacar Copa 03 Boka 04 Kolo Toure 21 Eboue 05 Zokora 09 Tiote 13 Romaric (07 Doumbia, 79) 19 Yaya Toure 10 Gervinho (08 Kalou, 64) 11 Drogba 18 Keita (15 Dindane, 64)
18 Kim Myong-Gil, 20 Kim Myong-Won, 14 Pak Nam-Chol, 16 Nam Song-Chol, 21 Ri Kwang-Hyok, 06 K-I Kim, 15 Kim Yong-Jun, 19 Ri Chol-Myong, 22 Kim Kyong-Il, 23 Pak Sung-hyok, 07 An Chol-Hyok, 12 Choe Kum-Chol Choe		Substitutes: 16 Zogbo, 23 Yeboah, 02 Benjamin, 06 Gohouri, 17 Tiene, 22 Bamba, 12 Gosso, 14 Kone, 07 Doumbia, 08 Kalou, 15 Dindane
Venue: Mbombela Stadium Referee: A Undiano Mallenco Attendance: 34,634

Read the full story

Brazil and Portugal Safety Play

Brazil and Portugal played out an extremely uneventful goalless draw which ensured both sides qualified for the last 16.

What was perceived as arguably the potential standout game of the group stages failed to deliver on its promise as Portugal's desire to secure the point that would definitely seal what was already likely qualification from Group G limited any free-flowing football from either side.
Unsurprisingly, the already qualified Brazil were the more positive of the two sides but were only able to fashion a handful of chances, the best of which fell to striker Nilmar but was superbly saved by goalkeeper Eduardo.

The draw means the South Americans finish top of the group and will look forward to the second phase with confidence, even though this could present them with an earlier-than-expected clash with the closest rivals for their world number one status, Spain.
Portugal's 7-0 thrashing of North Korea in their previous match ensured that despite this defeat, and the Ivory Coast's 3-0 victory over the North Koreans in the group's other game, they progressed to the knockout stages in South Africa as runners-up.
Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz made four changes to the team from Monday with Pepe and Ricardo Costa coming into defence, and Danny and Duda in midfield.
Having overwhelmed their opponents four days ago, Queiroz's men reverted to a more conservative style designed to stifle their opponents and its efficiency resulted in an anti-climactic and fractious game where the number of bookings outweighed clear-cut chances.
Portugal defender Pepe and Brazil midfielder Felipe Melo were both booked during a running battle, which resulted in the latter being substituted just before half-time.
Brazil defender Juan was one of five other players booked but it could have been worse when he handled 40 yards from goal from a long ball seeking to release Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo clear down the right.
Ronaldo, operating in a lone attacking role was Portugal's chief threat but this primarily constituted a series of long-range efforts from 40 yards-plus which even for a player of Ronaldo's quality were wildly optimistic.
When the Real Madrid man was allowed to run at goal he twice met with strong challenges from Lucio, the first of which was a superb block from a shot on the left, but the second, from a similarly aggressive run on the right, inadvertently deflected the ball across goal to Raul Meireles only for the midfielder to shoot wide.
Ironically, the last time Portugal had been beaten prior to this match was a 6-2 thumping by Brazil in November 2008 but a repeat of that scoreline was never on the cards between two sides with one eye already on the next round.
To this end, Brazil rested Robinho, bringing in Nilmar up front to partner Luis Fabiano, who scored a hat-trick in that 6-2 win and bagged a brace in their previous group game against the Ivory Coast.
The attacking duo were central to all of Brazil's best attacking play.
They combined on the half hour with Fabiano crossing for Nilmar at the back post, who looked certain to score only for Eduardo to produce a superb point blank save to push the ball on to the post and deny him.
Shortly after, Fabiano found space at the back post by headed wide from a deep right-wing cross from the marauding Maicon.
With the game seemingly petering out to provide a satisfactory share of the spoils for each side, Brazil substitute Ramires broke from the script and struck a shot from 25 yards in injury-time which took a deflection and was goalbound until Eduardo intervened with a good one-handed save to preserve Portugal's 100% clean-sheet record in the tournament.

Purtugal	0-0	Brazil	FT
	(HT 0-0)
Team
Portugal 01 Eduardo 02 Alves 06 Carvalho 15 Pepe (08 Mendes, 64) 21 Costa 23 Coentrao 05 Duda (11 Simao, 54) 10 Danny 16 Raul Meireles (14 Veloso, 84) 19 Tiago 07 Ronaldo		Brazil 01 Julio Cesar 02 Maicon 03 Lucio 04 Juan 06 Michel Bastos 13 Daniel 05 Felipe Melo (17 Josue, 44) 08 Silva 19 Julio Baptista (18 Ramires, 82) 09 Luis Fabiano (23 Grafite, 85) 21 Nilmar
12 Beto, 22 Fernandes, 03 Ferreira, 04 Rolando, 13 Miguel, 08 Mendes, 14 Veloso, 09 Liedson, 11 Simao, 18 Almeida		Substitutes: 12 Gomes, 22 Doni, 14 Luisao, 15 Thiago Silva, 16 Gilberto, 17 Josue, 18 Ramires, 20 Kleberson, 11 Robinho, 23 Grafite
Venue: Moses Mabhida Stadium Referee: B Archundia Attendance: 62,712

Read the full story

the long-awaited goal the last two years by Cristiano Ronaldo

Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo ended his two-year wait for an international goal as his side ripped North Korea apart to claim their first win of this World Cup in style.

The two sides were only separated by Raul Meireles' goal at half-time, but Portugal produced a scintillating attacking display after the break to score six goals and spark their tournament into life.

Simao, Hugo Almeida and Tiago found the net in the space of seven minutes to end any hopes of a North Korean comeback, before Liedson, Ronaldo and a second from Tiago completed a similar quick-fire salvo at the end of the game.

This was a re-run of one of the most famous matches in World Cup history, 44 years on from the memorable day when North Korea led 3-0 before being overhauled by a four-goal Eusebio blast.

Despite a lively start by North Korea, Portugal did not have to mount any sort of comeback to win this time, but they will savour the victory just the same, especially as their much-improved goal-difference makes them favourites to follow Brazil in qualifying out of Group G.

With Brazil to play in their final group game, Carlos Queiroz's side badly needed all three points and, from the start, they came forward with far more intent than during their opening draw with Ivory Coast.

Ricardo Carvalho came closest to making an early breakthrough when Korean goalkeeper Ri Myong-Guk got nowhere near a corner and he headed against the frame of the unguarded goal.

But North Korea were also looking far more adventurous than they had in their first match and, while they were a lot less secure at the back, they gave Portugal a few scares at the other end too.

Cha Jong-Hyok saw his powerful shot swerve wide after neat build-up, while Mun In-Guk headed the follow-up over after Eduardo parried Hong Yong-Jo's cross-shot from the right.

To their credit, Portugal kept their composure and although, at this stage, Ronaldo was only an occasional menace down the left flank rather than the unstoppable force he would later become, they continued to look the more dangerous side, especially on the break.

Their first goal, when it arrived after 29 minutes, was one of beauty - with Tiago slipping a precise through-ball into the path of Meireles, who tucked a low shot past Ri Myong-Guk

While North Korea did not crumble instantly, their defensive disorganisation meant they were lucky not to concede further goals before the break, only to completely collapse after it.

Simao opened the floodgates when he finished off a neat move between Meireles and Hugo Almeida, and Almeida quickly made it 3-0 when he headed home Fabio Coentrao's cross.

By now Ronaldo had woken up too, and he set up Tiago to slot home his first goal from the edge of the area before almost making number five with a perfectly weighted cross that Almeida could not quite convert.

The £80m Real Madrid winger seemed determined to get on the scoresheet himself and smashed a rasping shot against the bar before Liedson did make it 5-0 with a thumping finish after Ri Kwang-Chan's mistake.

Then came the moment most of the Portuguese fans in Cape Town had been waiting for, when Ronaldo latched on to a ball over the top, skipped past Ri Myong-Guk and, after bringing the ball down using his neck, turned it home.

Tiago's late header from Miguel Veloso's cross added a seventh goal and gave the final score an even more emphatic appearance, and one that reflected Portugal's total dominance.

Portugal	7-0	Korea DPR	FT
Raul Meireles, 29 Simao, 53 Almeida, 56 Tiago, 60, 89 Liedson, 81 Ronaldo, 87	(HT 1-0)
Team
Portugal 01 Eduardo 02 Alves 06 Carvalho 13 Miguel 23 Coentrao 08 Mendes 16 Raul Meireles (14 Veloso, 70) 19 Tiago 07 Ronaldo 11 Simao (05 Duda, 74) 18 Almeida (09 Liedson, 77)		Korea DPR 01 Myong-Guk Ri 02 Cha Jong-Hyok (16 Nam Song-Chol, 75) 03 Ri Jun-Il 05 Ri Kwang-Chon 13 Pak Chol-Jin 04 Pak Nam-Chol (06 K-I Kim, 58) 08 Ji Yun-Nam 11 Mun In-Guk (15 Kim Yong-Jun, 58) 17 Ahn Yong-Hak 09 Jong Tae-Se 10 Hong Yong-Jo
12 Beto, 22 Fernandes, 03 Ferreira, 04 Rolando, 15 Pepe, 21 Costa, 05 Duda, 10 Danny, 14 Veloso, 17 Ruben Amorim, 20 Deco, 09 Liedson		Substitutes: 18 Kim Myong-Gil, 20 Kim Myong-Won, 14 Pak Nam-Chol, 16 Nam Song-Chol, 21 Ri Kwang-Hyok, 06 K-I Kim, 15 Kim Yong-Jun, 19 Ri Chol-Myong, 22 Kim Kyong-Il, 23 Pak Sung-hyok, 07 An Chol-Hyok, 12 Choe Kum-Chol Choe
Venue: Green Point Stadium Referee: P Pozo Attendance: 63,644

Read the full story