Portugal through after dull draw

NELSPRUIT: Portugal qualified for the second round of the World Cup after battling to an ill-tempered 0-0 draw with five-time champions Brazil in their final Group G game..

In a match that was hyped as a potential showcase for the “beautiful game”, there was not much samba on display with seven yellow cards brandished in the first-half alone and only a handful of decent attempts on goal.

Brazil, who had already qualified for the last-16 of the tournament after earlier wins over North Korea and Ivory Coast, dominated possession and looked extremely solid at the back while Portugal looked over-reliant on their captain Cristiano Ronaldo playing solely up front.

Portugal, on a run of 17 matches without defeat, needed a draw to guarantee going through to the next round ahead of Ivory Coast and arguably had the best chance of a winner in the 60th minute of the match.

A storming run by Ronaldo had Lucio in all kinds of problems and the Brazil skipper was forced into clearing the ball across his own six-yard box into the path of Raul Meireles. But the Porto midfielder’s close-range dink was tipped around the corner by Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar.

Brazil dominated possession and wasted two excellent chances through Nilmar and Luis Fabiano in the first-half.

The South Americans were seemingly happy to sit back and control the ball in the second period, under no real pressure from a muted Portugal attack. Ronaldo had an early free-kick deflected wide by Pepe and Simao, on as a replacement for Duda, had a smart shot saved by Cesar.

Ivory Coast score three but not enough for progress

Ivory Coast fell short of their goal chase to make the last-16 at the World Cup as they beat North Korea 3-0 to continue the exodus of African teams.

Ivory Coast joined hosts South Africa, Cameroon, Nigeria and Algeria as first-round casualties with only Ghana carrying on the African cause in the knockout round.

The Ivorians scored twice in the opening half, raising some hopes that they might set sail after the imposing target, but as the smoke drifted in from fires on the surrounding low veld, so did Sven-Goran Eriksson’s team lose their way.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2010.