Day 11 - Iberian & Brazilian teams finding their feet

The 4 matches to catch up on from Sunday and Monday are from Groups G and H and bring to a close the second phase of the first stage of the... well, again, you know what I mean ;)

Starting with Group H and Spain came out against a Honduran side knowing that victory was imperative for their chances of progressing through to the next round. It didn't take long for David Villa - who was unfortunate to only hit the crossbar with a wonderfully struck shot moments earlier - to score with a stunning solo effort.

The striker picked up the ball way out on the left flank, jinked past 2 players and then nipped inside a third before lashing home a glorious shot into the top left corner.

The Honduran side put up little resistance and Villa added another in the second half to make it 2-0. The striker then had a chance to get this year's second hat-trick from the spot but fluffed it wide and the score stayed as it was.

The other game saw a highly entertaining match between Chile and Switzerland. Highly entertaining for two reasons. Firstly, the Chileans put on a pretty good showing with some nice touches and I was impressed with their all round play. But secondly - The Ref! LOL!

In truth, I can’t see Saudi Arabian referee, Khalil Al Ghamdi, being selected to go through to the next round after a really rather laughable performance in which he showed a total of 10 cards. One of which was a very questionable straight red.

I was watching it outside the GS25 (our little local supermarket) and me and my mate Kellen where having a field day! Into the second half, every time a player did something weird or sometimes even touched the ball, we'd be shouting "BOOK HIM"! BOOK HIM! Hehehe!

The first yellow came after less that 60 seconds of play and went to Humberto Suazo for a high tackle that really didn't seem that bad at all. One Swiss guy then tripped and fell on a Chilean dude and got booked for that too. Others seemed to calmly ask the referee a question and got booked for that as well! Incredible stuff! We loved it ;)

Anyway, the game finished 1-0 to Chile, giving them 6 points and an out-right lead in the group. Good job!

And then...*drum roll please*... Group G! Rah!

Group G saw Portugal get their first win and goal(s)(!!!) of the 2010 World Cup. No fewer than 7 in fact! A strange old game saw North Korea rattle the Portuguese a little in the first half, coming close through Cha Jong Hyok and Hong Yong Jo.

They played some industrious football and nearly took the lead but in the 29th minute, Porto's robust midfielder Raul Meireles burst through the North Korean defense and was exquisitely found by man-of-the-match (in my view anyway) Tiago. He took the ball in his stride and smashed it under the advancing keeper.

The first half ended 1-0 with both teams still in it but after the break, the Portuguese took control. First, Simão Sabrosa on 53 and then Hugo Almeida on 56 put the game beyond North Korea's reach.

4 minutes later, Tiago capped a wonderful Portuguese move by scoring the 4th and suddenly the rout was on. "A Selecção das Quinas" then wasted a whole host of chances including a superb Ronaldo shot that smashed the cross bar, before substitute Liedson got their 5th on 81 minutes.

Ronaldo then finally got what he'd been looking for with a bizarre goal. Liedson intercepted a ball off the North Korean defense and the two of them were through on goal. Ronaldo got there first but only just managed to poke the ball in the keeper’s direction.

The ball then somehow rose up into the air before seemingly resting on Ronaldo's back who was stumbling forward after jumping over the keeper! Weird, I know! (See the video if you want, just here to the right ~>)

Somewhat fortuitously, it then rolled down his right side and he was left with a simple tap in to get Portugal's sixth.

Unbelievably, it wasn't over yet and in the dying minutes, Tiago added another and his second to make it seventh heaven for Portugal.

The mood here was not the best. It may seem strange to some (including myself a little), but to many (South) Koreans, Korea is still one people and regardless of the problems between the two Nations in recent times, watching their "brothers" let 7 past them was not a nice thing at all.

Finally, the other game in the group was Brazil vs Ivory Coast and the Brazilians took it 3-1. The game had two major talking points. Firstly Luis Fabiano's 2nd goal definitely looked like he handled the ball on his way through to scoring. Put that aside for a moment and it was actually a wonderfully worked goal from the striker.

But pictures show the referee actually asking the player afterwards if he had handled it! Fabiano said "no", of course... but I wonder what would have happened had he said "yes"??? Hmm... interesting. Would the ref have pulled it all back and disallowed it? That certainly would have been a first.

The second big talking point was Kaka's second yellow and subsequent red card, with shades of the Rivaldo 2002 incident, seemingly coming back to haunt them.

It looked like the squeeky clean, golden boy of Brazilian football, really didn't do much to Abdelkader Keita as the two innocuously came together but the Ivory Coast winger went down in dramatic fashion, clutching his face and rolling around like he was being stung by a billion bees or something.

After a big kafuffle involving players and staff from both sides, Kaka was sent off and will now miss the game against Portugal (phew! hehe) and, depending on how FIFA see it, may even miss the one after that too.

But the win guarantees Brazil's participation in the last 16 and the game against Portugal next Friday will be one to be watched. The winner and loser almost certainly deciding who will top the group and subsequently, who will face Spain (probably) in the next round!

I can't wait!!!!