Portugal Dominates North Korea, Eliminates Two
Ok, perhaps that article title isn't entirely correct. Portugal's dominance of North Korea today only completely eliminated the Kim Jong-Ils alone, but it may well have sealed the grave of Cote D'Ivoire as well.
North Korea had stunned a lot of spectators with a 2-1 loss against Brazil that was even closer than the final score might indicate. Pundits everywhere were wondering if the unknown upstarts might somehow survive the group after all, given the draw between Portugal and the Ivory Coast that left them still in contention.
Yesterday and today, true colors shone through. Brazil thoroughly outplayed an Ivory Coast squad that never really found itself defensively and suffered mightily, with only a 'too little too late" header from captain Didier Drogba separating them from a shutout in their 3-1 loss.
Then out came Portugal today, and things started (for both themselves and North Korea) as they had the last time out, thanks in large part to a rainy mess of a day. North Korea had a handful of opportunities go by the wayside, and it took the Portuguese a while to find their stride, with Cristiano Ronaldo's squad holding a slim 1-0 lead at the half.
However, once they found their stride, there was no turning back - three goals in little more than seven minutes, due largely to wide open players all over from spacing out the North Korean defense, put the game at 4-0 and out of reach with 30 minutes left to play.
Three more goals in the final ten minutes sealed an insanely lopsided second half and a 7-0 victory for Portugal. The win definitively eliminates the North Koreans, as Brazil and Portugal have six and four points, respectively, while a final game win will only give the Asian squad three.
It also, however, puts the Ivory Coast and Drogba all but out the door as well. There is little doubt that they can beat North Korea, and it's certainly not a very large leap to see Portugal losing to Brazil. However, that would merely tie the two squads, and to win the first tiebreaker Drogba and his teammates will need to make up nine goals of differential (Portugal +7, Ivory COast -2) in order to advance
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