2010 World Cup: Brazil v Portugal full time report
Brazil 0 Portugal 0
Brazil and Portugal played out a disappointing 0-0 draw in Durban.
Brazil were already through to the last 16, and topped the group, while Portugal only needed a point to guarantee their place for second. Both now await the outcome of Group H, which comes to a conclusion tonight, with potential opponents against Spain, Switzerland, Chile and even Honduras.
Many expected this game to be a great spectacle following Portugal’s 7-0 drumming of North Korea in their second match. The game was so disappointing that funnily enough, there were nearly more yellow cards than shots on target. The players came off to a chorus of jeers from the crowd, who were really disappointed with the game.
On six minutes, Dani Alves hit a shot which dipped and went wide of Portugal keeper’s Eduardo’s right hand post.
Fábio Coentrão had Portugal’s first real effort, although a shot never came, Brazil keeper Júlio César flapped at his cross.
On 18 minutes, Raul Meireles’ cross from the left picked out Tiago on the edge of the box, but he sliced his volley wide of the target.
Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo, playing in a centre forward role, hit a free-kick well over the bar from a ridiculous range.
Half an hour into the game, Nilmar almost gave the Brazilians the lead, as he got onto the end of a hopeful ball into the box and got his shot away, only for Eduardo to make a decent save and divert the ball onto the bar.
A couple of minutes later, Tiago was booked for diving in the penalty area after he felt he was shoved from behind. Pepe was lucky not to see red for Portugal as he left his foot nastily on Felipe Melo.
The Portuguese felt Brazilian defender Juan should have been dismissed after he deliberately handled the ball, which stopped Ronaldo and a potential goal-scoring chance.
Six minutes from half time, Luís Fabiano’s header from Maicon’s cross was a fraction wide of the target. The man with the goals for Brazil so far at this World Cup had his best chance, but was ineffective up front.
Ronaldo once again lined up a free-kick in trademark fashion at the start of the second half, and the deflection from Pepe almost took the ball into the net.
Portugal’s best chance of the match came on 60 minutes. Ronaldo broke at pace which took him to the box, but a tackle from captain Lúcio presented the ball to Meireles, whose right-footed shot was brilliantly saved by César.
Substitute Simão made a good run down the left, and when his deflected cross found Ronaldo the Real Madrid man was unable to keep his shot down.
In injury time, Ramires’ shot thanks to a deflection was well palmed away by Eduardo.
It wasn’t a game for the neutrals to watch, or anybody to watch in fact. The match failed to live up to the pre-match expectations.
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