2010 World Cup South Africa - Portugal vs. North Korea: Portugal team performance review
The Portuguese team has finally kicked into gear and the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa finally seems real. Portugal kicked off against North Korea today in an early game kick-off here and recorded the largest win in the tournament so far with their 7-0 thrashing of North Korea. Carlos Quiroz made four changes to his starting 11 for the Portuguese national team with Tiago, Almeida, Simao and Miguel coming in for Deco, Ferreira, Danny and Liedson. These changes worked brilliantly as three of the four incoming players went on to score for the Portuguese.
The Portuguese lined up with a 4-1-2-3 lineup, with Ronaldo, Simao and Hugo Almeida forming the attacking three while Pedro Mendes played a defensive midfielder role and the two playmaking roles where played by Tiago and Raul Mereiles. Scoring was opened by a Raul Mereiles in the 29th minute of the game in South Africa which was followed up by a barrage of goals by the Portuguese as they knocked DPRK out of the World Cup.
The second goal for Portugal was scored by Simao in the 53rd minute of the match; the third came after an exquisite move from midfield and was finished off by Hugo Almeida in the 56th minute. The Portuguese then went on to score four more times through Tiago (60th’ 89th’), Liedson (81st’), and Ronaldo (87th’). Tiago was the standout player of the match and scored twice for the Portuguese as they totally out classed the North Koreans.
At the back the Portuguese were outstanding and kept their second clean sheet of the tournament as the experienced Ricardo Carvalho matched the North Koreans move for move during the entire game. The Portuguese controlled much of the game and had a passing success rate of around 82 percent.
The ex-world player of the year ‘Ronaldo’ was subdued in the first half of the match but exploded into action in the second, after playing a crucial part in the fourth goal by Tiago. Ronaldo was threatening throughout the match for the Portuguese as he troubled the North Korean defense time and again against his trickery and pace, this eventually led to him scoring in the 87th minute of the match. The Portuguese captain had an effort deflected off the cross bar right after the 70th minute of the match as well. The Portuguese ended their barren run of four world cup games without a win in the regulation time and Ronaldo ended his unproductive streak for Portugal in the last sixteen international games by scoring in today’s match.
The Portuguese made three substitutions later in the match with Simao, Almeida and Raul Mereiles coming off and being replaced by Duda, Liedson and Miguel Veloso in the 74th 78th and 70th minutes respectively.
The standout player for Portugal was their energetic midfielder Raul Mereiles who broke from his position to support the Portuguese attack time and again by making clever darting runs. This win for Portugal means that they have virtually sealed their place in the last 16 of the FIFA World Cup 2010, as their next match with Brazil becomes a formality. Portuguese rightly pushed on to score as many as they could, as the goal difference can prove crucial in order to determine which teams go through to the round of 16. This result means that the Ivorians will have to gain a win against the North Koreans regardless of the result of the Brazil vs. Portugal match in the next round of matches in South Africa.
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