For 45 minutes on Monday in Cape Town, it looked like North Korea would match its performance against Brazil in their 2010 World Cup Group G opener – keep it close against a world power. After all, they had held a Portuguese team full of stars to just one goal in the first half. Meanwhile, they had failed to score but had created a few good chances and looked fearless and not at all intimidated by the highly-regarded Portuguese side.
However, it all fell apart for North Korea in the second half. Their defence was exposed by the pace, creativity and overall superiority of the Portuguese offense in the final 45, giving up six goals in 34 minutes as a relentless Portuguese team surged to a 7-0 rout – the seventh-largest margin of victory in World Cup history and the largest since Germany beat Saudi Arabia 8-0 in 2002.
The scoring starting in the 29th minute for Portugal when Tiago slotted a great ball through the heart of the North Korean defense, springing Raul Meireles free. The FC Porto midfielder coolly put his shot past North Korean keeper Ri Myong-Guk. It was the first goal scored by Portugal in the World Cup – they fought the Ivory Coast to a scoreless draw in their opening match.
North Korea kept Portugal off the scorebook the rest of the half, but it was clear that Portugal was beginning to spread the North Korean defence far too thin and it was seemingly only a matter of time before they added to their tally. The inevitable happened in the 53rd minute, when Simão took a sublime pass from Hugo Almeida in box and easily beat Myong-Guk by cutting his shot low and to the far post to double the Portuguese lead.
The second goal seemed to deflate the North Korean spirit and spark a feeding frenzy with the Portuguese side. After being totally shut down in their opening match against the Ivory Coast, Portuguese players wanted to make sure that they were part of the action against North Korea as well. Almeida notched his first goal in the World Cup in the 56th minute by heading home a cross from Benfica midfielder Fábio Coentrão. Tiago opened the lead to 4-0 in the 60th minute after he took a nice pass from Cristiano Ronaldo that put him well behind the North Korean defense and easily beat the keeper.
Portugal would add three goals in the final 10 minutes to turn the match from a blowout to a rout of historic proportions. Liédson would score to complete a nifty build-up in the 81st minute before Ronaldo would get his first goal of the tournament in the 87th minute. He needed a bit of luck to get it – a deflected ball rolled over his head and down his neck before landing in a perfect position for him to finish the opportunity. Tiago would complete the scoring in the 89th minute with a glancing header before the final whistle brought a merciful end to the match.
With the win, Portugal have all be clinched safe passage through to the next round – the Ivory Coast will need to beat North Korea while Portugal loses to Brazil and make up a goal difference of nine. The more significant result for Portugal is that they were able to pad their own goal difference by beating up on the undermanned and eventually broken North Korean side. This means that they will take the top place in Group G with a win over Brazil. That’s critical, since it might mean the difference between facing Spain or Chile in the first match of the knockout round.
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