Review – Group G of the 2010 World Cup
Group G was clearly the most attractive group of all, not only because it had the five-times World Champions Brazil the neutral world always waiting to watch but also because of Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Didier Drogba from Ivory Coast, making it the “Group of Death”. Each of these three teams was worthy of playing in the later stages of the World Cup but obviously one of them had to leave for home early as there were only two Round of 16 berths available from this group. The lowest ranked team in the World Cup North Korea completed the group.
Ivory Coast 0 Portugal 0:
as Brazil a level apart from these two teams, the Group G opener was being seen as the decider for the second position in the group. Any team winning this match could nearly confirm their second position as both Ivory Coast and Portugal were favourites to get better of North Korea. Both teams, however, looked more cautious to avoid defeat in this match and seriously lacked any attacking endeavour. Cristiano Ronaldo came closest of scoring as he hit the goal post from a thunderous free kick in first half. Didier Drogba could only make a short appearance from the substitute bench as he was still recovering from a broken right arm suffered in a pre-tournament friendly.
Brazil 2 North Korea 1:
In this “mismatch” of the World Cup history were five-time world champions Brazil on one side who were at the very top of the world rankings and on the side were the 105th ranked North Koreans, making it officially the biggest difference in rankings of the opponents ever in a World Cup game. North Korea had deployed a five-man defence line in this match which kept frustrating the likes of Kaka, Robinho, Luis Fabiano and Elano while their attackers took every opportunity to hit on counter attacks. It took Brazil 55 minutes to break down North Korea’s stubborn defence through Maicon’s cross-c*m-shot which went straight into the goal mouth. Elano added another through Robinho’s superb cross before Ji Yun-Nam grabbed a late consolation.
Brazil 3 Ivory Coast 1:
Fantastic display of football with the usual flamboyant flavour of Brazil was inspired by Luis Fabiano and Kaka. The game was played in a very high tempo with both teams looking to get better position of progressing through to the next stage. Luis Fabiano opened the scoring from Kaka through the ball before he added another in the second half beating off the three Elephant defenders in process. Kaka laid off another pin-point pass for Elano to make it three for Brazil. The Ivorian skipper Didier Drogba grabbed a consolation from a header while Kaka received two yellow cards in three of the last five minutes to miss the next match against Portugal.
Portugal 7 North Korea 0:
Portugal scored one goal in the first half and six in the second to complete the biggest win of the tournament. Raul Meireles, Simao, Hugo Almeida, Tiago (2), Liedson Muniz and Cristiano Ronaldo all found the back of the net. After this emphatic win, Portugal could even afford to lose the last match against Brazil, barring a more than 7-goal win for Ivory Coast over North Korea.
North Korea 0 Ivory Coast 3:
The Elephants started the match well and soon found two goals through Yaya Toure and Romaric but the North Koreans then found their feet again to get it tight at the back until Salomon Kalou added another for Ivory Coast.
Portugal 0 Brazil 0:
Both teams needed a draw from this match to get their sought-after position in the group, and a draw they did get. In a cautiously played match, there were six yellow cards in the first half after which the players got more careful. Brazil had better chances to open scoring but Portugal made little tries here and there to get a win and top spot in the group.
Brazil will face their fellow South Americans Chile in the Round of 16 while Portugal will tie up with their neighbours Spain.
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