Here are the 5 things we learnt whilst watching Monday’s World Cup fixtures:
1. Highest scoring game
Portugal absolutely slaughtered North Korea yesterday, by bagging 7 goals in 90 minutes, making it the highest scoring game of the World Cup so far. Portugal were poor against the Ivory Coast in their opening group G game last week, but showed the world what they are truly capable of in their second group game. Ok, North Korea are not the best team in the tournament by any stretch of the imagination, nevertheless the Portuguese had to beat what was in front of them, and beat them they did. Goals from Raul Meireles, Simao, Hugo Almeida, Liedson, Cristiano Ronaldo, and two from Tiago sealed an emphatic victory and all but settled qualification into the next round.
2. Ronaldo makes his mark
Cristiano Ronaldo finally made his mark on the world stage this summer in South Africa by guiding Portugal to their first win in the World Cup. The Portuguese captain performed brilliantly against North Korea and showed why he is one of the worlds greatest. The Real Madrid man was simply on his game and showed superb flashes of flair, his abundance of pace and also proved once again that he is a clinical finisher as well. Ronaldo got himself an assist and his first goal of the tournament against North Korea yesterday and if he manages to keep up this standard then surely he will produce more of the same. Ronaldo has arrived, take note.
3. Chile love to attack, attack, attack!
Chile have impressed me with their football style, which is simply attack, attack, attack. The Chileans don’t seem to know anything else other than push forward and grab as many goals as possible; they simply have no fear, which is great to see as a football fan. Chile only managed to beat 10 men Switzerland 1-0 yesterday but even when they took the lead, the Chileans still committed a number of men forward. At times it felt as if Chile were the ones that were losing with the number of men they had in the opposing penalty area. They now lead group H and deservedly so with the football they play, let’s hope they keep it up.
4. Fabregas still can’t start
For the second game in a row, the Arsenal captain has not been able to start for his country. Fabregas did not come off the bench in Spain’s first match against Switzerland, but did manage to get some playing time last night when they met Honduras in the Ells Park stadium in Johannesburg. With his first touch of the ball the 23-year-old midfielder nearly bagged himself a World Cup goal by rounding the Honduran goalkeeper and placed a low shot destined for the back of the net, unfortunately for Cesc it was cleared off the line. Fabregas came on for Xavi in the 65 minute, and showed some great skill and touches for the remainder of the time (no wonder Barcelona are interested in acquiring his services). However, despite his 25 minute contribution last night, it seems that the creative Spaniard looks all but certain to be taking his regular place for his country…on the bench. Will he ever start for Spain in this World Cup? Surely he will.
5. All one-sided games
The three matches yesterday were easy to predict before even a ball was kicked. It was obvious that Portugal were going to win, ok maybe not 7-0 but a win nonetheless. Chile were going to grab all 3 points because of the style of football they play and evidently they did. it was all Chile even before Behrami got sent off in the first-half. Finally, Spain v Honduras? Please, it was one-way traffic for 90 minutes…Spain battered them. All three games were by far one-sided.
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