Asked this week to explain Wayne Rooney’s poor form for England at this World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo expressed sympathy for his former Manchester United team-mate and claimed that the best players were invariably made the scapegoats when things do not go to plan.
Warming to the theme, Ronaldo went on to say that he could not expect single-handedly to carry his country at this tournament. If that was a call to arms from the captain, it appeared to do the trick. The star of Portugal’s demolition of North Korea at Cape Town Stadium yesterday afternoon was not one individual but a team operating in almost telepathic harmony.
Sure, Ronaldo was excellent, and he scored his first competitive goal for his country since Euro 2008 in the process as Portugal sauntered to their record World Cup win and the biggest victory of the tournament thus far.
But, as even he acknowledged, there were three or four other players equally, if not more, deserving of the man-of-the-match award that the Real Madrid forward seemed mildly embarrassed to collect. No wonder he handed the trophy to Tiago, who scored twice, although Raúl Meireles, another midfield player, or Fabio Coentrão, the rampaging left back, would have been just as worthy recipients.
North Korea’s defending in the second half may have been lousy, but that takes nothing away from Carlos Queiroz’s team. The conditions were far from conducive to a fluent passing game, but Portugal defied the torrential rain to produce some breathtaking football that took them to the brink of qualification for the round of 16.
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Ivory Coast must hope Brazil beat Portugal in Durban on Friday and enjoy a nine-goal swing in their favour to progress.
Such a scoreline never seemed likely in the first 20 minutes when North Korea knocked the ball around with the same swagger exhibited during their 2-1 defeat by Brazil, but, having trailed 1-0 at the interval, their hopes of causing an upset evaporated during a three-goal burst in the space of seven minutes early in the second half.
Meireles gave Portugal the lead when he latched on to Tiago’s through-ball to score just before the half-hour mark and the Porto midfield player was instrumental in his team’s second goal; the pick of the bunch.
Controlling Miguel’s intelligent ball forward, Meireles exchanged a lovely one-two with Hugo Almeida before slotting the ball into the path of Simão to finish. From then on the floodgates opened as North Korea paid a price for committing greater numbers to attack.
Coentrão crossed for Almeida to head home and it was 4-0 soon after when Ronaldo pulled the ball back for Tiago to score. Liédson added a fifth after Ri Kwang Chon miscontrolled Duda’s cross before Ronaldo’s tap-in and Tiago completed the rout when he converted Miguel Veloso’s cross.
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“I gave Tiago the man-of-the-match award because he was our best player,” Ronaldo said. “It was the right thing to do. This Portugal team believes in itself.” Too true.
Portugal (4-3-3): Eduardo — Miguel, R Carvalho, B Alves, F Coentrão — Tiago, P Mendes, R Meireles (sub: M Veloso, 70min) — Simão (sub: Duda, 74), H Almeida (sub: Liédson, 77), C Ronaldo. Booked: Mendes, Almeida.
North Korea (5-4-1): Ri Myong Guk — Cha Jong Hyok (sub: Nam Song Chol, 75), Pak Chol Jin, Ri Jun Il, Ji Yun Nam, Ri Kwang Chon — Mun In Guk (sub: Kim Yong Jun, 58), An Yong Hak, Pak Nam Chol (sub: Kim Kum Il, 58), Hong Yong Jo — Jong Tae Se. Booked: Pak Chol Jin, Hong.
Referee: P Pozo (Chile). Attendance: 63,644
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Join the Dear Leader in hailing 0-0 triumph ...
Korean State News Agency, on behalf of Kim Jong Il
Hundreds of thousands of capitalists arrived at the Rallying Ground of Cape Town yesterday to pay homage to the heroes of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea who did our Dear Leader so proud with a 0-0 victory over “Portugal” after 28 minutes.
Yet — oh, cruel! — on 29 minutes when the “Portuguese” approached the Korean net for the first time, the Leader’s munificent decision to permit all Koreans to watch our victory live on national television was cruelly corrupted by American conspirators who hijacked the feed and replaced it with an hour-long loop of Ji Yun Nam scoring most effortfully against “Brazil”.
Alas, normal service was not resumed until the battle was decided, when replica-shirted decadents in the stands rose as one to blow their horns and acclaim the Korean performance.
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The Dear Leader has wisely decided to recall our team after their next match in order that they might be received in Pyongyang by the Korean people with the utmost respect and ceremony for their achievements. As for the injustices perpetrated on DPR Korea in this tournament, we remind Fifa capitalists that we possess nuclear weapons and Switzerland is not so very far.
Interpretation by Tom Dart