By TRAVIS CLARK
After a goalless draw in its World Cup opener, Portugal needed to score, and score often, to boost the chances of a second round berth. A glut of goals ensued, leaving a beleaguered Korean side wondering what hit them in a 7-0 romp on Monday.
A spirited performance against Brazil by the North Koreans — holding the five-time world champions to just two goals — must have rang the alarm with the other nations in Group G. But when the Koreans adopted a more attacking approach in Monday’s clash, the Portuguese capitalized and punished them for opening things up.
Jong Tae-Se struggled to get anything going against a stout Portugal defense, and the floodgates opened in the 53rd minute. Three goals in seven minutes — Simao, Hugo Almeida and Tiago respectively — put the result out of reach for the North Koreans after Raul Meireles opened the scoring in the first half.
Not looking to let up, Portugal continued to carve up the North Koreans. They piled on three more, including a Cristiano Ronaldo tally in the 87th minute. The goal differential will prove significant with Brazil on the horizon and Ivory Coast three points behind, now needing a miracle to advance.
Here are the match highlights, as well as action from the rest of Monday’s games:
Spain wasteful in 2-0 win over Honduras
With their backs against the wall in just the second game of the World Cup, Spain dealt with the pressure behind David Villa’s goal-scoring prowess, defeating Honduras 2-0.
Villa’s brace came on either side of the half, and while it was a comfortable win for La Furia Roja, Spain’s attack was profligate in front of net. Fernando Torres missed a hat trick of chances in his first 2010 World Cup start, and Villa couldn’t score a late penalty that would have earned him a hat trick.
Honduras threatened Spain’s defense on very few occasions, and were clearly lacking the technical proficiency in the final third to truly trouble the Spanish defense.
Here are the match highlights:
Chile top ten-men Switzerland 1-0
Another tightly contested Group H match — the third ending in a 1-0 result — was marred with another red card as a Mark Gonzalez goal kept South America cruising in South Africa.
Switzerland saw their shutout street come to an end, and had a mountain to climb when Valon Behrami was sent off for a stray elbow to the face of Arturo Vidal in the first half. The Swiss bravely held on to set a new shutout record at the World Cup, but were undone in the 75th minute by Gonzalez’s header.
The Swiss then proceeded to waste a chance at a point when Eren Derdiyok fired wide at the top of the box in the game’s final moments.
Here are the match highlights:
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