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Portugal's goal-fest

QUAZI ZULQUARNAIN ISLAM
Portugal went goal crazy, Spain quelled the doubters and Chile and Switzerland fought out an intriguing training exercise as the last day of round two matches drew to a close.
Cristiano Ronaldo bagged his first goal for Portugal in ages as the Western Europeans ran riot in a 7-0 hammering of North Korea to ensure they have a good chance of qualifying for the second round.
Although the North Koreans fielded an unchanged line-up for this game, the most notable thing was that they pushed forward far more than in their first game. Their wing-backs fulfilled more conventional roles rather than filling out as full-backs in a five-man defence; they got forward and formed triangles on the flanks with the outside central midfielders. For thirty minutes they held sway.
But as with the Brazil game, the key to unlocking North Korea was the full-backs.
Just as Maicon had raided down the right for Brazil,
Portugal's Fabio Coentrao was the brightest spark as he raided down the North Korean left. That allied with the fact that both Ronaldo and Simao moved far narrower than usual meant that the fullbacks had even more space to exploit.
North Korea were tight for the early half-an-hour of the game, but soon after the first
goal went in, they seemed demoralised. Sadly for them, the more they pushed forward, the more gaps they left at the back, and the more goals they conceded. Almost every Portugal player aside from the centre-backs broke through the Korea defensive line at some point to meet a through-ball, and whilst 7-0 was harsh on Korea, it was a fairly accurate reflection of how easy it
was for Portugal when Korea played a higher line.
Portugal were superb. They played a tremendous brand of football organised in defence, resourceful with the ball in midfield, and devastatingly effective upfront. And as always, when Cristiano Ronaldo has a smile on his face, it can only be good news.
Elsewhere, the confounding standards of referees continued. Valon Behrami of Switzerland was sent oft for an absolutely nothing challenge as the Swiss rearguard failed to turn in another clean sheet. They still broke the Italian record for the most minutes without conceding, even though Mark Gonzales finally broke their resistance with a late header. For their part, Chile deserved the win and again impressed with their
attacking, exciting brand of football. But they struggled to extend their advantage, despite clear superiority in both possession and territory. It might be astonishingly unlucky, but they might still go out despite two wins from two games.
In the day's final game, Spain got their title winning ship back on course with a David Villa inspired brace against Honduras. Villa also hit the bar and missed a spotkick in a fine performance in a new role; he was used as an inverted wing-forward out on the left, supporting Fernando Torres. The Liverpool man was disappointing and missed several good chances as the Spanish predictably passed the Hondurans to death in a strong but not outstanding performance.