World Cupdate

The last day of the second round of matches opened up with Portugal at North Korea in Group G, and unlike nearly every other game in this Cup of Draws, the outcome of this match was never, ever in doubt.  Portugal's 3-3-4 offensive assault featuring Ronaldo, Almeida and Simao cracked North Korea's 1-2-2-5 bunker starting with Meireles at 29', and for a while the North Koreans held on.  But the second half was all the Seleccao das Quinas as they pummeled North Korea with SIX second half goals as their defense disintegrated totally and Portugal put North Korea out of its misery, eliminating them from the round of 16 in one of the most embarassing losses in modern World Cup history.  They came in an unknown, but they leave fully known: a massively exploitable weakness in the fullback and keeper position that a strong team can crack like an egg.  portugal played like Brazil should have, and for all intents and purposes North Korea should have a minus double digit goal differential by the end of their match with Ivory Coast.

Moving to Group H, it was Chile versus the surprising Swiss in match two as both teams were playing to assure an advance, as both teams posted 1-0 wins last week.  The Swiss were looking for another phenomenal upset as they did to Spain, but La Roja were having none of it and went 3-3-4 with Suazo, Beausejour, and Sanchez up top, versus an interesting Swiss 2-4-4 formation with Frei and Nkufo at point. Chilean tempers flew hot however and several bookings in the first half limited how aggressive La Roja could be, but then it was the Swiss right half Valon Behrani sent off with a red card at 30' as the referee clamped down on the game.  With a man up, Chile went on the assault again as the Swiss bunkered up.  The second half had what would have been an early Sanchez goal called back due to the offsides flag, and the Swiss were able to hold off the Chilean onslaught for a good long while, but at 75' Gonzalez off the bench finally headed one home, and that was enough to give La Roja the win as the one solid Swiss chance in stoppage time went wide of the net, and Chile takes the 1-0 win to lead the group.

That meant both Spain and Honduras needed wins to keep up in Group H, and to find the Spanish facing elimination at this point was a shocker indeed. La Furia Roja led off with a 2-4-4 front with David Villa and Fernando Torres at striker, while Honduras went with the popular 1-3-2-4 plan with David Suazo at point, to try to clog the middle and counter on the breaks.  La Furia Roja lived up to their name by exploding out of the gate and leading a barrage of shots early, one by Villa at 17' found the back of the net and Los Catrachos were suddenly facing a long, long night. The second half found Villa agin scoring at 51', and the rout was on.  Villa almost had the hat trick but actually missed a penalty kick at 62', and nearly scored again in stoppage, but Honduras never recovered.  Spain's 2-0 win sets up an intersting possibility where Spain beats Chile and the Swiss finish off Honduras, giving 3 teams 6 points and goals scored matter to see who will advance from Group H.