The Portuguese thunderbolts struck the elephants and they all died. Pity, you need seven goals to get equal on goal difference. Disappointing African teams really. Drogba might be a good player, but he can't keep acting like immature Cristiano. You need to have special talent to pull of acts like those.
Goal Scorers [there is a long list of them]: Meireles, Simao, Almeida, Tiago [2 goals], Liedson & Cristiano Ronaldo,
Yes, seven goals! I can hardly believe it.This is Ooh La La Soccer at its best. A stunning game of smooth soccer, Portugal triumphed over the rest of the world with the World Cup's largest victory after eight years.
All the pessimists against the ball should be quiet and watch how the Portuguese danced with that ball, scoring almost deliciously. They didn't hold back and defend after three, they went forward to attack, and you just had to blink and they were celebrating once more. The ball drawn to the net as if it there was magnetizing force there, and we just watched in awe as the goals kept pouring in. Enticing soccer from these Portuguese.
They crafted the ball through the helpless Koreans and made endless passes, looking entirely at ease. The Koreans might have held the Brazilians back, but here they were dismantled and were stunned at the almost never ending streak of goals. The match seemed endless, I looked at the clock and was surprised that there was still 10 minutes until the end.
The first half did not note at the the impending victory. The Koreans themselves getting chances at goal. It was only until the 29th minute that Meireles fired in a goal.
After the second half, the Portuguese decided to show the world that they were going to slash those critics of theirs and win the trophy. Simao made it 2-0 in the 53rd minute. After some scintillating play, it was only three minutes after when Almeida to nodded it past the goalkeeper. Portugal were now tearing the Koreans apart, and the commentator remarked that it would be truly extraordinary if there were to get back on par. But Portugal were not taking any chances,they soon had their fourth goal, Tiago finding the net from Ronaldo's pass. Then Liedson got in on the score sheet after whipping past a defender.
And then, what I was waiting for, Cristiano Ronaldo's goal. Mr. Most Expensive Player in the World has had a tough time playing for his country, having not scored in for them in quite a long while. Then it almost happened, Ronaldo struck the top corner of the bar with a stunning strike, everybody sighing collectively. Then the ball spun off Ri Myong-Guk and on to Ronaldo's back before he dropped it from his head to his foot and tapped it in for an easy finish, ending it off with a relieved grin. Tiago's header one minute from time completed the magnificent seven.
The vuvuzelas roared in appreciation for the scintillating show the team had put up for them.
“My goal was funny but I’m very happy,” said Ronaldo, "To score seven in a World Cup game is not easy, we played fantastic.”
Goal Scorers: Maicon, Elano [B] & Ji Yun-nam [N.K]
Air woven by the ball/a dance of golden boots/dribble by drum beat/let's play the beautiful game
Alright, that is my soft haiku, but I did expect them to play beautifully. I had my Brazilian T-shirt on, so sunny that it made me feel much happier and also warmer. I have also always wondered how cold it would be before the players had to wear gloves, and they were wearing gloves in Johannesburg, man, that was shocking! Oh, it was cold, it was let's stay in bed and watch the soccer cold. The fans shivered, hoping the Samba boys would dance the world warm, but the Brazilian boys were frozen.
Who taught them how to play soccer like that? I wished Ronaldinio was here, even if he could not blast the ball through those red soldiers so determined to defend, he could have shown us some tricks. Never mind that, they were actually rather sad and the Koreans were seriously playing football. They did not want to make mistakes, so they put the red army on the line and effectively kept the score line blank. Their confidence was highly impressive.
Kaka was not having his dream day, but I can understand because it was cold and besides he is a nice guy. Robinho has that characteristic Brazilian talent and flair, and made most of the opportunities in the game. Brazil took there their time and waited until the second half to score that wonderfully clever Maicon goal. There, finally, a Brazilian playing Brazilian soccer. I was astonished to see him cry, if anything, Korea should be proud that they made a star work so hard that he had to cry. Or maybe, it was just ice melting.
Robinho's sublime smooth as vanilla ice-cream pass that brought on the second goal, and Elano kicking it in neatly was lovely. I enjoyed this one more that the last. Then, N. Korea's Ji Yun-nam ran, beating the yellow shirts and scoring a pretty good goal. It also made it the first match where the losing team had actually scored a goal. Man, these Koreans are something.
The Group G's other three teams placed most of its wins against a tiny country, North Korea, who have not played for decades, and were suppose to trail after the players as they scored so many goals. No, they were not supposed to be good and so fell into the cradle of the small teams. Besides, tiny people do have some sort of trouble when playing soccer, they can't hold their tackles against giants and then can always just get pushed away, or out run, or jumped over. And so far S. Korea and Japan have done rather alright too. Brazil will go to the semis or the final, the others most probably not, but after some of the lackluster performances of the other teams, I do admire their courage.
