Monday June 21st

Group G

Portugal wash North Korea away

Portugal 7 North Korea 0 (Bloemfontein)
An avalanche of goals in the second half destroyed North Korea's hopes in this year's World Cup. In pouring rain Carvalho headed a 7th minute corner kick against the post, but after Eduardo had dived parrying a diagonal drive onto the head of Pak nam chol who headed over in the 18th minute, Portugal took a 29th minute lead when Meireles timed his run into the box and lashed the ball under the Korean keeper. After some passes outside the area the ball was played to Simao who slipped it in between the legs of Ri Myong-guk in the 53rd minute and 3 minutes later Coentrao delivered the ball onto the free head of Almeida who made no mistake. Portugal went 4 up on the hour-mark when Ronaldo got down the left and picked out Tiago who side-footed the ball into the corner of the net. Meireles missed the target from close-range in the 64th minute and in the 68th minute after a one-two with Ronaldo, Coentrao put the ball wide of the far post, and in the 71st minute Ronaldo clipped the bar with a shot from outside the area, but in the 80th minute a defensive error in front of goal gifted substitute Liedson who whacked the ball in with his first touch of the match. Three minutes from time Liedson stole the ball for Ronaldo who ran past the keeper to net his first goal of the competition and 2 minutes later Tiago completed the rout with a glancing header into the corner of the net.

Group H

Chile breach Swiss defence

Chile 1 Switzerland 0 (Port Elizabeth)

Ten-man Switzerland broke Italy's World Cup record for minutes without conceding a goal before losing 1-0 to Chile. A 10th minute shot from Vidal stung the palms of Benaglio who did well to save the follow-up from Carmona. The Swiss continued to defend after they were reduced to 10 men on the half-hour mark when Behrami was shown a straight red for using his elbows. In the 55th minute Sanchez came face to face with Benaglio who foiled his effort, but with 15 minutes left, Benaglio came out and was beaten by Paredes who crossed the ball from the by-line picking out Mark Gonzalez at the far post whose downward header went in off the crossbar ending the Swiss record of not conceding a goal in the World Cup after 558 minutes. Peredez had a chance in the 84th minute as the ball fell to him in the box, but he shot over the bar, and 5 minutes later he ran into the box, made himself space with a dribble but shot wide of the post. Switzerland had the last chance of the match in the 90th minute when a back-heel in the box gave Derdiyok a golden opportunity but he side-footed the ball wide of the post.

Group H

Villa double brings Spanish relief

Spain 2 Honduras 0 (Johannesburg)

Spain got off the mark with 2 goals against Honduras from David Villa who also missed a penalty. Villa, who struck the bar in the 7th minute, ran into the box 10 minutes later swerved skilfully past 2 defenders and fired the ball into the top right corner of the net. A downward header from Torres bounced over the bar in the 33rd minute, but Villa was on target again 5 minutes into the 2nd half when his shot from outside the area found the net with a slight deflection. Ramos saw his thumping shot fly past the post in the 52nd minute and in the 61st minute Spain were awarded a penalty but this time Villa missed his target. Fabrigas came on in the 65th minute and was immediately put through to round the keeper but his effort was cleared off the line. Spain will gather confidence from their win but will need to defeat Chile in their last match of the group.