Thursday June 26th

Group G

Damage done

Portugal 2 Ghana 1 (Brasilia)

A 2-1 win over Ghana was not enough as Portugal crashed out of the World Cup on goal difference having suffered a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of the Germans in their first match. Ronaldo's cross hit the bar in the 5th minute and his 19th minute point-blank header was saved by the keeper while at the other end a minute later Gyan was through only to be denied by the legs of the Portuguese keeper, but the deadlock was broken in the 30th minute when John Boye sliced a cross in off the bar and post for an own goal. Portugal equalised in the 57th minute when Asamoah curled a beautiful ball with the outside of his left foot for Asamoah Gyan to nod in at the far post, but with 10 minutes of the match left Dauda flapped a high defensive header into the path of Ronaldo who lashed in the winner with his left foot into the bottom corner.

Group G

Americans get result

Germany 1 USA 0 (Recife)

Team USA made it to the next round on goal difference after losing only 1-0 to Germany. The Germans dominated the match but only managed one goal when Howard got down and fisted a Mertesacker header away as far as Thomas Müller who curled it into the bottom right corner in the 55th minute. A draw would have eliminated the other 2 teams regardless of their result, but America showed very little ambition to threaten the German goal.

Group H
Algeria knock Russia out

Algeria 1 Russia 1 (Curitiba)

Islam Slimani scored to earn a point and take Algeria through to the next round ahead of Russia. The Russians took the lead in the 6th minute when Alexander Kokorin rose unchallenged to head in from a Shatov cross, but in the 60th minute a free-kick was crossed beyond the Russian keeper for Slimani to head in and put Algeria on course to meet Germany in the next round.

Group H
Industrious Koreans go home

Belgium 1 South Korea 0 (Sao Paulo)

Belgium made it 3 wins out of 3 with a 1-0 win over South Korea. In the 25th minute the ball fell to Mertens who cleared the bar from 7 yards out and 5 minutes later at the other end Coutois got down to his right to keep out a shot from Ki Sung Yeung. Just before the break, Steven Defour was shown a straight red for a 2-footed challenge. A cross from Son bounced off the bar in the 59th minute. The Koreans failed to find a way through and were punished in the 77th minute when Sung got down to parry a shot from Origi and Jan Vertonghen buried the follow up.