World Cup Recap: Day #11

It was a scoring fest in South Africa today, as Portugal beat the North Koreans like they stole something. Chile also had its way with Switzerland, while Spain delivered for the first time in the 2010 World Cup.

Portugal defeats North Korea, 7-0
It was a rainy day in Cape Town, South African, and I’m not talking about the weather. Shots rained in on the North Korean goalkeeper, as he almost had to forget about saving shots and just try to stay out of harms way. I could try to name every player that scored, but then we would be here all day. Let’s just say that Spain’s Raul Meireles opened up the scoring in the 29th minute with a goal he scored as the beneficiary of a beautiful through pass to the middle of the penalty box. Tiago was the only player to score twice. And Cristiano Ronaldo finally got on the board with his first goal of the tournament on an absolute blooper by the North Korean defense.

Chile defeats Switzerland, 1-0
Chile continued to carry the banner for South America, defeating Switzerland in what was a completely 1-sided game. Sure, the score was only 1-0, but Switzerland barely had any chances to put a dent in Chile’s one-goal lead. Chile controlled the ball for 58% of time, drew 5 corner kicks, and had 20 shots (7 shots on goal) as they made Switzerland look like Swiss cheese. The fact Chile was offsides 9 times should tell you just how aggressive they were all game. Considering that Switzerland barely had the ball and managed just one shot on the Chilean goalkeeper, it’s amazing that they only loss by one goal.

Spain defeats Honduras, 2-0
As proof that the soccer at the World Cup is getting better and better, all three games resulted in a win, including this “W” for the Spaniards, who were thought to be among the favorites to win the title. David Villa did his best to make sure Spain’s hopes wouldn’t die in the second game of the tournament, as he scored two goals to put Honduras away with 40 minutes left to play in the match. In the 17th minute, Villa had beautiful goal off a crossover move into the box. And in the 51st minute, Villa would also score from outside the box, when Honduras left him wide open and he drilled the ball just underneath the crossbar. Villa would have an incredible opportunity to get the hat trick, but he would miss a penalty kick in the 62nd minute of the match. Luckily for him, that missed shot had no bearing on the game, as Spain won easily.

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