Spain 1 Villa 63
Portugal 0
I took a day off before I wrote this one. I've been writing about football fairly much all the time I haven't been watching it, and it suddenly dawned on me it was nineteen days since I'd been further than the Tesco round the corner.
So I got on my bike and went down to the city. I was a bit nervous at first, but it all seemed to be where I'd left it. You've even added a couple of new bits. Shops, taxis, swing bridges, emergency services, you've kept them going right through the World Cup. Well done.
It was lovely to sit down by the harbour with a coffee and a burger and do the crossword in the paper while people chugged, sailed and rowed all around me. I didn't even mind the lack of football. It turns out that four to six hours a day for nineteen days in a row is actually enough. Football: a bit like cocaine, but much more like custard.
Unfortunately, the down side of a day off is that when you do finally get round to writing up a game report, your notes can seem a little thin. 12 short corner, Torres shoots just over, 15 wide right, unlucky, it says. I really don't recall, so I'm going to have to take my word for it. So, Torres was unlucky after twelve minutes when his shot from the right hand edge of the box went just over after Spain caught Portugal napping with a short corner, I'm going to write. And now I have.
There are some moments I remember with startling clarity. Ronaldo pushed by Piquet, no foul, I enjoyed that. Shortly followed by my favourite moment of the World Cup so far, Ronaldo quite clearly fouled, blatantly pushed over, nothing given ha ha twat. Truly these are great days we're living through.
Not for Ronaldo, though, or for Portugal. Tuesday in particular wasn't their day at all. They'd clearly been told to go out there and defend, and they kept two lines of four most of the time with Wonder Boy on his own up front. It worked for them for an hour, which is how long the tactic usually works for, but in the end the constant pressure wears you down and you crack.
It started with a diving header for Llorente, who'd come on for the unfit Torres. The defence seemed to just let him go, and if he'd managed to put it either side of the keeper it would have been in.
A minute later, and Villa's shot from the edge of the box just curled wide. They'd defended well, the Portugese, the keeper was doing everything asked of him, they'd even had a few chances themselves, but you could feel the momentum build.
The goal came two minutes later. The ball came through to Xavi in the box, his little back heel flick was so subtle you had to check the replay to be sure he'd made contact, but it just gave it the slight vector and momentum shift to land it perfectly in Villa's path. Eduardo saved the first shot, but the rebound came back to Villa, who made no mistake with his second.
It looked fractionally offside to me, but you'd be hard pressed to work up any sense of outrage for a poor and unambitious Portugal side, especially one with Ronaldo in it. At the end they may have been the victims of another injustice, when Costa was sent off for elbowing Capdevila. Replays were inconclusive, an odd thing to say about an incident where one player elbows another in the face, but it was genuinely hard to tell if there was contact or not from what we saw.
The whistle blew soon after, and that was that. So, Spain go marching on, and Portugal go home. Bye Ronaldo. Bye bye. Twat.
Showing posts with label Portugal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Portugal. Show all posts
Tuesday, 29 June 2010
Saturday, 26 June 2010
Group G - final games
Brazil 0 - 0 Portugal
Ivory Coast 3 - 0 North Korea
Yaya Toure 14
Romaric 20
Kalou 82
Well that was just shit. After Japan and Slovakia show the world how it's done, two of the top teams had the chance to re-establish their credentials. Hey look at me they could have said, through the medium of flicks and shimmies. But no.
And I wasn't expecting anything else. Neither of them had anything to gain, you see. Brazil were through anyway and Portugal knew a point was enough. Top place didn't matter, or rather it wasn't clear whether first or second place was best because the Group H games hadn't been played, and under those circumstances why would they bother entertaining us?
Is that cynical of me? Only if you forget that all these players have been selected. Not just selected in the sporting sense, but selected in the Darwinian sense as well.
Actually that's a misrepresentation. Even in the case of footballing dynasties like the Redknapps or the Lampards, it's not as if footballing prowess is actually affecting their ability to reproduce as such. There is no natural selection at work here. But there is an application of the principle of the survival of the fittest.
It's straightforward enough, if you think about it. Within the niche environment of football, clubs rise or fall according to their ability to score goals, and stop their opponents scoring them. The ones that succeed are promoted, those that fail are relegated. The environment changes from time to time, rules are tweaked, new strategies emerge, and teams have to adapt or pay the price for their rigidity. Players also rise or fall individually, by getting transferred to better or worse teams.
The footballing equivalent of camouflage or sharp teeth, the things that get you selected, are fitness, positional sense, being tall and so on. The ability to control and direct a bouncing ball without using your hands is obviously an asset. As is the fine art of moral compromise.
In football, morals could for instance mean a distaste for cheating, or a desire to give something back to the public, even if you don't personally benefit. If you have morals in football, you aren't going to be prepared to fall over to win a penalty, demand a corner when you know it's a goal kick, pass the ball from side to side for ninety minutes and so on. In footballing terms, a strong sense of ethics is simply a form of poor ball control.
Ask any West Brom fan. West Brom are a team who spend half their time getting promoted from the Championship and the other half getting relegated from the Premiership. Their fans are intimately familiar with the difference between the two. They will tell you how much dirtier the Premiership is, just as they'll tell you how much better Premiership players are at all the other football skills. Championship players, on average, aren't quite as spectacularly good at shooting, crossing or moral abdication as players on the next level up.
At World Cup level, we're watching the cream of the cream. Anyone who fails at any football skill isn't going to make the cut, because there are always other players to come in and fill the gap. There are probably plenty of Brazilian and Portugese players looking at the crowded stadium and thinking well, they've come a long way and spent a lot of money, surely they're entitled to some kind of spectacle, but they're all watching on the telly like the rest of us because they've failed to master the skill of shamelessness.
It's just maths. If the rewards for a certain behaviour outweigh the risks, then that behaviour is going to emerge. Emerge in the technical sense, of simply following from the initial premise without any intent being required. To address the problem you have to change the maths, and to change the maths you have to tweak the rules. Take simulation, for instance.
Make simulation one of the most punishable offences in the game, make punishment retroactive and introduce a committe whose job is to review all games and apply it, and the maths changes. Even if individual players didn't change their behaviour, their selection fitness would fall because they were suspended so often, and in the end they'd find themselves playing at a lower level. Players who disdained simulation, on the other hand, would find empty places to step into in teams like Portugal or Real Madrid.
Not that it would have helped much yesterday. You can tweak the parameters around simulation, but I know of no rule change that would make teams come out and play.
In the other game, Ivory Coast scored about a third of the goals they would have needed if Brazil had made the necessary effort to beat Portugal, and like every African country except Ghana they're on their way home. North Korea, meanwhile, finish with zero points, one goal for and twelve against. Let's hope Kim Jong-Il isn't from the Saddam Hussein school of sports management.
Ivory Coast 3 - 0 North Korea
Yaya Toure 14
Romaric 20
Kalou 82
Well that was just shit. After Japan and Slovakia show the world how it's done, two of the top teams had the chance to re-establish their credentials. Hey look at me they could have said, through the medium of flicks and shimmies. But no.
And I wasn't expecting anything else. Neither of them had anything to gain, you see. Brazil were through anyway and Portugal knew a point was enough. Top place didn't matter, or rather it wasn't clear whether first or second place was best because the Group H games hadn't been played, and under those circumstances why would they bother entertaining us?
Is that cynical of me? Only if you forget that all these players have been selected. Not just selected in the sporting sense, but selected in the Darwinian sense as well.
Actually that's a misrepresentation. Even in the case of footballing dynasties like the Redknapps or the Lampards, it's not as if footballing prowess is actually affecting their ability to reproduce as such. There is no natural selection at work here. But there is an application of the principle of the survival of the fittest.
It's straightforward enough, if you think about it. Within the niche environment of football, clubs rise or fall according to their ability to score goals, and stop their opponents scoring them. The ones that succeed are promoted, those that fail are relegated. The environment changes from time to time, rules are tweaked, new strategies emerge, and teams have to adapt or pay the price for their rigidity. Players also rise or fall individually, by getting transferred to better or worse teams.
The footballing equivalent of camouflage or sharp teeth, the things that get you selected, are fitness, positional sense, being tall and so on. The ability to control and direct a bouncing ball without using your hands is obviously an asset. As is the fine art of moral compromise.
In football, morals could for instance mean a distaste for cheating, or a desire to give something back to the public, even if you don't personally benefit. If you have morals in football, you aren't going to be prepared to fall over to win a penalty, demand a corner when you know it's a goal kick, pass the ball from side to side for ninety minutes and so on. In footballing terms, a strong sense of ethics is simply a form of poor ball control.
Ask any West Brom fan. West Brom are a team who spend half their time getting promoted from the Championship and the other half getting relegated from the Premiership. Their fans are intimately familiar with the difference between the two. They will tell you how much dirtier the Premiership is, just as they'll tell you how much better Premiership players are at all the other football skills. Championship players, on average, aren't quite as spectacularly good at shooting, crossing or moral abdication as players on the next level up.
At World Cup level, we're watching the cream of the cream. Anyone who fails at any football skill isn't going to make the cut, because there are always other players to come in and fill the gap. There are probably plenty of Brazilian and Portugese players looking at the crowded stadium and thinking well, they've come a long way and spent a lot of money, surely they're entitled to some kind of spectacle, but they're all watching on the telly like the rest of us because they've failed to master the skill of shamelessness.
It's just maths. If the rewards for a certain behaviour outweigh the risks, then that behaviour is going to emerge. Emerge in the technical sense, of simply following from the initial premise without any intent being required. To address the problem you have to change the maths, and to change the maths you have to tweak the rules. Take simulation, for instance.
Make simulation one of the most punishable offences in the game, make punishment retroactive and introduce a committe whose job is to review all games and apply it, and the maths changes. Even if individual players didn't change their behaviour, their selection fitness would fall because they were suspended so often, and in the end they'd find themselves playing at a lower level. Players who disdained simulation, on the other hand, would find empty places to step into in teams like Portugal or Real Madrid.
Not that it would have helped much yesterday. You can tweak the parameters around simulation, but I know of no rule change that would make teams come out and play.
In the other game, Ivory Coast scored about a third of the goals they would have needed if Brazil had made the necessary effort to beat Portugal, and like every African country except Ghana they're on their way home. North Korea, meanwhile, finish with zero points, one goal for and twelve against. Let's hope Kim Jong-Il isn't from the Saddam Hussein school of sports management.
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Outcomes - groups G and H
Group G
If Portugal beat Brazil, then Portugal top the group and Brazil finish second.
If Brazil and Portugal draw, then Brazil top the group and Portugal finish second.
If Brazil beat Portugal, then Brazil top the group and second place goes to Portugal or the Ivory Coast, depending on goal difference. The Ivory Coast would need to overturn a nine goal gap as things currently stand.
Group H
Another complicated one.
If Chile beat Spain and Switzerland win or draw against Honduras, Chile top the group and Switzerland are second.
If Chile beat Spain and Honduras beat Switzerland, Chile top the group and the team with the best goal difference from the other three are second.
If Spain beat Chile and Honduras win or draw against Switzerland, Spain top the group and Chile are second.
If Spain beat Chile and Switzerland beat Honduras, Honduras are eliminated and the other three nations are placed according to goal difference. Spain are guaranteed a place, while Switzerland get a place if they beat Honduras by two goals or more, or Chile lose by two goals or more.
If Spain and Chile draw, Chile top the group, while Spain are second unless Switzerland beat Honduras, in which case Switzerland are second.
If Portugal beat Brazil, then Portugal top the group and Brazil finish second.
If Brazil and Portugal draw, then Brazil top the group and Portugal finish second.
If Brazil beat Portugal, then Brazil top the group and second place goes to Portugal or the Ivory Coast, depending on goal difference. The Ivory Coast would need to overturn a nine goal gap as things currently stand.
Group H
Another complicated one.
If Chile beat Spain and Switzerland win or draw against Honduras, Chile top the group and Switzerland are second.
If Chile beat Spain and Honduras beat Switzerland, Chile top the group and the team with the best goal difference from the other three are second.
If Spain beat Chile and Honduras win or draw against Switzerland, Spain top the group and Chile are second.
If Spain beat Chile and Switzerland beat Honduras, Honduras are eliminated and the other three nations are placed according to goal difference. Spain are guaranteed a place, while Switzerland get a place if they beat Honduras by two goals or more, or Chile lose by two goals or more.
If Spain and Chile draw, Chile top the group, while Spain are second unless Switzerland beat Honduras, in which case Switzerland are second.
Monday, 21 June 2010
Portugal v North Korea
Portugal 7 - 0 North Korea
Meireles 29
Simao 53
Almeida 56
Tiago 60, 89
Liedson 81
Ronaldo 87
The North Korean keeper, Myong-Guk Ri, said this about his side's battling 0-0 draw against South Korea during their qualifying campaign. I felt like I was guarding the gateway to the motherland. Communists, don't you just love them? Not that Communists are supposed to have motherlands, what with it being an internationalist political philosophy and everything, but I suppose if God can have a son, Communists can have motherlands if they like. It's a Dadaist, Derridaist topsy turvy world, after all (no it isn't, by the way).
This really wasn't how to guard a gateway though. If they'd guarded the Yalu bridges like this in the Korean War the UN would have got to Beijing. By full time the Korean gateway was a pile of embers and smashed slate in the middle of an open highway.
It started well enough, evoking comparisons with the Brazil game. Portugal had lots of pressure but precious little result for it, and Korea had some attacking moments of their own. It took until the twenty ninth minute for the first breakthrough. Tiago played the ball into the box, Meireles ran through without being picked up and his shot went in.
Even then, the Koreans kept a lid on Portugal until half time. Ronaldo had one long range shot, well wide, prompting commentator Simon Brotherton to remark that he must be very disappointed, as Messi's been getting all the headlines in Spain. Soon after he got unceremoniously tackled and dumped to the ground, to the audible joy of Brotherton, colleague Mick McCarthy and the entire world. I didn't hear the universal rejoicing, as I had my windows closed, but I'm sure I heard a deep global rumble coming through the floorboards.
At the start of the second half, Myong-Guk Ri fumbled a Ronaldo shot, nearly lost it but got away with it. He might briefly have thought it could be their day.
It didn't last, of course. On 53 minutes, Portugal's elegant passing combinations finally paid dividends. Coentrao, architect of much of their best play, played a long ball through to Meireles on the edge of the box. His one two with Almeida made the space for the lay off to Simao, coming through unheralded and unheeded on the right, and the shot went between Ri's legs and straight into his gateway.
Three minutes later, Coentrao's cross found Almeida's head, and the ball was in the net for a third. Four minutes after that a Ronaldo cross came to Tiago unmarked in the box, and the game was over as a contest. From one nil to four nil in nine minutes, and they'd still found the time for two Korean substitutions.
It might have been kinder if the game had ended then. Instead, it plodded on for twenty minutes with nothing much happening. It seemed like that was that, but there was a sting in the tail.
On 81 minutes Ri Kwang-Chon failed to execute a routine defensive clearance, the ball squirmed past him to Liedson and he added a fifth. On 88 minutes, it was Ronaldo's turn.
Another defensive error let Liedson in again, he slipped it to Ronaldo and Ronaldo went one on one with the keeper. The shot hit Ri's arm and the ball went up in the air as Ronaldo ran past him. Ronaldo was looking down as he tried to keep his balance, and the ball bounced off the back of his head. He looked up, and it bounced again off the top. He stopped, and it fell down in front of him. He volleyed it in to an empty net as the disbelieving Korean defence closed in. Six nil, and the weirdest goal I've ever seen. Football, you couldn't make it up.
There was just time for Tiago to get a second, headed in from a Veloso cross. The Koreans tried to get one back, for dignity's sake, but there was no dignity out there for them today, except that which comes from honest endeavour inadequately rewarded.
Portugal achieved two things with this result. Firstly, they finally put to bed the old story of Portugal v North Korea, 1966. They won 5-3 that day, but only after going 3-0 down, and the initial Korean success against the footballing world order has lived in the popular imagination rather longer than the Portugese restatement of facts. From now on, the tale will be one of twelve consecutive goals without reply.
Secondly, they got the goal difference they needed to virtually guarantee their progress to the last sixteen. For the Ivory Coast to take second place ahead of them, they need to beat Korea and have Brazil beat Portugal to a combined total of nine goals. Realistically, another African dream bit the dust here. Of their six representatives, only Ghana have a real chance of progress.
North Korea become the second team to be eliminated from the World Cup, after Cameroon. Can they pick themselves up to face the Ivory Coast?
Meireles 29
Simao 53
Almeida 56
Tiago 60, 89
Liedson 81
Ronaldo 87
The North Korean keeper, Myong-Guk Ri, said this about his side's battling 0-0 draw against South Korea during their qualifying campaign. I felt like I was guarding the gateway to the motherland. Communists, don't you just love them? Not that Communists are supposed to have motherlands, what with it being an internationalist political philosophy and everything, but I suppose if God can have a son, Communists can have motherlands if they like. It's a Dadaist, Derridaist topsy turvy world, after all (no it isn't, by the way).
This really wasn't how to guard a gateway though. If they'd guarded the Yalu bridges like this in the Korean War the UN would have got to Beijing. By full time the Korean gateway was a pile of embers and smashed slate in the middle of an open highway.
It started well enough, evoking comparisons with the Brazil game. Portugal had lots of pressure but precious little result for it, and Korea had some attacking moments of their own. It took until the twenty ninth minute for the first breakthrough. Tiago played the ball into the box, Meireles ran through without being picked up and his shot went in.
Even then, the Koreans kept a lid on Portugal until half time. Ronaldo had one long range shot, well wide, prompting commentator Simon Brotherton to remark that he must be very disappointed, as Messi's been getting all the headlines in Spain. Soon after he got unceremoniously tackled and dumped to the ground, to the audible joy of Brotherton, colleague Mick McCarthy and the entire world. I didn't hear the universal rejoicing, as I had my windows closed, but I'm sure I heard a deep global rumble coming through the floorboards.
At the start of the second half, Myong-Guk Ri fumbled a Ronaldo shot, nearly lost it but got away with it. He might briefly have thought it could be their day.
It didn't last, of course. On 53 minutes, Portugal's elegant passing combinations finally paid dividends. Coentrao, architect of much of their best play, played a long ball through to Meireles on the edge of the box. His one two with Almeida made the space for the lay off to Simao, coming through unheralded and unheeded on the right, and the shot went between Ri's legs and straight into his gateway.
Three minutes later, Coentrao's cross found Almeida's head, and the ball was in the net for a third. Four minutes after that a Ronaldo cross came to Tiago unmarked in the box, and the game was over as a contest. From one nil to four nil in nine minutes, and they'd still found the time for two Korean substitutions.
It might have been kinder if the game had ended then. Instead, it plodded on for twenty minutes with nothing much happening. It seemed like that was that, but there was a sting in the tail.
On 81 minutes Ri Kwang-Chon failed to execute a routine defensive clearance, the ball squirmed past him to Liedson and he added a fifth. On 88 minutes, it was Ronaldo's turn.
Another defensive error let Liedson in again, he slipped it to Ronaldo and Ronaldo went one on one with the keeper. The shot hit Ri's arm and the ball went up in the air as Ronaldo ran past him. Ronaldo was looking down as he tried to keep his balance, and the ball bounced off the back of his head. He looked up, and it bounced again off the top. He stopped, and it fell down in front of him. He volleyed it in to an empty net as the disbelieving Korean defence closed in. Six nil, and the weirdest goal I've ever seen. Football, you couldn't make it up.
There was just time for Tiago to get a second, headed in from a Veloso cross. The Koreans tried to get one back, for dignity's sake, but there was no dignity out there for them today, except that which comes from honest endeavour inadequately rewarded.
Portugal achieved two things with this result. Firstly, they finally put to bed the old story of Portugal v North Korea, 1966. They won 5-3 that day, but only after going 3-0 down, and the initial Korean success against the footballing world order has lived in the popular imagination rather longer than the Portugese restatement of facts. From now on, the tale will be one of twelve consecutive goals without reply.
Secondly, they got the goal difference they needed to virtually guarantee their progress to the last sixteen. For the Ivory Coast to take second place ahead of them, they need to beat Korea and have Brazil beat Portugal to a combined total of nine goals. Realistically, another African dream bit the dust here. Of their six representatives, only Ghana have a real chance of progress.
North Korea become the second team to be eliminated from the World Cup, after Cameroon. Can they pick themselves up to face the Ivory Coast?
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Portugal v Ivory Coast
Portugal 0 - 0 Ivory Coast
This one rather flattered to deceive. It was all Ronaldo for the first ten minutes, and a kind of masterclass in the diverse aspects of his character.
After five minutes, he got kicked for the first time. God I've missed this, I thought. Two minutes later, he blatantly dived, and got Zakora booked.
The free kick was his, of course. He blasted it from 45 yards, to no effect whatsoever. Twat.
And then two minutes later, with no warning, he had an opportunistic shot from 35 yards that twisted, yawed and smacked against the post, with the keeper nowhere.
The four sides to Cristiano Ronaldo. Victim, cheat, twat, genius. All in six minutes of play.
Soon after, he got himself booked after a lovely confrontation with Demel, with the cameras zooming adoringly in on him repeatedly shouting Fuck off in Demel's face. English, the first choice of swearers everywhere.
Opinion varies on off-colour footballing behaviour. Friends with kids worry that it sets a bad example. Some say it improves a bad match, but ruins a good one. I just enjoy writing about it. David O'Leary said he hoped we didn't get a petulant encounter, but I really couldn't agree. To be honest I think it's a shame Craig Bellamy is Welsh, and unlikely to ever get to a World Cup. If he was Ivorian, we could have watched him and Ronaldo shouting at each other in Swearglish.
Ah. On checking Craig Bellamy's profile on Wikipedia, I couldn't help but notice he played some of his youth career at Bristol Rovers. And to think I'd been instinctively persecuting him all this time without even knowing why. I wonder if the difference between City and Rovers is a genetic thing? It certainly feels profound. Perhaps I was just reacting to a pheromone, or the precise contours of his cheekbone, or personality.
In the second half Ronaldo was rather anonymous, and the Ivorians dominated. O'Leary, making an unexpected foray into the world of genuine footballing insight, pointed out that it was hardly surprising they'd started cautiously after what happened in 2006. You may recall (actually, when I think about my usual readership you almost certainly won't) that they were drawn in the hardest group that year, with Argentina, Holland and Serbia. They played well but lost 2-1 against both Argentina and Holland, which made their victory over Serbia in the last game irrelevant.
This time their first two games are against Portugal and Brazil, and they were probably determined to go into their last game with a chance of progress this time. In the second half, they realised they had a good chance to win it and went for it a bit more.
Portugal also had some good attacking play, without carving out too many clear chances. For a while, it was end to end stuff, actually entertaining in the traditional sense of evoking pathos through drama.
Drogba came on with twenty minutes left, to cheers all round the stadium. He's been injured, and hopefully will be fit to start the next two games. He did get one decent chance, in injury time, but fluffed it, stretching for the ball only to knock it a remarkable ninety degrees the wrong way.
So no goals in this one. Unless one of them drops points to North Korea or gets something out of Brazil, it's going to be decided on goal difference.
This one rather flattered to deceive. It was all Ronaldo for the first ten minutes, and a kind of masterclass in the diverse aspects of his character.
After five minutes, he got kicked for the first time. God I've missed this, I thought. Two minutes later, he blatantly dived, and got Zakora booked.
The free kick was his, of course. He blasted it from 45 yards, to no effect whatsoever. Twat.
And then two minutes later, with no warning, he had an opportunistic shot from 35 yards that twisted, yawed and smacked against the post, with the keeper nowhere.
The four sides to Cristiano Ronaldo. Victim, cheat, twat, genius. All in six minutes of play.
Soon after, he got himself booked after a lovely confrontation with Demel, with the cameras zooming adoringly in on him repeatedly shouting Fuck off in Demel's face. English, the first choice of swearers everywhere.
Opinion varies on off-colour footballing behaviour. Friends with kids worry that it sets a bad example. Some say it improves a bad match, but ruins a good one. I just enjoy writing about it. David O'Leary said he hoped we didn't get a petulant encounter, but I really couldn't agree. To be honest I think it's a shame Craig Bellamy is Welsh, and unlikely to ever get to a World Cup. If he was Ivorian, we could have watched him and Ronaldo shouting at each other in Swearglish.
Ah. On checking Craig Bellamy's profile on Wikipedia, I couldn't help but notice he played some of his youth career at Bristol Rovers. And to think I'd been instinctively persecuting him all this time without even knowing why. I wonder if the difference between City and Rovers is a genetic thing? It certainly feels profound. Perhaps I was just reacting to a pheromone, or the precise contours of his cheekbone, or personality.
In the second half Ronaldo was rather anonymous, and the Ivorians dominated. O'Leary, making an unexpected foray into the world of genuine footballing insight, pointed out that it was hardly surprising they'd started cautiously after what happened in 2006. You may recall (actually, when I think about my usual readership you almost certainly won't) that they were drawn in the hardest group that year, with Argentina, Holland and Serbia. They played well but lost 2-1 against both Argentina and Holland, which made their victory over Serbia in the last game irrelevant.
This time their first two games are against Portugal and Brazil, and they were probably determined to go into their last game with a chance of progress this time. In the second half, they realised they had a good chance to win it and went for it a bit more.
Portugal also had some good attacking play, without carving out too many clear chances. For a while, it was end to end stuff, actually entertaining in the traditional sense of evoking pathos through drama.
Drogba came on with twenty minutes left, to cheers all round the stadium. He's been injured, and hopefully will be fit to start the next two games. He did get one decent chance, in injury time, but fluffed it, stretching for the ball only to knock it a remarkable ninety degrees the wrong way.
So no goals in this one. Unless one of them drops points to North Korea or gets something out of Brazil, it's going to be decided on goal difference.
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