The group of death was in action during Day 5 of the World Cup in South Africa. The games were all pretty close. Brazil narrowly beat North Korea, and there were no goals in the tie between Portugal and the Ivory Coast. The other game involved New Zealand and Slovakia, who really had an exciting match… let’s look at the details:
Brazil 2 North Korea 1
Brazil is the best soccer country in the World and North Korea sure gave them a run for their money. Everyone was expecting a blowout of Brazilian offense, but the game endly closely with a final score of 2-1 for Brazil. .
Brazil Goal!
Maicon scored the first Brazilian goal from a tight angle to give the five-time World Cup Champs the lead in the 55th minute, and Elano added another goal with a one-touch shot from inside the box after a perfect pass from Robinho in the 72nd. North Korea surprised everyone scoring a goal in the last minute of regulation time, but they had no chances to tie as the game ended quickly after the goal.
Ivory Coast 0 Portugal 0
The big story of this game was the entry of Didier Drogba and his injured arm. Didier is one of the greatest soccer players in the World, and the Ivory Coast really need his help playing in a group with Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo. You would think that Didier and Cristiano would get the offense going but this match was played very cautiously and neither team was able to score at all.
Cristiano is the Mano
Cristiano was the closest to score. He actually made a great strike that hit the post from 30 yards. Didier only came into the game during the 66th minute, so he really didn’t get much time to work his magic. With this game ending scoreless, Brazil takes the early one goal lead in the group of death.
New Zealand 1 Slovakia 1
Keep your shirt on!
With no one really expecting much from Slovakia and New Zealand, the two low-ranked countries put forth an entertaining game anyways. Slovakia scored the opener quite early and in the dying seconds of the game, Winston Reid helped New Zealand survive by deflecting in the tying goal keeping New Zealand’s hope of advancing to the next round still alive. Winston was so happy to score, that he stripped off his shirt and danced in celebration. I guess no one told Winston that taking off your clothes isn’t allowed and he received a yellow card. One more yellow at his next game could turn red... keep your clothes on Winston!
The World Cup closes up the first round on Day 6. Who do you think is the best team so far? Let us know in the comments…
