It wasn’t always pretty but I suppose you can’t blame teams for not taking risks. Now the final 16 are known and the dreaded knock out stage can begin.
Chile 1, Spain 2
For long spells Chile seemed to have Spain bottled up but great teams will always find a way to break free. Torres headed over in the first minute and then latched onto a long pass but saw his shot defect high off a Chile defender. Chile clamped down and gave Spain no room to play their natural neat game, good organisation is very well but you can’t plan for a wreckless goal keeper. Bravo rushed out of his area to stop the oncoming Torres, he got the ball but it bounced into space and Villa lobbed it perfectly into the open Chile net. The second Spain goal was well worked with Torres and Villa exchanging passes before the final ball to Iniesta who finished cleanly. During the move Torres went down, the replay showed a slight tripknock but the ref gave Estrada a red card and left Chile short for the rest of the game.
Chile must have had a red hot half time talk, they came out fired up and sub Millar hit a hard shot that took a sizeable deflection from Piquet on its way into the net. David Villa had two decent chances the first bringing a good save from Bravo and the second, a good pass from sub Fabregas proved a little too much to control. Torres, again looking well off the pace was taken off and the game fizzled out in the final 20 minutes as both sides knew they had what they needed to progress.
Brazil 0, Portugal 0
It was like the Bore War in South Africa this afternoon as two of the flair sides played out a dire goal less draw. Portugal only needed a draw to march on and with Brazil already through they didn’t seem bothered to break sweat. Nilsen could have put Brazil ahead in the opening minutes but Eduardo made a great save. Maicon went on a run down the right and crossed from the byline for Fabiano to head down for Brazil but he failed to score.
Ronaldo seemed content to try long range speculative blasts for Portugal, he tried to run the Brazil defence but Lucio kep a tight reign on him. The longer it went on, the less chance there seemed of a goal. Oh well maybe they are saving it to dazzle us later.
North Korea 0, Ivory Coast 3
It was all too late for the Ivory Coast, they finally found their goal touch but the other group game had sealed their fate. Guk had to use his legs to repel a first minute surge from Ivory Coast’s Keita. The ref was bang on in dissallowing a Drogba goal for offside but Yaya Toure did better from the edge of the box. A few mintues later Drogba stung the post , Romaric was alert though and scored from the rebound.
Tae Se could have equalised just into the second half but Toure blocked him bravely and Ivory Coast took control again. Boka sizzled up the left and crossed to Kalou who had the satisfaction of adding a third to his winning but departing team.
Switzerland 0, Honduras 0
The Swiss still had a decent shot at going through but they would need goals and on this display that wasn’t going to happen. Honduras were tough and keen to keep a clean sheet, Barnetta was the Swiss player who showed any real urgency, he set up Inler who stubg the Honduras keepers hands with a long range shot but it was a rare attempt.
Honduras had their best moments in the second half, Suazo headed wide and Alvarez thought he had a certain goal but Swiss keeper Benaglio denied him with one hand. So despite that surprise win over Spain, Switzerland were unable to build on it and go home dissapointed.
