North Korea looked surprisingly impressive against the Brazilian juggernaut in their first World Cup match last week, while Portugal did not manage a single goal in its scoreless draw with the Ivory Coast. But the Portuguese drought did not last Monday in Cape Town.
Raul Meireles knocked in a goal in the 28th minute, giving Portugal the lead over its Group G rival. Tiago was credited with an assist on the play. Just in case someone not familiar with this tournament thinks Portugal is being unsportsman like by running up the score like that, there is a very good reason for it.
2 teams will advance from Portugal's group and Brazil has already secured one of those slots. If Portugal loses to Brazil in their next game and the Ivory Coast beats North Korea in theirs then they will be tied in tournament points. Which of them advances to the next round would be decided by who has the larger difference in goals for all games in their group. That is, you add up all of a team's goals scored in their 3 group games and subtract the goals scored against them. Whoever has the better difference between Portugal and the Ivory Coast would advance.
As it stands now, the Ivory coast is a -2 difference and Portugal is at +7. Portugal's slaughter of North Korea has made is extremely difficult for Ivory Coast to surpass them.
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