| DATE: June 21 2010 | CITY: Cape Town | GROUP: Group G |
On the fourth game for Group G in the 2010 World Cup, Portugal is going against North Korea in probably the easiest afternoon of the whole tournament for Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates. And as these lines are being written Portugal has moved in the third spot of the official world rankings for the first time in history, so basically Group G now features two teams placed in the Top 3 (Brazil is number one). That also means that one of these two great teams will have to go against Spain in the next round, which holds the second position in the rankings as well as the title of the biggest favourite to win the World Cup trophy.
To avoid this big mess Portugal cannot afford to lose any points until facing rivals Brazil in the last game of the group. That match will probably decide what will happen next, and who will play an early final against the Spanish team. All three nations are aiming high, all the way to the top, and in order to do that one must beat every team and win every game. Brazil definitely has the right psychology, the mentality that says “we don’t care who the opponent is”, whereas Portugal (or Spain for that matter) is not quite there yet.
North Korea is coming to the World Cup competition for just the second time in history after almost 45 years, so they definitely lack the necessary experience to achieve something great. The Koreans must be ecstatic just being in South Africa, and their ultimate goal is to make a few descent performances. In any other group maybe North Korea would have a chance, but playing against two of the Top 3 football teams in the world really limits any possibility for success. North Korea is surely not planning to be the punching bag of the group, and having absolutely nothing to lose is always an advantage in a World Cup.
Portugal will have to beat North Korea today, there is simply no other way for the Portuguese. In any other situation or a different group maybe they would hold back a bit knowing that the first spot belongs to them, but this is absolutely not the case.
