3 matches on day 11:
With Brazil's convincing win over Cote d'Ivoire on day 10, Portugal were gifted a golden opportunity to settle matters in their group and they did not disappoint. A smooth move involving Tiago and Meireles had eased Portuguese nerves on a torrential Cape Town evening and at half-time, one could be forgiven for thinking that an interesting 2nd half was in store. Nah, nothing of that sort happened as Portugal forward line ran riot, with Tiago helping himself to 2 goals while captain fantastic, Ronaldo scored his first since February 2009, albeit a comedy goal (as the ball looped over his neck and head and then dropped kindly for him to slot into a completely unguarded net). A goal difference of +7 now makes the task almost impossible for the Ivorians (with a goal difference of -2) and in all probability, Brazil will finish first and Portugal second in this group.
Chile rounded off a memorable last few days for South American football (and miserable for the Europeans) by scraping to another 1-0 win. Interestingly, all 5 South American countries are now the group leaders (Uruguay in group A, Argentina in group B, Paraguay in group F, Brazil in group G and Chile in group H). Meanwhile, I'm losing count of the red cards that have been issued in the tournament, with West Ham United's Valon Behrami receiving his marching orders for an elbow into Arturo Vidal. With 6 points, Chile have thrown the gauntlet to La Furia Roja. Will they win their match against Honduras?
The race for the Golden Boot is hotting up, with Villa joining the likes of Tiago, Elano, Luis Fabiano, Asamoah Gyan, Lee Jung Soo and Diego Forlan on 2 goals apiece (for the complete list, check this link). His first was spectacular, twisting the Honduran defence this way and that, but his second took a lucky deflection and wrong-footed the keeper horribly. Either way, he will take it as Fernando "El Nino" Torres is yet to hit top gear and the midfield is unable to convert the endless chances into goals. Despite the morale-boosting win, the Spanish will realize that the job is only half-done and will be dead keen to win their last match against the pace-setters, Chile. Honduras join Cameroon in the crashed-out corner.
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