Ivory Coast 3 North Korea 0

Despite being eliminated from the World Cup, Ivory Coast finished the tournament strong with a 3-0 win over North Korea. Yaya Toure, Koffi Romaric N’Dri, and Salomon Kalou each scored a goal for Ivory Coast, who finished group play with four points (1-1-1).

North Korea gave up 12 goals and scored just one; it finished group play with zero points.

Toure scored in the 14th minute after receiving a centering pass from Arthur Boka. Romaric scored in the 20th minute on a header after Didier Drogba’s shot rang off the crossbar. Kalou scored in the 82nd minute.

Ivory Coast outshot North Korea 28 to 8; 15 shots from Ivory Coast were on target while only four North Korean shots were on goal.

“I think the players were very, very good,” said Ivory Coast coach Sven-Goran Eriksson. “It’s a pity we have to leave, because this team is getting better and better every session. But that’s life. We’re out. We have to accept that.

“If you look at the three games we played, they should be very proud of themselves, and the country should be proud of them.”

Brazil 0 Portugal 0

Another scoreless draw, another instance of both teams advancing past group play. Despite the numerous scoring chances from both teams, the soccer ball never fell into either of the goals. Nevertheless, both Portugal and Brazil have clinched a spot in the Round of 16, with Brazil taking the #1 seed in Group G.

The Portuguese extended their unbeaten streak to nineteen matches; they have not lost a game since 2008 against Brazil, who snapped a seven-game winning streak.

Brazil’s best chance came in the 30th minute when Nilmar’s shot was tipped by Portuguese goalkeeper Eduardo and hit the post. Portugal’s best chance came in the 60th minute when Cristiano Ronaldo outran three defenders and sent a cross to Raul Meireles. However, Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Cesar tipped Meireles’ shot wide of the net.

Both teams fired a total of 32 shots combined, with 19 going to Brazil and 13 to Portugal. However, only eight of those shots were on target (Brazil 5 Portugal 3). Eduardo made five saves while Julio Cesar made three.

Group H Matches:

Honduras 0 Switzerland 0

Another scoreless draw, but this time, neither team advanced to the knockout stage. Needing at least two goals to advance, the Swiss failed to score even one goal and finished group play with four points. Despite giving up just one goal in group play, Switzerland finished third in Group H behind Spain and Chile.

Honduras’ best chance of scoring came in the 71st minute, but Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benaglio made a brilliant one-handed save to preserve the clean sheet.

“We had an incredible Diego Benaglio who kept us in the game,” said Switzerland coach Ottmar Hitzfeld. “But as far as our creative play, that’s not something I can be happy with. I’m not happy with my strikers, either.

“We are very disappointed. Not just me, everyone the players, the staff, the people behind the scenes. In the end there is only the win against Spain, but we have to leave with our heads held high even if we didn’t make it.”

Switzerland fired 17 shots, five of which were on goal, but Honduras goalkeeper Noel Valladares made five saves to preserve the scoreless draw.

Spain 2 Chile 1

Despite South America’s first loss in the tournament, all five of its teams will be competing in the Round of 16. David Villa and Andres Iniesta each scored a goal to lift the Spaniards to a 2-1 victory over Chile. Villa scored in the 24th minute on a 45-yard bomb after Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo ran out of his box to knock the ball away from Fernando Torres. Iniesta scored in the 37th minute on a right-footed blast from the edge of the Chilean penalty area; Marco Estrada received his second yellow card of the match after tripping up Torres shortly before Iniesta’s goal.

Despite playing with just ten men, Chile managed to score a goal in the 47th minute when Rodrigo Millar’s shot deflected off a Spanish defender and into the net. However, it was not enough as Spain ended up winning Group H.

Spain will play Portugal in the Round of 16 while Chile will face off against Brazil.

Chilean defender Waldo Ponce picked up a yellow card in the 20th minute for kicking Torres; Ponce will miss the second-round game against Brazil.

Uruguay: 1-1-0 (4 points)
Mexico: 1-1-0 (4 points)
France: 0-1-1 (1 point)
South Africa: 0-1-1 (1 point)

Uruguay can advance to the knockout stage if:
1) Win/Tie against Mexico*
2) Loss against Mexico and France/South Africa draw
3) Loss provided that the France/South Africa winner does NOT own tiebreakers

Mexico can advance if:
1) Win against Uruguay*
2) Tie against Uruguay
3) Loss against Uruguay and France/South Africa draw
4) Loss provided that the France/South Africa winner does NOT own tiebreakers

France and South Africa can only advance with a win AND own tiebreakers over the loser of Mexico/Uruguay. A tie in either of the remaining Group A games would eliminate France and South Africa.

Group B Standings:

Argentina: 2-0-0 (6 points)
South Korea: 1-0-1 (3 points)
Greece: 1-0-1 (3 points)
Nigeria: 0-0-2 (0 points)

Argentina can advance if:
1) Win/Tie against Greece*
2) South Korea tie/loss against Nigeria
3) Loss provided that both South Korea and Greece do NOT own tiebreakers

South Korea can advance if:
1) Win against Nigeria and Greece does not either (a) win by a larger margin or (b) win by the same margin and score at least two goals
2) Tie against Nigeria and Greece tie/loss against Argentina

Greece can advance if:
1) Win against Argentina and South Korea tie/loss against Nigeria
2) Win by a greater margin than South Korea
3) Win by the same margin as South Korea and score at least two goals
4) Tie and South Korea loss to Nigeria
5) Defeat Argentina by at least three goals

Nigeria can advance if and only if it defeats South Korea and Argentina defeats Greece.

Group C Standings:

Slovenia: 1-1-0 (4 points)
United States: 0-2-0 (2 points)
England: 0-2-0 (2 points)
Algeria: 0-1-1 (1 point)

Slovenia can advance if:
1) Win against England*
2) Tie against England
3) Loss against England and USA/Algeria draw
4) Loss and Algeria win against USA provided that Algeria does NOT own tiebreakers

The United States can advance if:
1) Win against Algeria
2) Tie against Algeria and Slovenia/England draw if England does not outscore the United States by at least two goals
3) Tie and Slovenia win against England

England can advance if:
1) Win against Slovenia
2) Tie and USA/Algeria draw and outscore USA by three goals

Algeria must defeat the United States to have a shot at advancing. In addition, Algeria will need:
1) Slovenia win/tie against England
2) Slovenia loss against England provided that it owns tiebreakers on Slovenia

NOTE: If both of the remaining Group C matchups end in draws, and England scores exactly two more goals than the United States, both countries would be even on all tiebreakers; this tie would be broken by drawing lots (coin flip).

Group D Standings:

Ghana: 1-1-0 (4 points)
Germany: 1-0-1 (3 points)
Serbia: 1-0-1 (3 points)
Australia: 0-1-1 (1 point)

Ghana can advance with:
1) Win against Germany*
2) Tie against Germany
3) Loss and Australia/Serbia draw provided that Serbia does NOT own tiebreakers
4) Loss and Australia win provided that Australia does NOT own tiebreakers

Germany can advance if:
1) Win against Ghana
2) Tie and Serbia/Australia draw provided that Serbia does NOT own tiebreakers
3) Tie and Australia win provided that Australia does NOT own tiebreakers

Serbia can advance if:
1) Win against Australia
2) Tie and Germany loss against Ghana
3) Tie and Germany/Ghana tie provided that it owns tiebreakers over Germany

Australia must defeat Serbia to have a shot at advancing. In addition, Australia will need:
1) Germany loss against Ghana
2) Germany win provided that it owns tiebreakers over Ghana
3) Germany/Ghana draw provided that it owns tiebreakers over Germany

Group E Standings:

Netherlands: 2-0-0 (6 points; clinched spot in Round of 16)
Japan: 1-0-1 (3 points)
Denmark: 1-0-1 (3 points)
Cameroon: 0-0-2 (0 points; eliminated from World Cup)

Netherlands can win the group if:
1) Win/tie against Cameroon*
2) Loss and Denmark/Japan draw*
3) Loss as long as the Denmark/Japan winner does NOT own tiebreakers*

Japan can advance if it defeats/ties Denmark
Japan can win the group with a win against Denmark and a Netherlands loss provided that the Netherlands does NOT own tiebreakers over Japan*

Denmark can advance if it defeats Japan
Denmark can win the group with a win against Japan and a Netherlands loss provided that the Netherlands does NOT own tiebreakers over Denmark*

Group F Standings:

Paraguay: 1-1-0 (4 points)
Italy: 0-2-0 (2 points)
New Zealand: 0-2-0 (2 points)
Slovakia: 0-1-1 (1 point)

Paraguay can advance if:
1) Win against New Zealand*
2) Tie against New Zealand
3) Loss and Italy/Slovakia draw
4) Loss and Slovakia win provided that Slovakia does NOT own tiebreakers

Italy can advance if:
1) Win against Slovakia
2) Tie and New Zealand loss
3) Tie and Paraguay/New Zealand draw provided that it outscores New Zealand

New Zealand can advance if:
1) Win against Paraguay
2) Tie and Italy/Slovakia draw provided that it outscores Italy

Slovakia must defeat Italy to have a shot at advancing. In addition, Slovakia will need:
1) New Zealand tie/loss against Paraguay
2) New Zealand win against Paraguay provided that it owns tiebreakers over Paraguay

Group G Standings:

Brazil: 2-0-0 (6 points; clinched spot in Round of 16)
Portugal: 1-1-0 (4 points)
Ivory Coast: 0-1-1 (1 point)
North Korea: 0-0-2 (0 points; eliminated from World Cup)

Brazil can win the group if they defeat or tie Portugal*

Portugal can advance if:
1) Win against Brazil*
2) Tie against Brazil
3) Loss and Ivory Coast loss/tie against North Korea
4) Loss and Ivory Coast win provided that Ivory Coast does NOT make up goal difference

Ivory Coast can only advance if it defeats North Korea and Portugal loses to Brazil; Ivory Coast will also need to make up the goal difference against Portugal.

Group H Standings:

Chile: 2-0-0 (6 points)
Spain: 1-0-1 (3 points)
Switzerland: 1-0-1 (3 points)
Honduras: 0-0-2 (0 points)

Chile can advance if:
1) Win/tie against Spain*
2) Loss and Switzerland tie/loss against Honduras
3) Loss and Switzerland win provided that Switzerland does NOT own tiebreakers

Spain can advance if:
1) Win against Chile
2) Tie against Chile and Switzerland tie/loss against Honduras
3) Loss and Honduras win provided that it owns tiebreakers over Switzerland and Honduras

Switzerland can advance if:
1) Win against Honduras and Spain tie/loss against Chile
2) Win against Honduras and Spain win against Chile provided that Chile does NOT own tiebreakers
3) Tie against Honduras and Spain loss against Chile
4) Loss against Honduras and Spain loss against Chile provided that it owns tiebreakers over Spain and Honduras

Honduras can only advance if it defeats Switzerland and if Chile defeats Spain; Honduras also needs to own the tiebreakers over Spain and Switzerland.

If two teams finish even on points, tiebreakers work like this:
1) Goal differential
2) Goals scored
3) Head-to-head
4) Drawing lots

* denotes event that would win the group

Was this football? Apparently it was. Six goals in the second half propelled the Portuguese to a 7-0 win over North Korea, who has been eliminated from knockout contention. The seven-goal victory is tied for the seventh-largest margin of victory in World Cup history; it was the largest margin of victory since Germany defeated Saudi Arabia 8 to 0 in the 2002 World Cup.

Barring a similar flurry of goals from Ivory Coast in the last game, Portugal will advance to the Round of 16.

Portugal scored all seven of its goals from inside the penalty box, which is tied for second-most by a team since 1966; Hungary scored nine from inside the box in a 10-1 win over El Salvador in 1982.

Raul Meireles scored the lone first-half goal in the 29th minute for Portugal. Simao (53rd minute), Hugo Alemida (56th minute), Liedson (81st minute), and Cristiano Ronaldo (87th minute) each scored a goal in the second half while Tiago (60th and 89th minutes) added two second-half goals for Portugal.

Portugal fired 29 shots, but only eleven were on target; North Korea’s Ri Myong Guk made just four saves.

Chile 1 Switzerland 0

Mark Gonzalez’s header in the 75th minute propelled Chile to a 1-0 victory over Switzerland, who ended its World Cup shutout streak at 559 minutes (dating back to 2006); it was a World Cup record, which was officially set in the 69th minute of the match (Italy had a shutout streak of 550 minutes in the 1986 and 1990 World Cups). Prior to this match, the Swiss had not allowed a goal in the World Cup since July 2, 1994 against Spain; Aitor Bergiristain scored the last goal against Switzerland in that match.

However, if not for an Alexis Sanchez offsides call in the 49th minute, Italy would still own the record.

Gonzalez scored his goal after receiving a centering pass from Esteban Paredes.

In the 31st minute, Swiss midfielder Valon Behrami was red-carded after a rough play against Arturo Vidal. Both players had expected a yellow card from Saudi Arabian referee Khalil Al Ghamdi, who issued a total of nine yellow cards in this match, including one to Chile’s Carlos Carmona; Carmona also received a yellow card in the first game against Honduras, so he will not play in the game against Spain.

Spain 2 Honduras 0

David Villa scored not once, but twice to lift Spain to a 2-0 victory over Honduras. Villa nearly recorded a hat trick in the game, but his penalty kick in the 62nd minute sailed wide right. Nevertheless, Villa, who scored in the 17th and 51st minutes, now has 40 career international goals.

Spain now has three points and can win Group H by defeating Chile.

The Spaniards fired a total of 23 shots, but only six were on target. None of the nine Chilean shots taken during the match were on goal.

Jean Beausejour’s lone goal of the match lifted Chile to its first victory in the World Cup since 1962 when it hosted the tournament; Chile defeated Yugoslavia on June 16 of that year.

Prior to this match, Chile had been on a 13-match winless streak, which was the third-longest in World Cup history. Chile had 33 touches in the penalty area and shot the ball nine times from inside the box; Hondurus had just one touch and zero shots.

Chile won the battle of possession 64% to 36%.

Switzerland 1 Spain 0

Only one game in, and already the defending Euro 2008 champs are having trouble in the World Cup. Gelson Fernandes’ lone goal of the game lifted the Swiss to a 1-0 victory over heavily favored Spain, who snapped a 12-game winning streak; it was Spain’s 2nd loss in fifty games (the other was against the United States in last year’s Confederations Cup in South Africa). For Fernandes, it was his second international goal.

“To be fair, I’m not used to scoring goals, so I was a bit surprised,” said Fernandes. “It was a bit of luck.”

Spain fired 25 shots to Switzerland’s 9, but only 5 Spanish shots were on goal; Switzerland mustered just two shots on goal. Spain dominated the time of possession 74% to 26%, but couldn’t penetrate the Swiss defense.

Switzerland has not given up a goal in the World Cup in the last 490 minutes of play. In the 2006 World Cup, they were knocked out in penalty kicks by Ukraine in the Round of 16 despite not giving up even one goal in the tournament.

Uruguay 3 South Africa 0

Diego Forlan scored not once, but twice to lift Uruguay to a 3-0 victory over the host South Africans, who find themselves that much closer to not advancing past group play (no other host nation has ever failed to get out of the first round). Forlan scored his first goal on a deflected 25-yard bomb in the 24th minute and scored his second goal on a penalty kick in the 80th minute.

Alvaro Pereira added the icing on the cake with a goal in stoppage time.

South Africa goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune was tossed from the game in the 76th minute after clipping Luis Suarez in the leg.

South Africa midfielder Kagisho Dikgacoi was yellow-carded after fouling Suarez in the 42nd minute; because Dikgacoi also received a yellow card in the first game against Mexico, he will be suspended for the game against France.

Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera celebrated his 24th birthday with a shutout.

FACT: Countries from South America are now 3-0-2 after the first game of group play.