Who left the Maicon?

Day 5 of the world cup and it was the day when many people believe a World Cup really starts, the introduction of the Samba Boys from Brazil. Unfortunately for them they met the well organised and hard working and Mourinhio-esque efficiency in the first half. While many people have accused of Mourinihio of building up the cult of the manager and with the self titled Special One thrown at him, it would be some stretch of the imagination to suggest he has the same sort of control over his players as the Great Leader does of the North Korean players. The emotion from the players was evident before kick off, with one in particular in buckets of tear, not seen since Damien Duff in that infamous night in Paris (sorry for mentioning that again).

I was very impressed with North Korea in the 1st half. Their defending was top notch and clearly it was the product of having 6 months of continuous training as a squad. The North Korean league has been suspended for the last 6 months in preparation for the World Cup. Brazil were frustrated heading in at half time. Thankfully it was two bits of brilliance that lightened up the 2nd half and class and skill overcame efficiency and organisation which is what many neutral observers like to see. Maicon's goal was a thing of beauty and in my view he meant every bit of it, a stunning strike by the best player in his position today. The second goal was a beautiful pass by Robinhio to Elano, an ex Man City Double act that surely would have Mark Hughes questioning his treatment of the two players. North Korea scored late on much to the delight of their players and probably their millions of followers back home, who may have thought it was the winner.


The earlier two games did not grab the headlines of the later game except for the people of New Zealand. A dramatic late equaliser gave them their first ever World Cup point and denied Slovakia their first World Cup Win on their World Cup Debut. A fantastic header thrilled the millions of fans who had stayed up late into the night to watch this game in New Zealand.

Portugal,Ivory Coast was a game where both team were set up to draw and in the end that is what they got. Ronaldo had a great effort in the 1st half come off the post and Didier Drogba, a 2nd half substitute missed a glorious chance late on in the half. Both teams were set up not to lose the game and Portugal have only conceded 3 goals in their last 16 and it is quite obvious that Erikson had decided that defence is a priority as they were conceding goals before he took charge. What resulted was a predictable dower affair which could have been lightened up by Ronaldo's effort.


Interesting stat of the day is that Ronaldo had the worst passing record of any of the players in yesterdays game and he has not scored for nearly 2 years with Portugal. Anybody who has them in their office sweep will be hoping that stat improves.