Portugal gave Group G minnows North Korea a soundly 7-0 defeat to edge closer to the World Cup round of 16. Goals from Tiago (twice), Raul Meireles, Simao, Hugo Almeida, Liedson and Cristiano Ronaldo demolished the Koreans in Cape Town. Portugal move to second place on four points, two adrift of leaders Brazil, who already made the knockouts with the win over Ivory Coast. It looked an open game from the start as both teams knew a win is the only means to join group leaders Brazil to the last 16. Ricardo Carvalho headed against the post after seven minutes as the Koreans made several inroads in response, which suggested their fearless approach to the game. However, they paid the price when Tiago's exquisite through pass beat the entire defense to find Meireles, who fired home for the opener on 29 minutes.
Rampant Portugal were off to a rampant second-half start, with three goals in quick succession from Simao, Hugo Almeida and Tiago. Meireles turned to provider to feed Simao with the second goal on 53 minutes, shortly before Hugo Almeida headed in a fine Fabio Coentrao cross. On the hour mark, Tiago made it four, slotting home a precise cross-pass from Ronaldo, who was still quiet at this point. Substitute Liedson scored within three minutes of coming on, volleying from close range, following some slack defending by the Koreans. Ronaldo, who was unlucky to rattle the crossbar just like he did in the Ivory Coast opener, wouldn't go home without adding his name to the scoresheet. The world's most expensive player luckily scraped past Korea's goalkeeper to tap home in an empty net on 87 minutes. Two minutes later, Tiago headed in his second to wrap up the massive win.
