Brazil vs North Korea – Match Review
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Brazil has repelled a resilient North Korea outfit with a first-up 2-1 victory at the Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg.
Second-half goals to Maicon and Elano has left the Samba Kings top of Group F after the Ivory Coast and Portugal played out a goalless draw earlier in the day.
The opening 45 minutes saw a largely dominant display by the Brazilians, but North Korea wasn’t without its chances when Japanese-based forward, Jong Tae Se, beat three defenders on the right side of the box before directing a low shot straight at the well-positioned Brazilian goalkeeper, Julio Cesar.
North Korea’s return from the football wilderness was a bright one as it continued to frustrate the Samba Kings with goalkeeper, Ri Myong Guk, saving well from Maicon and Robinho.
Michel Bastos was looking particularly lively for Brazil and he could’ve opened the scoring from a free kick in a dangerous position early in the second-half, but his swerving strike was unable to find the inside of Ri Myong Guk’s right post.
Brazil finally broke the deadlock ten minutes into the second-half when patient hold-up play by Elano found Maicon’s overlapping run on the right-flank.
With Maicon virtually on the by-line, the Brazilian wing-back hit a sumptuous strike that somehow squeezed inside the post much to the surprise of the North Korean ’keeper, who must’ve been expecting Maicon to pull the ball back across goal.
Brazil, with its tails up, doubled its advantage 17 minutes later when Robinho’s brilliant through-ball split open the North Korean defence allowing Elano to sidefoot across Ri Myong Guk to make it 2-0.
North Korea gave the Brazilians a brief scare in the 89th minute when a long ball headed away from goal by Jong Tae Se found Ji Yun Nam, who skipped past Lucio too easily firing past Julio Cesar to give North Korea its first goal in the FIFA World Cup for 44 years.
However, Brazil held on to its 2-1 lead meaning that three points against the Ivory Coast in its next match will result in the A Selecao qualifying through to the knockout stages.
For North Korea, it will next confront Portugal, with the two teams fighting out a memorable contest back in the 1966 FIFA World Cup where the Portuguese came from three goals down to eventually triumph, 5-3.
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