Two nations divided by a common language and a long-gone empire both advanced to the round of 16 on Friday as Portugal and Brazil tested the patience of their referee, Benito Archundia of Mexico, after a thoroughly mean-spirited goalless draw whose few scoring chances went mostly to the European side.
A blizzard of yellow cards before half-time — four to Portugal and three to Brazil — demonstrated that although there might not have been much riding on this match in terms of qualification for the knock-out round since both sides were already as good as through, there was certainly some sort of pride at stake.
But, it was probably not the sort of entertainment anticipated by the 62,712 spectators who had made this the first of the tournament's fixtures, after those involving the host nation, to become a sell-out.
Trips, dives and wild lunges were all swiftly punished. The worst incident occurred when Pepe, the Portugal midfield player, was booked in the 40th minute for a spiteful stamp on the achilles tendon of Felipe Melo, his opposite number.
Three minutes later, Melo took clumsy retaliation and was shown a yellow card of his own.
The referee had barely put his card away before Dunga made the substitution, clearly anxious not to lose a player who, in partnership with Gilberto Silva, provides such an effective shield for his defence.
One player had a special need to stay on the referee's good side. Cristiano Ronaldo versus Brazil was always going to be fun, even if the Portugal captain, after picking up a booking in the opening match against the Ivory Coast, had to watch his step if he wanted to take part in the round of 16. His success in that respect balanced his failure to get any of several long-range free-kicks on target.
Lacking the controversially suspended Kaka and the injured Elano, and having decided to give Robinho an afternoon on the bench, Dunga inserted a new trio of Nilmar, Julio Baptista and Dani Alves in between his striker, Luis Fabiano, and the two holding midfield players. Baptista, like Robinho and Elano, is one of those players considered not good enough for the Premier League but who seem to be adequate for Brazil's needs.
Immediate concern
The danger was always that Ivory Coast's score against North Korea, coming in from Nelspruit, would be of more immediate concern than the exchanges here, particularly if the total started to mount towards the seven with which Portugal gave themselves an impressive goal difference in their second match.
But, there was never a shortage of incident, and there was even some football, particularly when Ronaldo got into his stride 15 minutes into the second period, outpacing two Brazil defenders on a run from the halfway line. Lucio's desperate interception succeeded only in turning the ball across the face of goal to Pepe, whose stabbed shot, under pressure from Cesar, flew wide of the left-hand post.
As the Brazilian goalkeeper received treatment following the collision, it could be seen that he was wearing a supportive corset.
Unless, of course, he had given consideration in advance to the probable nature of this encounter, and it was actually body armour. — © Guardian News and Media 2010
