GROUP G PORTUGAL 0 BRAZIL 0:TWO NATIONS divided by a long-gone empire and a common language both advanced to the last 16 yesterday as Portugal and Brazil tested the patience of Mexican referee Benito Archundia during a physically uncompromising and occasionally mean-spirited goalless draw.
A flurry of yellow cards before half-time – four to Portugal, three to Brazil – demonstrated that although there may not have been much riding on this match in terms of qualification for the knockout round, there was certainly pride at stake. But it was probably not the sort of entertainment anticipated by the 62,712 spectators who watched Portugal just shade it on chances created.
The impressive stadium, its twin rows of canopies suspended from a divided arch, could not have looked or sounded more festive, the red of Portugal and the yellow of Brazil filling the grandstands on a gorgeous afternoon by the Indian Ocean. The aesthetic quality of the match itself, however, lagged some way behind that of the architecture.
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 stamp on the Achilles’ tendon of Felipe Melo. Three minutes later the Brazilian took clumsy retaliation and was shown a yellow card of his own.
The referee had barely put his card away before Dunga made the obvious substitition, 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, but his personal battle with the fast and muscular Lucio, his rival captain, was always worth watching, and on occasions he almost made the breakthrough.
The announcement that he had been named man of the match was received with jeers by the Brazilian supporters, but he had done enough to deserve it, with Lucio probably his nearest rival. When he flew over Lucio’s challenge near the end he was perhaps lucky not to have incurred punishment, and he finished the match kicking the turf in exasperation.
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 Daniel Alves in between his striker, Luis Fabiano, and the two holding midfield players.
Like Robinho and Elano, Baptista is one of those players considered not good enough for the Premier League but who seem to be adequate for Brazil’s purposes. Arsenal fans would have noted that he contributed little other than hard work to the afternoon.
The danger was always that Ivory Coast’s score against North Korea would be of more 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 Nilmar performed the sombrero midway through the first half, flipping the ball over Ricardo Costa’s head just outside the Portugal area and collecting it on the other side of the full back before firing a shot high and wide. Brazil’s other good scoring chance came in the closing minutes, Dani Alves flighting a ball across to the far post, and seeing Lucio’s header held by Eduardo.
The referee’s willingness to take action in the first half seemed to have its effect, but the game remained harsh enough for there to be no handshake at the end between Dunga and Carlos Queiroz.
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 Raul Meireles, whose stabbed shot, under pressure from Julio 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 advance consideration to the probable nature of this encounter and it was actually body armour.
Guardian Service
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