Brazil, Portugal battle ends in a draw

Durban: Brazil and Portugal played out goalless draw in their group g clash at Durban, in the process both sides qualified for the knockout phases remaining unbeaten in the group.

Brazil topped the group with seven points, Portugal finished in second place on five. Though Ivory Coast beat North Korea 3-0 in the other game in Nelspruit but it
was not enough to see them through.

First half kicked-off with the Samba boys taking few chances, Dani Alves replacing Elano on the right flank trying some long range shots but his shots were not good enough to trouble the portugal goalkeeper, Eduardo.

On the other side, Fabio Coentrao was the most dangerous man on the park for the Portuguese, he was putting those perfect cross from the right flank and constantly testing the Brazil defense but neither Cristiano Ronaldo and Tiago were able to take advantage after his efforts. Brazil were looking a bit concerned at that period of play. The game was getting heated up as bookings were being made one after another for rash challenges. There were totally seven first-half yellow cards.
Nilmar for Brazil got the best chance of the first-half, a close range shot but his shot was tipped onto the post by Eduardo.

Seven minutes before the break Luis Fabiano then had a golden chance from the back off the post after Dani Alves put a nice ball, but he couldn't find the back of the net. At the end of the first half there were just three efforts on target.

In the second half, Portugal started positively with Cristiano Ronaldo testing the Brazilian defense. Lucio made some nice tackles to stop the Portuguese attack from making their shots. The Portuguese should have gone ahead after Cristiano Ronaldo's run ended with the ball landing on the zone for Raul Meireles but his close-range effort was denied by Cesar, who was hurt while making the save.

Eventually, the teams finished off goalless, which was enough for both sides to move on, Brazil as Group G winners and Portugal as runners-up. Brazil will now face Chile and Portugal will face Spain in the knockout round.

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