Chile helps cement South American dominance at 2010 World Cup

The World Cup saw history made today. For the first time since the expanded format debuted in 1998, all five South American teams in the tournament progressed to the knockout stages.

Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay were joined tonight by Chile, who despite losing 2-1 to Spain, finished second in Group H. They were aided by an inept performance from both teams in the other group match, an almost comical 0-0 draw between Switzerland and Honduras that eliminated both teams.

DAY 15 AT THE WORLD CUP

The world's top-ranked teams -- Spain, Brazil and Portugal -- all see action on Day 15 at the World Cup, which just happens to be the final matchday of the group stage.

This afternoon, Portugal and Brazil coasted into the knockout stages as expected with a 0-0 match that was less game and more scrimmage at Durban. In Nelspruit, Cote d’Ivoire started brightly but showed their limitations in a 3-0 win over bottom-of-the-Cup North Korea.

The knockout round is now fully set and begins play tomorrow as Uruguay faces South Korea and the USA plays Ghana.

An African tournament has proved to be very kind to teams from below the equator. Unfortunately for the African nations, all those teams are from an entirely different continent as those five South American teams progressed to the knockout stage in a tournament that many assumed would be a celebration of African football, only Ghana remains from Africa.

It’s an unprecedented showing for the CONMEBOL nations, which have always seen at least one team fail to escape the first round since the tournament expanded its field to 32 teams. By comparison, Europe saw more than half of its original 13 qualifiers fall out, including traditional powers France and Italy; while Asia and the Americas were able to see two apiece through.

Based on the showing tonight by Chile, such success is richly deserved. Reduced to 10 men against Spain in the 37th minute, and seeing five cards overall, the Chileans managed to halve a two-goal deficit and played some beautiful, flowing football.

David Villa was Johnny-on-the-spot for the Spaniards, nicking their first goal from almost 40 yards away when he was gifted the ball by keeper Claudio Bravo, and had the whole net to shoot at, albeit from quite a ways away. Bravo had been forced to come out and stop Fernando Torres, a decision he soon regretted as Villa looped the ball gracefully into the net to give Spain the lead for good.

ROUND OF 16

Sat., Jun. 26

Uruguay 2-1 South Korea | Recap
USA 1-2 (aet) Ghana | Recap

Sun., Jun. 27

Germany 4-1 England | Recap
Argentina 3-1 Mexico | Recap

Mon., Jun. 28

Netherlands 2-1 Slovakia | Recap
Brazil 3-0 Chile | Recap

Tue., Jun. 29

Paraguay 0-0 (5-3) Japan | Recap
Spain 1-0 Portugal | Recap

Standings | Bracket | Scores

Andres Iniesta grabbed Spain’s second when referee Marco Rodriguez of Mexico played advantage after a foul on Torres that allowed Villa to set the ball back to the Barcelona midfielder. He promptly -- and precisely -- hit into the lower right hand corner of the net.

Rodriguez’ next decision -- made on the scoring play -- was far more controversial as he ejected Marco Estrada (second yellow). The sending off was harsh; Torres had tripped over Estrada’s feet, and it clearly was unintentional.

Chile roared back right at the start of the second half when sub Rodrigo Millar was lucky enough to see his shot carom off Gerard Pique, past Iker Casillas, and into the net. Despite the fluky nature of the goal, it was deserved: Chile arguably had the better of the play in both halves, and were giving Spain fits with precise passing, muscular defending and some deadly flank play.

Spain soon took control as the Chileans began to tire, and for about 20 minutes, the South Americans were pressed into panicked defending. But as it became apparent that Spain had done enough — and that Switzerland wasn’t going to get it done in the concurrent match — both teams began to play a purely professional game, killing the clock and taking no risks.

What a sharp contrast this was to this afternoon’s Portugal-Brazil match, where the only thing remarkable about the game was how many cards were dished out at Durban. There, the fussy Benito Archundia, another Mexican official, showed yellow to seven men in a game that was scrappy for about 15 minutes, and boring for the full ninety.

This match was a failure of scheduling: had Portugal met historic rivals Brazil in their first match of the group stages, when both sides actually had something to play for, then the fans who packed the arena might have actually seen a game.

Instead, those poor fans saw an utterly predictable slog. Both teams rested players and largely declined to tackle or shoot. There was little to no excitement at all in the match that wasn’t of the extracurricular variety, and the only tension came and went when Felipe Melo was removed by his manager, Dunga, for losing his cool.

The one thing this game did illustrate is how difficult it is to relieve Brazil of the ball in a game without tackling. They can pass you to death, and when they also decline to shoot, they can bore an audience to death, too. Portugal, who looked motivated only for about ten minutes at the start of the second half, were unwilling to risk injury to any of their stars and have to be miffed that they now carry seven men on cards into their knockout stage match.

The smile on the face of Cristiano Ronaldo, and his calming pats on the backside of the opposing captain Lucio, told anyone who was paying any attention all they needed to know. Why foul? Why play? Let’s get this over with. And so forth.

Had Cote d’Ivoire scored in the first five minutes when they wasted two clear chances then the goal chase might have gathered some steam. Instead, a nervous North Korean defense escaped, settled down as the match progressed and took the steam of the Africans long before the hour mark.

Didier Drogba and his mates did work hard but they obviously failed to study the Portugal game tape. Instead of the quick-passing, positional-changing runs which befuddled the international neophytes, the Ivoriens elected to go on long dribbling runs and too often stopped the ball altogether when faced with a defender standing up to the foray.

Yaya Toure, Romaric and Salomon Kalou did score, but there was never any danger that this would be another avalanche that North Korea would have to explain. Indeed, over the final 30 minutes, the PRK gave as good as it took and might have snatched a goal had Jong Tae Se been a bit more inventive.

How Honduras failed to score against Switzerland defies explanation. How the Swiss failed to break down the Honduran defense does not.

It was drummed home over 90 minutes that the Swiss utterly lack midfield creativity, their rivals simply heading away, kicking away or, for novelty’s sake, simply watching as the Swiss threw away one cross after another.

Honduras, in turn, spent the last 30 minutes figuring out how not to score on 3-on-1, 2-on-1, 4-on-2 counters as Switzerland pushed men forward trying to get their needed goal. It is hard to fail to score so often and so definitively, but the Hondurans solved a problem no one has ever sought an answer for. Their ineptitude kept the game alive until the finish -- at least for those who believe in miracles.

None came.

No goals, either. Both teams deservedly go home.

Tomorrow

The knockout stage kicks off: Uruguay faces South Korea (10:00 a.m. EDT) and the USA face Ghana (2:30 p.m. EDT). Win, or go home.

Must-see TV

Everyone’s going to tune in to see the USA, so allow me to extol the virtues of the Uruguay-South Korea game. Both teams are better than you think they are, and will be tough opponents for the Americans in their next game (Yes, the USA are going to win. Don’t worry about it). Uruguay has the talent to go deep: American fans should keep an eye on Diego Forlan, Luis Suarez and Alvaro Periera. Fernando Muslera can be beat in goal, but to do so, the Koreans need to test him. Park Ji-Sung and Park Chu-Young need to keep the ball in the other half of the field, away from vulnerable Jung Sung-ryong in the nets. We tip Uruguay to win this one, but we also think it could — and should — be a wide-open battle.