Tactics Board Day 5

New Zealand 1 - 1 Slovakia (Group F)

Coming into this game, it was Slovakia who seemed to hold the footballing pedigree. A squad filled with young, exciting players meant that they were flagged as potential entertainers, something this tournament has sorely lacked in its infancy. Attacking talents such as Marek Hamsik and Vladimir Weiss looked set to cause havoc against an unfancied New Zealand side. From the All-Whites point of view, here was a chance to disprove the cynics and show that they deserved to be dining at international football's top table.

New Zealand showed their desire to contain the Slovakian threat right from the off. They lined up in a 5-2-3 formation, employing wing-backs to counter the talent on the opposition flanks. Slovakia lined-out in a variation of the 4-3-3 formation. Most pundits were predicting a comfortable victory from the European outfit but New Zeland rarely looked out of their depth at any stage in the match and Slovakia struggled to find a game plan to capitalise on their supposed superiority in the talent stakes.

New Zealand's wing-backs were central to their formation and strategy. It was vital that they protected the three centre-halves from being boxed in by opposition wingers and when their team was in possession, they needed to get wide and look to create a more expansive environment in which to retain the ball. The two central-midfielders were another key partnership, their energy and unrelenting graft in the middle of the park ensured that New Zealand were always difficult to break down. They were also effective with the ball, veteran Simon Elliot was the fulcrum of most of his team's play, spreading the ball around the pitch and dictating the tempo of their forward movements.

Manager Ricki Herbert had set his team up very effectively; they were disciplined at all times and got ten men behind the ball to stifle Slovakia's creative menace. Herbert instructed his players to only close down the opposition when they entered the New Zealand half; this allowed the team to stay closer together in a more confined area; thus helping to create a compact defensive unit.

Given these restrictions, it was perhaps understandable that Slovakia struggled to enter the game as an attacking force. Their key-man, Hamsik, existed on the fringes of the game, unable to make a substantial effect. Over on the left-wing however, there was slightly more fortune for Manchester City youngster Weiss. He displayed good feet and a neat turn of pace as he toiled at penetrating the stubborn New Zealand defence. The game was becoming increasingly congested in the centre and it was a source of relief to see the ball played out to the wings on occasion. Herbert's men were quick to double up on the Slovak wide-men on these rare instances however. One of Slovakia's best hopes appeared to be catching the opposition wing-back's out of position. It was an area they never fully exploited, a combination of a lack of quality on the ball and the disciplined positioning of New Zealand's centre-midfielders conspired to foil any hopes of a breakthrough in such a manner.

Offensively, New Zealand were relying mostly on long-balls into their front-men, Chris Killen and Rory Fallon. The pair were always competitive but lacked the quality to really trouble the heart of the Slovak defence. They provided a decent outlet though, New Zealand attempted to fire it up and get runners moving off of their target-men in the hope of creating chances. Killen and Fallon did look dangerous when attacking crosses, Herbert pushed his wing-backs forward on occasion in order to supply some ammunition from wide.

In the end it was two headed crosses which decided the result. Both goals bore a striking resemblance to the other, with Winston Reid's just shading Robert Vittek's effort due to sheer drama. Reid's injury-time equaliser marked the first late drama witnessed at this tournament and an awful lot more for the footballing public of New Zealand.

Ivory Coast 0 - 0 Portugal (Group G)

The 'Group of Death' kicked off with what, on paper, looked like a mouth-watering match-up. The flair and imagination of the Portuguese versus the power and pace of the Ivorians. It promised to be an all-action game full of sublime skill and great goals, or at least we hoped it would be. The game actually turned out to be a pretty limp encounter, played at a far too pedestrian pace for much of the ninety minutes.

Both teams began in slight variations of the 4-3-3 formation. Gervinho playing the lone-role for the Ivory Coast, with Saloman Kalou and Arouna Dindane to either side of him. For the Portuguese it was Liedson leading the line, with Danny and Cristiano Ronaldo filling the wide berths. The game started as it meant to go on, scrappy and with neither side looking particularly adventurous. Ivory Coast looked to stretch their opponents down the wings, Kalou was eager to impress on the ball but the Portuguese were looking as defensively capable as usual. Ricardo Carvalho never seems to have a bad game for the Iberian nation, and he was particularly impressive in this game. HIs team mate Deco however, was not quite as influential; his once-renowned passing game looked sluggish as he failed to provide quality supply to the forward three.

Ronaldo and Danny were regularly switching wings in order to unsettle the Ivory Coast back-line but both players struggled to make their mark on the game. Ronaldo in particular was being paid very close attention to by the Africans' midfield and defence. They sought to double up on the Real Madrid player every time he received the ball. Much of Ronaldo's effect comes from his ability when cutting inside, but here he was constantly being met by Yaya Toure or Didier Zokora. This tactic forced Ronaldo to go down the touchline and cross, but with only the comparatively diminutive Liedson to aim for, it was easy work for the Ivory Coast centre-backs.

With their key player being isolated, Portugal began to look incredibly one-dimensional. It perhaps exposed an over-reliantness on their captain as they passed the ball around midfield without ever managing to threaten their opponents. With Portugal's star attacking talent being marked out of the game and the Ivory Coast's sitting on the substitutes bench, the game noticeably lacked a spark in the final-third. Gervinho tried to provide it for The Elephants and he was certainly his side's most potent attacking option. He often managed to find the space between the lines and from here attempted to slide dangerous through-balls for the runners around him to latch on to. With the rain falling consistently though, these passes, more often than not, slid out of touch along the greasy surface.

Sven Goran-Erikson's charges seemed to utilise just one primary game-plan as the game wore on. Their three-man midfield attempted to feed their forwards in behind the Portuguese defence via the left and right channels. The only time this looked like creating a goal-scoring opportunity was late in the game when Didier Drogba was played in but closed down excellently as he sought to pull the trigger. Drogba's arrival, to rapturous cheering and applause, had required a slight shift in the Ivorians forward three. Gervinho was pushed to the left to accommodate Drogba's presence as the central-striker. This did little to improve their attacking fortunes however as the Portuguese defence was still in uncharitable mood. Their team continued to huff and puff going forward but just couldn't blow the Ivorian house down, the brothers Toure and their defensive colleagues continued to close down any hint of space in their half and refused to compromise.

This game had all the hallmarks of an early clash between two well-fancied teams. Both were aware of the consequences of losing and were committed to remaining in contention to qualify, with Brazil still to come for each team. Perhaps then it was an expected conclusion. Despite some giant individuals of the footballing world on show, it was the collective team ethic which was most influential here.

Brazil 2 - 1 North Korea (Group G)

Ah, the first peek at those iconic yellow, blue and white kits at a World Cup finals. The mind immediately conjures up images of back-heels, step-overs and fluid, beautiful football. The Brazilians were in town and expectation abounded that we may finally have an attacking performance to rival that which the Germans displayed a couple of nights ago. Not much at all was previously known about the North Koreans, at least in a non-political sense. The general consensus was that they were little more than lambs to the proverbial slaughter, the sounds of sharpening South American knives lingered ominously in the distance. Clive Tyldesley of the BBC admitted to researching Brazil's highest ever World Cup winning margin, in anticipation of a new entry to the record books. Some doubts should have arrived however, even before a ball was kicked. The sight of striker Jong Tae-Se weeping as he heard his country's national anthem pierce the freezing Johannesburg air beautifully brought home just how much this game meant to the North Koreans. Appearing in their first World Cup since 1966, they weren't planning on becoming an unpleasant footnote in the long and glorious history of Brazillian football; they wanted to make their own history.

Dunga's Brazil line-up contained no shocks, the former midfield general having long established a successful system for his players. It is a system which has drawn some criticism in his home land, primarily for its emphasis on functionality over flair. They lined-up in a 4-4-1-1 formation with Kaka playing just off Luis Fabiano. The Real Madrid player has not enjoyed the greatest of debut seasons but was entrusted with orchestrating the Brazillian attack by his national manager. The Koreans set out in a 5-3-2 formation which unusually, featured no wing-backs. It was a flat back-five with three central-midfielders and just two attack minded players.

One of those two was Tae-Se, the man seen as the great hope of North Korean football. He had promised to deliver a goal in each game he played in and with such confidence, he was expected to back it up. While this was sure to be difficult given the unambitious nature of his side, the player based in Japan looked a class-act from the outset. He lead the line marvellously for his team, dragging Juan and Lucio across the pitch with his movement and displaying a neat touch when the ball was pinged into him. On more than one occasion in the first-half, he managed to turn and run at the Brazilian back-line, causing them problems whenever he did so.

While Tae-Se was the Koreans' stand-out forward player, it was Robinho making things happen for the men from Brazil. The wide-man showing all his trickery to bamboozle the opposition full-backs, but he struggled to find a way through this highly-disciplined wall of Korean defenders. With Robinho and Elano on the Brazilian flanks looking to cut-in as often as possible, there was plenty of space for Michel Bastos and Maicon to drive forward into space from the full-back positions. Bastos is regularly a left-winger for his club side, Lyon, but Dunga has chosen to employ him in a defensive position for his country more often than not, attempting to use his considerable offensive talents to pen opponents back and allow Brazil to dominate games. He was seeing plenty of the ball in advanced areas, but elected to shoot on several occasions due to the Korean stranglehold on space inside their half.

Despite their conservative approach, the Koreans were happy to play the ball around in midfield when they won the ball back. Their possession was tidy and full of clever movement into space. Once they entered the opposite half, they attempted to find the feet of their star-man, Tae-Se, looking to build their attacks around his superb movement and awareness. A great testament to the Korean mentality and discipline was the fact that they remained as committed and focussed even after going behind to Maicon's goal.

They refused to cave in to the continuous Brazilian pressure, but they were waning considerably as an attacking threat. Their back-five maintained the frantic closing-down of opponents, as their midfield three began to slightly show the effects of chasing the South Americans around the pitch relentlessly all game. Dunga instructed his full-backs and midfielders to make runs from deep, ensuring that they were much harder to pick-up for the Korean trackers. This instruction proved inspired as both Brazil goals arrived from runs of this kind coming from the right-flank.

The Korean consolation goal was a great moment of the tournament thus far. They had richly deserved some reward for their tremendous effort and impressive tactics. It was no surprise that Tae-Se was heavily involved in an historic goal, taken wonderfully by Ji Yun-Nam. While many expected a lopsided result in favour of the record World Cup champions, the tournament's unknown quantity (and lowest ranked team) produced a memorable performance built around surprising skill, sound tactical practices and no small amount of commitment.