Portugal's World Cup adventure is up and running after they dished out a hammering to North Korea in Cape Town.
Portugal's World Cup adventure is up and running after they dished out a 7-0 hammering to North Korea in Cape Town.
Carlos Queiroz's side now look set to qualify for the last 16 following the emphatic Group F success.
Portugal soon got to work at the rain-soaked Green Point Stadium as Cristiano Ronaldo stamped his mark on proceedings.
North Korea's Jong Tae-Se threatened on the left-wing as he looked to follow up his impressive performance against Brazil in their opener.
The first big chance came in the seventh minute as Ricardo Carvalho rose unchallenged and headed against the post and Young-Hak Ahn then fired wide at the other end.
Raul Meireles then shot into the sidenetting, before he collected Tiago's threaded pass to slot under the onrushing Myong-Guk Ri in North Korea's goal as Portugal opened the scoring on the half hour.
Meireles should have doubled the lead, but he screwed wide after picking up the loose ball following a defensive mix-up and the impressive Fabio Coentrao saw his centre delicately flicked across the face of the goal by Hugo Almeida.
The game was ended as a contest when Portugal scored three times in seven second-half minutes.
A long ball from Miguel was chested down by Meireles to Almeida and he returned the pass for the Porto man to slide in Simao.
The diminutive winger coolly used the greasy condition to slide under the keeper to firmly hand the initiative to his team.
Moments later the marauding Coentrao cross for the unopposed Almeida to nod home and, on the hour, Tiago got in on the act by stroking home Ronaldo's cut-back from the left.
With 10 minutes remaining, substitute Liedson made an instant impact by cashing in on another defensive error to smash home at the near post.
All that was missing was a Ronaldo goal, but the Real Madrid sensation stormed through after another defensive howler, before lifting the ball over Myong-Guk Ri.
The chance appeared to have deserted him, but as the ball struck him on his back, he managed to regain his composure and place the ball into the empty net as two North Korean defenders homed in.
Portugal kept up the pressure and the instrumental Tiago glanced a fine downward header into the far corner to seal the convincing win.
Carlos Queiroz's side now look set to qualify for the last 16 following the emphatic Group F success.
Portugal soon got to work at the rain-soaked Green Point Stadium as Cristiano Ronaldo stamped his mark on proceedings.
North Korea's Jong Tae-Se threatened on the left-wing as he looked to follow up his impressive performance against Brazil in their opener.
The first big chance came in the seventh minute as Ricardo Carvalho rose unchallenged and headed against the post and Young-Hak Ahn then fired wide at the other end.
;Raul Meireles then shot into the sidenetting, before he collected Tiago's threaded pass to slot under the onrushing Myong-Guk Ri in North Korea's goal as Portugal opened the scoring on the half hour.
Meireles should have doubled the lead, but he screwed wide after picking up the loose ball following a defensive mix-up and the impressive Fabio Coentrao saw his centre delicately flicked across the face of the goal by Hugo Almeida.
The game was ended as a contest when Portugal scored three times in seven second-half minutes.
A long ball from Miguel was chested down by Meireles to Almeida and he returned the pass for the Porto man to slide in Simao.
The diminutive winger coolly used the greasy condition to slide under the keeper to firmly hand the initiative to his team.
Moments later the marauding Coentrao cross for the unopposed Almeida to nod home and, on the hour, Tiago got in on the act by stroking home Ronaldo's cut-back from the left.
With 10 minutes remaining, substitute Liedson made an instant impact by cashing in on another defensive error to smash home at the near post.
All that was missing was a Ronaldo goal, but the Real Madrid sensation stormed through after another defensive howler, before lifting the ball over Myong-Guk Ri.
The chance appeared to have deserted him, but as the ball struck him on his back, he managed to regain his composure and place the ball into the empty net as two North Korean defenders homed in.
Portugal kept up the pressure and the instrumental Tiago glanced a fine downward header into the far corner to seal the convincing win.
