PORTUGAL 7-0 NORTH KOREA

Wowzers!

What a lot of fun those Portuguese had - in stark contrast to poor North Korea, who follow Cameroon out of the tournament.

Cristiano Ronaldo is an interesting human being. Supremely talented, but so often difficult to like. And yet here, he suddenly seemed less snarling, less cocky and, quite simply, less irritating.

One suspects that the nature of the scoreline and the quality of the opposition may have been a factor in his shift in attitude. In the second half, as their plucky but defensively flawed opponents went in search of an equaliser, Ronaldo and co. were able to enjoy their football in a way that professional, certainly international, footballers rarely get to do in competitive matches.

Portugal swept forward like the show-offs you imagine them all to have individually been when they were the best players in their youth teams. Or maybe even more so: this was like a flashback to the playgrounds of Madeira, where a little lad called Cristiano must have been the best player in his school by an absolute country mile.

Yes, he's a show-off - but if I was that good at football (or indeed anything!) I'd show off until my mum called me in for tea. And then I'd take my ball with me to make sure that none of my friends could play without me.

Wave after wave of fast, free-flowing, exciting, attacking play - even when they were six up - this was a side who were loving playing football and didn't want the game to end. Yes, the opposition were very poor. But I'm not convinced England would beat them 7-0. I'm not convinced that our boys currently have the same joy in their game. Do they love the beautiful game enough to want to score this badly? To take the necessary risks in order to craft a moment of World Cup magic.

Or would we be too terrified of falling over the ball when while attempting a step over, therefore making a laughing stock of our forward line in the eyes of the world (at least Emile was trying to do SOMETHING!)?

But I digress. All I really wanted to say is: Ronaldo and I had a great time in this one, and I was over the moon when he finally, and deservedly, got his goal.

Regardless of the opposition, this was a real treat.

Football is fun again.



THE STORY SO FAR

Match of the tournament: Portugal 7-0 North Korea

Player of the tournament: Diego Forlan (Uruguay)

Goal of the tournament: Tshabalala (South Africa v Mexico)