2010 FIFA World Cup Previews: June 21, 2010

Portugal vs North Korea

Portugal is another of the big European teams who haven’t quite performed as well as expected—although a draw against the Ivory Coast was by no means as bad as some of the other failures that we’ve seen in this tournament. There has been another setback for Portugal in the form of Deco—he will not be fit to play the match after picking up an ankle injury in training.

North Korea may have lost against Brazil, but they didn’t exactly embarrass themselves. They tested the Cup favourites a few times and they could pose a real threat to Portugal. It looks like North Korea is planning to stick with the same side which impressed the world against Brazil in their opening match.

The last time this match was played in the World Cup finals it was a stunning 5-3 at Goodison Park in 1966, with Portugal coming back from being down 3-0. Hopefully we’ll see something equally as spectacular.

Chile vs Switzerland

News comes in a bit of mixed bag for the Swiss, they will be without Sanderos, but they do get to see the return of captain Frei as well as Behrami who both missed their opening match against Spain. Switzerland must really fancy their chances here after beating the title favourites and if their run of good fortune continues they may even beat Chile and progress through the group stages against all the odds.

Valdiva is likely to be fit despite speculation that he had picked up a muscular injury against Honduras. Another boon is the return of Suazo, who will likely lead the three-man Chilean attack. Chile will have to try and break down the Swiss defence pretty quickly if they are going to win this as the Swiss have proved recently that they can hold onto a lead if they get one.

Spain vs Honduras

Spain will be very disappointed by the harsh lessons that they were taught by Switzerland. Not only did they lose to a team not even tipped to make it out of the group stages, but the Swiss held their own and could have in fact beaten them more convincingly if they’d capitalized more on their chances. Torres is expected to make a start in the hope that somebody can actually put the ball in the back of the net for the Spaniards.

Honduras will just be looking to pick up a point here. Coming out of the tournament with a bit of pride would be brilliant for the team, with the group that they’re in they stand to take a licking from all three sides if they’re unlucky. On the other hand, the team has never won a match in the World Cup and after watching Spain lose last week, they may just take a crack at getting their first.

Xavier - live scores and sports