The Top 10 things we learned from the World Cup today, Monday June 21

By Ian Cruise in 2010 World Cup Blog

Published 17:00 21/06/10

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Portugal and Spain both hit top gear with good wins and Chile continued their success with another 1-0 victory.  But what did we learn from Day 10 of the World Cup? MirrorFootball is here with all the answers...

1) North Korea coach Kim Jong-Hun could be seen vigorously rubbing his head with a towel as he tried to protect himself from the torrential Cape Town rain towards the end of the first half against Portugal, with his side trailing by 1-0. Maybe if he'd got the hair dryer out at the break the Koreans might not have been humped 7-0.

2) England's pampered players have been moaning about the amount of time they have to spend in their rooms at their bleak World Cup training camp in Rustenberg, but there have been no such problems for the Koreans. For those of you in the dark (which is the way the Koreans prefer it of course), there is only one TV channel in the 'most secretive nation in the world'. And that is totally controlled by the state. Which explains why the Korean players have been spending most of their free time surfing the numerous channels available in their hotel rooms. What's the betting a few fellas will be desperately trying to explain those mysterious 'pay-per-view' bills to the missus when they get home?

3) We don't mean to be... well... mean, but Mick McCarthy is to commentary what North Korea is to free speech. "The goalkeeper has come out fishing and is absolutely clutching at straws", was just one of his gems during Portugal v North Korea. A free transfer to ITV surely beckons.

4) It's little wonder that Korea found themselves on the wrong end of a 7-0 thumping by the Portuguese. Ronaldo and his mates are, after all, ranked third in the world by FIFA, a massive 102 places above yesterday's opponents, who are 105th. Not that the Koreans know that, of course. ( OK, we get the picture - Ed ) ( Unlike the Koreans! - Ed ) ( Sorry, that' really is enough - Ed )

5) Switzerland were pretty abject as they surrendered meekly to Chile, in the process becoming the first team at this World Cup finals to fail to manage a single shot on target. Rumours that Fabio Capello was last night checking Emile Heskey's passport to see if he was actually born in Zurich are yet to be confirmed.

6) Insightful opinion is a cornerstone of successful World Cups and one texter to the BBC's website, Paul from Newcastle, must have considered long and hard before offering his verdict on Chile's 1-0 win over Switzerland at the final whistle.  "Chile - very entertaining to watch but I have an awful feeling they're going to regret wasting some of those chances." Err, Paul...

7) It's not been a great World Cup for West Ham so far. Benni McCarthy didn't lose enough weight to get into the South Africa squad, Rob Green threw one in against the States, and Valon Behrami had a grim afternoon for Switzerland against Chile as he was sent off after just 30 minutes. So the news that Matt Upson is set to start for England on Wednesday afternoon augurs well, doesn't it?

8) It's a good job Peter Drury isn't planning on spending his summer hols in Madrid this year. The ITV commentator is probably not flavour of the month in the Spanish capital after he said: "That's why the biggest club in Spain need David Villa" after the new Barcelona striker's first goal.

9) Of course, the Catalans are also rumoured to be in for Fernando Torres, but after he missed two excellent chance within just 20 seconds, they might be having second thoughts...

10) £35m can't buy you a penalty. According to those stat-based chaps over at Opta, David Villa has made more touches in the opposition penalty area in this World Cup than any other player. Do you think that fact will be much consolation after he sent his penalty wide to miss out on a hat-trick? No, us neither.

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