Durban, June 24 2010: When No.1 meets No.3 at the World Cup on Friday, it will be in a first-round game.

Say what? .

Yep, or more appropria-tely, sim, because Brazil and Portugal face off (10.a.m.at Durban) in Group G.The Brazilians are ranked tops in the world and the Portu-guese, who once colonized Brazil, are third.

With the seeding system FIFA uses for the tournament draw, however, such an early-round meeting always is possible.

When the two pow-ers play, a spot in the second round already is assured for five-time champion Brazil, and anything but a loss should move the Portug-uese into the knockout stages.

"Portugal and Brazil have what it takes to put on a great football show for the world," Portugal coach Car-los Queiroz said.

Adds Brazil defender Luisao: "There is always a lot talked about when Brazil and Portugal play.

We will have to play at our best be-cause they have a team with a lot of quality.

We have to respect them.

Both teams have the goal to finish first, so I hope it's going to be a good match ".

The Portuguese routed North Korea 7-0, by far the most lopsided game in the tournament.

Even Cristiano Ronaldo broke his slump, scoring for the national squad for the first time since the 2008 European Championship.

Brazil struggled to get its offense on track against North Korea, then beat Ivo-ry Coast 3-1 in classy style.

Barring a huge win for Brazil, both teams will ad-vance.

Ivory Coast needs to do something similar to the seven-goal whipping Por-tugal applied to North Korea to have any chance of remaining alive�and only then with a Brazil victory.

Right now there's a nine-goal difference between the Ivorians and the Portugese.

Ivory Coast faces the North Koreans at Nelspruit, and is hoping to get more out of star striker Didier Drogba.

He has appeared in both matches so far despite having broken his right arm earlier this month, but has not made a big impact.

He scored a consolation goal in the 79th minute against Brazil, but will need help from fellow forwards Salomon Kalou, Aruna Din-dane and Gervinho. "We didn't put our chan-ces away and failed to make the most of our counter-attacks," said defender Kolo Toure.

"Those are the kinds of mistakes we have to avoid against North Korea.

We need to be more com-pact and above all do better with our chances" .

The Koreans will head home after the match.

Their loss to Portugal was the first North Korea game abroad to be aired live prime-time on state TV in the isolated country.

It wasn't much of a display.

Spain and Chile could put on quite a display (2:30 p.m.at Pretoria), with the 2008 European champions in a precarious spot.

Having lost to Switzerland and bea-ten Honduras, the Spaniards almost certainly must win to advance.

And des-pite two wins on their resume, the Chileans could fall short of making the next round if they lose.

Although Spain has showed some of the flair that made its run to the Euro title so memorable, it has not found the net enough to be comfortable as it faces the South Americans.

"For us it's clear what we have to do�we have to beat Chile," said midfielder Andres Iniesta, who is available for the final group match after overcoming a right leg inju-ry.

"We've got a clear idea about what we need to do and we're confident of rea-ching the next round.

Nothing else is important" .

Chile is no pushover, for sure.

It almost won South American qualifying and, at points, has looked dynamic at this World Cup.

"First and foremost, we will, as we do in all matches, stand our ground," said Chile coach Marcelo Bielsa.

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