World Cup: Spain Finally Gores Portuguese Matador

At a Portuguese bullfight, the customs are slightly different from the Spanish version.

The matador doesn't kill the bull.

Instead, the Portuguese send out unarmed men called "forcados" who try to simply grab the bull by the horns and subdue it.

Before finally going down 1-0, Portugal tried to get its forcados to do the matador's job.

It stood back, waved the blanket of its defense and invited the Spanish bull to eke out its frustrations and emotions before, hopefully, grabbing its horns and dipping it to its knees.

The Spanish bull had four strong legs.

Xavi, Iniesta, Torres and David Villa.

They took steps back, steps forward, but somehow never managed to step through the blanket and inflict a wound.

Spain is a strange sort of bull. Before this game, it hadn't even been threatening enough to deserve one yellow card.

And for long periods of the first half, the only horns that pierced were the ones being blown in the stands.

Iker Casillas, in the Spanish goal, did not inspire confidence.

Casillas has had a difficult World Cup, given that his girlfriend, a rather famous and fetching sideline reporter, asked him after the team's loss against Switzerland in their first game, how he messed it up.

This might be a little like Erin Andrews walking up to her beloved Florida's Tim Tebow and asking him whether a missed touchdown pass shakes his faith in the Man Above.

Casillas bobbled a long shot from Tiago, then a swerving Ronaldo free kick.

He was hesitant whether to come for crosses or stay on his line.

Opinionated lovers can do that to you.

The core strength of Portugal lay in Ricardo Carvalho.

He has the receding hairline and the benign features of a rural accountant. Yet he holds forwards to the kind of account that always seems to be paid before his bill even arrives.

At the half, the Portuguese kept the Spanish waiting. They didn't even come onto the pitch until a few minutes after they were supposed to.

It was as if the matador had, half way through the proceedings, whispered to the bull that he needed a toilet break.

Still, once it began, the second half continued like the first.

The bull heading towards the matador.

The matador seeming less interested in killing the bull, and more in killing the spectacle.

Llorente, on for Torres, went close.

Then the bull simply got fed up.

This matador had no courage, no intention of unsheathing its sword, it thought.

He just wants to toy with us. It's Portgual. Their matadors aren't killers. It's just that they haven't conceded a goal throughout this World Cup.

So Spain pressed forward, attacked the blanket and tried a little novel footwork.

Instead of trying to storm at the middle of the matador's defenses, a flick from Iniesta found David Villa on the left after 62 minutes.

As Villa cut in, he tried one shot, parried by the excellent Eduardo.

But the second gored the Portuguese in the gut, rising high right into where it hurts.

Eduardo couldn't believe his luck. His forcados had failed him. The strategy that had kept them alive was suddenly looking perilous.

Portugal was down. Portugal was hurt. The bull wasn't supposed to score, to gore, never mind win.

Having been taunted and frustrated for so long, the Spanish bull now wanted to toy a little with the wounded matador.

David Villa hit a stinging drive that Eduardo couldn't get to. He hit another that the Portuguese keeper did very well to parry.

Portugal tried to make some kind of offensive effort, but, in the end, the matador and his forcados were all down, many in tears, none with an excuse.

This Portuguese team hadn't played Portuguese football.

Marshaled by the former Manchester United assistant manager, Carlos Queiroz, they had relied on their defense.

They left Cristiano Ronaldo having to perform solo.

He might as well have stayed in the studio, flashed his six-pack and drunk his twelve-pack.

Spain bulls its way on.

Its next opponent, Paraguay, played Italy rather as Portugal played Spain.

Will they really risk that strategy again? Or will they have to unsheath their swords to kill this bull?

Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing, and an avid sports fan. He is also the author of the popular CNET blog Technically Incorrect.