Cristiano Ronaldo believes referees should offer more protection for skillful players at the World Cup, after Portugal's opening 0 0 draw with Ivory Coast.
Portugal, third in the FIFA rankings but who only made it to South Africa after a playoff victory over Bosnia, come closest to scoring when Cristiano Ronaldo struck a post, but there was little to suggest an upsurge from their patchy form during qualifying.
It was a match that desperately needed an early goal to force one team to abandon the tactical approach that has been a feature of the opening round of fixtures.
The Real Madrid player told the BBC he was not happy when he was shown a yellow card in the first half of the game against Ivory Coast.
Also, New Zealand's Winston Reid has written himself into New Zealand's sporting history after heading home a last gasped equalizer against Slovakia to earn the All Whites their first points at a World Cup Soccer tournament.
Reid told the BBC that it was the most important goal of his life after the All Whites upset all form books and predictions by holding the strong Slovaks to a 1 1 draw in Rustenburg this morning.
In other games this morning, second half goals from Maicon and Elano helped Brazil overcome North Korea and record a 2-1 win in their opening game in Pool G.
The Brazilians, ranked number one by FIFA, were expected to cruise past the team ranked 105th in their Group encounter.
Looking at the upcoming games, Honduras takes on Chile at 11.30 tonight.
Tomorrow morning at 2am, Spain takes on Switzerland and at 6.30am South Africa takes on Uruguay.
Ronaldo wants more protection
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