Cristiano Ronaldo caused much amusement before Portugal's World Cup opener against the Ivory Coast by explaining his lack of goals for Portugal would be like getting ketchup out of a bottle. Nothing for ages then suddenly a load all at once, in a Portuguese variation of the "it's like waiting for a London bus" theme.

Today, although Ronaldo only bagged one goal, collectively the ketchup truly arrived for Portugal in spectacular fashion, as the Selecção demolished North Korea 7-0.

A poor display, an average result and some unhelpful fall-out. The 0-0 draw against the Ivory Coast was certainly not the best of starts to Portugal's World Cup campaign.

There’s no way round it. Nani’s injury is a big blow to the Selecção. The news broke like a bombshell in Portugal. It struck a wound to our hopes. But perhaps not a mortal one.

From no-hopers to world-beaters. The mood change has been as dramatic as it has swift. Only one week separated a performance against Cape Verde that had local hacks competing for the cleverest put-down to describe Queiroz, from a thoroughly uplifting dismissal of Cameroon in a friendly pencilled in as a dress rehearsal for Portugal’s World Cup opener against Ivory Coast.