Joy for South Korea as they draw with the USA (Allsport)

By James Dart, Sportinglife.com

Millions of envious people over here in Britain have watched the first 10 days of the World Cup unfurl in blazing conditions.

Warm, sunny, humid at times, but generally good.

That was until Monday when the rainy season hit Korea with a bang, making conditions in the Group D showdown between Portugal and Poland a nightmare.

This was what FIFA, the competition's organisers, had feared and represented the major reason why they had been asked to stage the tournament in the Autumn, once the rainy season was over.

Moving the finals from the summer simply was never an option for the sport's governing body and they would have felt justified in not doing so after the glorious opening week-and-a-half.

But the monsoon-like conditions that struck Jeonju are a worrying sign of what is to come, as the weather in the Far East is set to get worse as the summer goes on.

Whilst it would be going much too far to say that the game in Jeonju was ruined by the weather, it clearly didn't help the sides play the ball around or keep them on their feet.

Indeed, as well as players slipping around on the greasy surface, it enticed the teams to go to ground far too often in the tackle, chalking up the foul count at an alarming rate.

Scottish referee Hugh Dallas was caught at the centre of this and ended up dishing out eight bookings.

England are the latest team who could suffer because of the weather due to a tropical storm that is set to hamper their preparations for the crunch game with Nigeria.

The remnants of typhoon Noguri are heading their way from the Pacific Ocean and thundery downpours look set to sweep into Kobe and the southern coastline of Japan where Sven-Goran Eriksson's side are training.

More importantly, though, after such an exciting and entertaining opening to the tournament, it would be a shame for games at the business end of the showpiece to turn into a washout - both for players and fans alike.

Obviously it's alright if you're playing inside the Sapporo Dome, but given that this location isn't being used beyond the group stages, then we could well be set for a wet end to the World Cup.

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They may come from the drier climate of Southern Europe, but Portugal didn't let the tricky conditions get to them on Monday evening.

Antonio Oliveira's side had come in for a lot of criticism after their opening 3-2 reversal at the hands of the United States, but they answered some of this by dumping the Poles out of the finals in a 4-0 win.

Pauleta, the leading scorer in the French Championnat this season with Bordeaux, was their hero with a hat-trick.

My colleague Dave Tindall had tipped the striker at 33/1 in his pre-tournament betting preview to land the Golden Boot, but even that tasty price had looked a tad short after his disappointing display against the US.

Try getting some of that now as he stormed back with three of Portugal's goals, each of which was taken in the clinical fashion of a striker with his eye in.

He didn't mind the rain. In fact, he suited the conditions like a duck to water.

For Poland, despite an improved showing on their first loss to South Korea, this still marked the end of the road for Jerzy Engel's side.

Having been the first European team - other than champions France - to qualify for the finals, big things were expected from them in the Far East.

Now all that's left for them is to salvage some pride against the States and at least break their goal duck.

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It had been far more pleasant in Daegu where South Korea and the USA shared the points from an entertaining 1-1 draw.

Such had the build-up been to this game from the co-hosts' perspective that the excitement amongst their fans was almost unbearable ahead of kick-off.

Once more, the atmosphere provided by the co-hosts' fervent support helped lift a game that never really hit the heights of its pre-match hype.

And the concrete stadium was rocking when Ahn Jung Hwan scored their equalising goal with 12 minutes left.

It was the least that Guus Hiddink's side deserved after earlier missing the chance to cancel out Clint Mathis' opener when a penalty was saved by Blackburn's Brad Friedel.

They face their biggest test next where they need a point against the Portuguese in order to reach the last 16.

Expect one almighty atmosphere in Incheon on Friday.

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The fans did their best to raise the temperature in Oita where Tunisia were playing Belgium, but sadly the sides rewarded them with one of the poorer games in this year's finals.

It finished 1-1, a result that does little to enhance the chances of qualification of either side. Fellow Group H members Japan and Russia will have been much happier with the scoreline.

It did provide a memorable goal, though, with Raouf Bouzaine curling home a delightful 25-yard free-kick.

But that's as good as it got and both teams must win their final games in order to advance to round two.

Belgium face Russia and won't have a chance if they play as poorly as they did here.

Tunisia take on the exciting Japanese and don't have a chance - according to their coach.

"We don't really have much of a chance against them at home in front of their own crowd," said Ammar Souayah.

Surely he could look on the bright side? Well, he's probably seen the weather forecast.

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