North Korea is the Key to Group G

The so called "Group of Death" just got a lot more interesting after the opening round games Tuesday night. The first game between Portugal and Ivory Coast figured to feature the two teams that would be competing to be the second team out of the group. It was a match that featured its fair share of flopping, and quite frankly, Ivory Coast outplayed the favorite Portugal. However, the game ended in a 0-0 tie, leaving each team with a point, and a bit of instability.
A win for either Portugal or Spain would have almost certainly guaranteed them advancement to the next round, but now the landscape of Group G has completely shifted to an unlikely team, North Korea.
Not much was known about North Korea coming into the World Cup, other than they were ranked 105th internationally, and figured to be manhandled in all three games.
North Korea played surprisingly good defense in the first half against Brazil, and even scored a goal towards the end of the game to lose 2-1. Let's not get ahead of ourselves though, the Brazilians appeared more sluggish than usual offensively, perhaps overlooking the North Koreans. The goal they gave up also looked like the Brazilian defense had basically packed it in for the night. Despite each team's showing, North Korea will still be the underdog for their next two matches, and Brazil will be the favorite.
So let's assume Brazil wins all three games as they should. This would mean Portugal or Ivory Coast's advancement is contingent upon how they play North Korea. Assuming they both win, goal differential would be used to determine who advances. Portugal gets the first shot on June 21st, and then Ivory Coast on June 25th, the last day of group play.
Just think, the most mysterious team of the entire tournament has the potential to indirectly make the biggest impact on it. Portugal and Ivory Coast can both go far in this tournament, but in order to do that they're going to have to bring their full offensive arsenal against a North Korea team that has proven themselves defensively. Imagine a scenario where Ivory Coast assumes they have to win by two or three goals in order to advance. Now that's a game worth checking out.
Go figure, the "Group of Death" will be decided by the team that was pronounced dead before play even began.