Given the runaround: Ronaldo (No 7) tries to get away from Dani Alves .In acres of space: Brazil right back Maicon takes the ball in his stride.So close: Nilmar rattles the Portugal upright
Left out: Robinho (far right) watches from the Brazil bench
This was the game that made the mouth water when the World Cup draw was made last December - but there was little samba football to report in Durban.
A draw was always going to be good enough to see both teams progress from Group G, and a stalemate is exactly what we got.
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Two wins out of two before this afternoon means Brazil top the group, with Portugal finishing second with an unbeaten record above the Ivory Coast.
This was an unsavoury goalless draw, including a flurry of first-half yellow cards, petulant displays and few moments when either team were really prepared to take risks.
Brazil, already qualified, surprisingly left Robinho out of their starting line-up, replacing him with Nilmar, while Julio Baptista stood in for the suspended Kaka in midfield and Dani Alves came in for the injured Elano.
Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz made four changes to the side that thrashed North Korea 7-0, including a first start at this tournament for Real Madrid's Brazil-born defender Pepe, who feared his dream of playing at the tournament had been crushed when suffering a serious knee injury last December.
Seven players were booked in a bad-tempered first period including Brazil midfielder Felipe Melo, hauled off just before half-time by coach Dunga and replaced by Josue as his duel with Pepe - also yellow carded - threatened to boil over.
Despite Portugal having the motivation that a win would hand them top spot in the Group G, there were only three efforts on target before the break as both teams cancelled each other out.
The best first-half chances fell to Nilmar, who first had his close-range effort tipped on to the upright by Eduardo after a cross by Maicon.
The Villarreal striker then saw a downward header bounce just wide of the goal after another cross from Maicon.
Tempers calmed down after the break with Portugal looking the sharper and substitute Simao Sabrosa forced Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar to make a tricky save from a long-range effort at the second attempt.
Portugal should have gone ahead soon after when Cristiano Ronaldo's run ended with the ball falling to Raul Meireles but his close-range effort was saved by Cesar, who dived bravely to turn the ball around the post and was hurt in the process.
In the 73rd minute, Alves' 30-yard strike went wide while three minutes from time Lucio's header was saved by Eduardo.
Substitute Ramires almost earned Brazil victory but his right-footed strike was denied by an acrobatic save from Eduardo in stoppage time.
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