We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
It's the big one - Switzerland vs. Togo! Two sides that are destined to light it up in this competition. Nah, just kidding. But if you're about and watching, join me for a spot of blogging, won't you?
posted by gatorbob @ 8:34 AM
We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
33 Comments:
There are actually some interesting implications in this match. Any kind of result for either side increases the pressure on France, who will face Togo on Friday with merely two points in the bank.
And if you're an Arsenal fan, there's always Senderos, Adebayor and Eboue to cast your eyes on. Gooner Steve, are you out there?
oh aye, i am. have you been getting the news that this might not happen because the togo players are holding out for £200K per player promised by the their fed?
in this one, i'll be happy if the afc boys do well. i'll take a goal each from adebayor and sendaros to add to the 4-3 shoeing the gooners are giving man utd in the scoring race.
by the way, the other gooner is djourou. eboue is ivoirian.
Yeah, brilliant story, but I see them in the tunnel now, so they must have struck an eleventh hour deal with the Togolese FA. Pfister was threatening to walk too!
Sorry about the error with Eboue; it's hard to keep up with all of your African players. They mentioned today that there are 15 Arse players in the tournament - more than any other team!
one last thing, since mom wanted the iMac set up in the living room and the telly is in the family room, i'll be on again at the half and then at the end. that will save me racing up the hallway back and forth.
have you listened to today's B & S podcast? there's a flippin' brilliant interview with jonathan ross.
we need an american version of that. i guess there's pti which can be pretty funny, but not a patch on the boys.
Haven't listened to the latest one yet, but the others have been fabulous. I'll check it out today. Thanks!
First decent chance for Togo falls to Kader, who scored their goal against Korea.
GOAL: 1-0 Switzerland. Good move with width that ends with a mere tap-in for Alexander Frei. I had a feeling that Frei would need a tap-in to open his account.
Welcome, Sir Trev. You have to feel for Togo. They're not a bad side, if a bit suspect and naive at the back.
What did you make of Brazil and France yesterday? Did you get a chance to TIVO the matches and watch them?
Stone-cold penalty for Adebayor, but the referee waves it off. A huge let off for the Swiss.
End to end stuff for a few minutes there with shots by Kader and Frei blocked by desperate lunges. Good stuff in this match now.
I'll tell you, some of these matches that promised very little on paper have been really good, while some of the matches that I was really looking forward to, such as the Brazil-Aussie matchup yesterday have been duds.
Too many of the Togo moves end with long shots that Zueberbueler easily gobbles up.
It would be lovely to see Togo peg one back before the half. I have a feeling that the Swiss will try to bottle it up after the half by playing a lot of balls through Vogel and Wicky.
Moustaffa Salifou picks up a yellow for a rash studs-up challenge. He'll miss the third match now.
Half-time: 1-0 Swiss; Not a bad match, albeit with the wrong score from my perspective. I don't like the Swiss and this result would put them in a decent position to knock the French out.
you'd say that the swiss scored against the run of play as a result of the togolese complete inability to defend against the cross. strange, because they're not small people. but the two central defenders are shocking. they were let off the hook about 90 seconds before the goal too.
but the rest of the game has been the story of togo's relentless running. adebayor and kader have been the two best for togo and are giving sendaros a bad time. yes, stone penalty for togo and it's incredible that the ref didn't call it. even if the paraguayan is too fat to keep up with the sweeping movement of togo going forward, his assistant was right there and he just looked the other way. incompetent.
thought kader might have done a little better when he was one-on-one than to try the sneaky near post option when if he'd hit it across zubibehler, adebayor would have pounced on any parry.
if togo don't run out of gas, they're still in it. they're the better team even if the score doesn't convey that now.
trev,
you're obviously more in touch with the women's game than i. i was wondering recently what are the us women doing with themselves not that the wusl is gone? are they playing for rusden and diamond's ladies and the like? or are they keeping match fitness as best they can and getting on with their lives. there's a bloke at most dcunited games that carries a "save the wusl" sign around the stadium at half time and i just thought he was a nutter because i thought it was dead and buried. no?
Sir Trev: I'm up for blogging the Women's World Cup, as well as the Premiership this next season. I'll be plenty busy starting in August but I could probably contribute the occasional post.
Gooner Steve: I think you're right, Togo are still in it, but any forward movement is going to open them up and as you say their backline is leaky. France will be praying for a Togo goal; this does not look for them.
Good effort from the handy Barnette. Tipped over by Agassa.
Togo's defenders are picking up plenty of yellows here - now Romao goes into the ref's book. He'll miss the match with France too.
I'll tell you: 'Cello is learning. He's got this match pegged. Togo need to be able to unlock the Swiss defense by running at the full-backs. Senderos has looked really good today and he's gobbling up any crosses. Togo needs to play to their strengths and stop taking the hopeful long shots.
Believe it or not, Togo has just earned its first corner. That tells a lot. With all the pressure they've been building, they haven't really tested Zueberbueler or the full-backs.
Midfielder Junior Senaya has come on.
As predicted, the Swiss have dropped back, leaving Frei to chase long balls up front. They'll be happy with the 1-0 win.
Good free kick opportunity for Togo....
And it's cleared out.
I think Gooner was offering to help Mia Hamm with her fitness regime, but perhaps Nomar might have a word or two about that.
Frei with a Pele-like effort from the half-way line, trying to catch the keeper out. Someone needs to tell that boy that he's no Pele.
Togo has ten minutes to save their tournament.
Frei comes off to a hero's welcome. Soak it up, Alexander. This is as good as it's gonna get for you in this WC.
GOAL: 2-0 Swiss; And Barnetta breaks the Togo hearts as he rifles a neat shot low into the left corner. He's been the best Swiss player in the second half and he gets his just desserts.
That goal is key too, because it now means that France must beat Togo by at least two goals if the Swiss can draw against Korea. If those two results were to happen, I honestly don't know how FIFA would sort the two out. Coin toss?
Full-time: 2-0 Switzerland; Plucky Togo is unfortunately eliminated with this result. They may regret all of the off the pitch drama surrounding payment for these games. All that's left for them now is to act the spoiler against France. Switzerland, on the other hand, now are in pole position to capture a second round match-up with Spain.
yeah, this really puts the pressure on france to do over togo. the swiss are in a good position to advance, but i'm not sure that they will because they play korea who i can't see taking a rest.
no mia hamm for me, it's lori fair all the way.
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