 |
| Switzerland's players celebrate after
winning a Group G match against Togo at the 2006 FIFA Football World Cup
in Dortmund, Germany, June 19, 2006. Switzerland won 2-0. (Xinhua
Photo) |
DORTMUND, June 19
(Xinhua) -- Switzerland clinched their first World Cup win in Germany on Monday,
beating Togo 2-0 despite a boring performance with nothing of an entertaining
brand of football.
The first goal came in 16 minutes when Tranquillo
Barnetta, at the far post, proded Ludovic Magnan's cross into the path of Alex
Frei, who poked the balll into the net.
Barnetta made it 2-0 for the Swiss in the dying
minutes, arrowing a sweet strike in at the far post after being set up by a
straight away pass from substitute forward Mauro Lustrinelli, who got the ball
on the left and stroked it along the width of the penalty area.
With the victory, Switzerland moved temporarily to
the top of Group G standings alongside South Korea, who also have four points
after beating Togo 2-1 in their World Cup opener and drawing 1-1 with France on
Sunday, while Togo were sent packing with two losses from as many matches.
The World Cup debutants had put Monday's match in
doubt with an aborted boycott launched by Togolese players, as they refused to
board the bus on Sunday morning before being threatened with sanctions by FIFA
and finally flying for Dortmund.
The Togo squad have been embroiled in a pay dispute
since before the tournament started and has also endured turmoil with coach Otto
Pfister leaving then being re-instated as coach.
In the do-or-die clash against Switzerland on Monday,
Togo have been knocked out of their stride by the Swiss' opening goal and hardly
touched the ball since.
Togo coach Otto Pfister was obviously not pleased by
what his team played, making his first subtitute on as early as the 25th minute
to replace Beveren midfielder Kuami Agboh with Stade Brest forward Moustapha
Salifou.
But it's Togo that looked more dangerous in front of
the opponents' goalmouth in the first half, while a penalty claim late in the
first half from Emmenuel Adebayor, who left alone his duty of marking the
Switzerland defender at set-pieces and concentrated in going forward, was turned
down by Paraguayan referee Carlos Amarilla.
The Arsenal striker, impressive throught out the
match, burst into the box and seemed to be tripped on 35 minutes, but Amarilla
ruled it a dive as Adebayor's tumble was too dramatic.
There were other Adebayor Moments besides the
"tackle". After just 6 minutes into the match, the 22-year-old headed a pass to
Mohamed Kader, but the striker's lukewarm shot caused no trouble for Swiss
keeper Pascal Zuberbuehler.
Four minutes later, Adebayor took advantage of an
ill-timed slip by Ricardo Cabanas to rob the ball and burst into the penalty
box. His cross was just too high for Mohamed Kader.
Adebayor then closed down the Swiss keeper and
collided with him for no apparent reason, no harm done though.
Togo failed to get back into the game in the second half, only to give the Europeans an important victory. Enditem
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]