World Cup debutants Togo had hardly made the history as the internal turmoil led to an aborted boycott to their second Group G clash against Switzerland here on Monday.
The Togolese team, who have been in turmoil ever since they arrived in Germany with a payment dispute with their local football authority, refused to depart from the base camp in Wangen, according to a fixed timetable Sunday morning.
But after being threatened with sanctions by FIFA, the players finally boarded the bus and caught a flight to Dortmund where they will stay prior to Monday's match.
It's a precedent in the 76-year history of the World Cup that a team withdrew from a match.
The Western African team have had their German coach Otto Pfister walking out with just one day before the event opener. He returned in time for their first time, but has been involved in a word fight with the Togo soccer association.
Togo players again refused to hold their training on Saturday, while the officials for the team said the training was cancelled so that the players could rest.
With all the chaos on their way to Monday's match, the Togolese team will found it far more difficult to look for another African upset against Switzerland after Ghana surprised many to beat the 2nd-ranked Czech Republic 2-0 in Cologne on Saturday at a Group E showdown.
After letting a victory against South Korea slip away in the second half of their 2-1 loss at the opening match, the Sparrow Hawks still stay in a position to be able to reach the last sixteen, but the Swiss, forcing a goalless draw against France, are the much clearer favorites.
In the first half against the Koreans, Togo didn't look like a team playing their first ever World Cup match. They dominated the Koreans on both ends of the field and took a 1-0 lead by halftime.
But in the 53rd minute Togo went down to 10 men after Jean-Paul Abalo was handed his second yellow card of the match. That cued a Korean comeback as they scored in the 54th and 72nd minutes to give Togo a disappointing 2-1 loss.
Meanwhile, Switzerland approached their game with France in a practical manner, though they didn't play the most entertaining brand of football against France.
The Swiss team, two points behind group-leading South Korea, had outplayed their opponents in the opening match, created higher quality scoring chances and looked a lot more confident on defence, aware that they could be punished by the likes of Henry and Saha on the counter-attack if ploughing too many resources into attack.
Despite having a young team, the Swiss shouldn't have too much trouble claiming a victory from their second match.