Match stewards take a fan away after he ran
onto the pitch during a Group G match at the 2006 FIFA Football World Cup in
Dortmund, Germany, June 19, 2006. Switzerland won 2-0.
-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.