Switzerland 1 – 2 Turkey
Talking to my son during the first game yesterday, I was just beginning the sentence “Ronaldo’s having a stinker today, eh mate?” when up he pops to score one and set up another so I quickly changed it to “Ronaldo’s on fire again, eh mate?” – it doesn’t do for a son to think his father and coach can’t read a game. But the truth was he was having a stinker and so too the rest of his mates, after Deco scrambled the ball home to go one-up early doors (it always helps to get in cliché’s with a 9 year old as well), and if you didn’t know better you’d think that they were preoccupied with the prospect of losing, say, their manager.
Perhaps the news had already been broken to them and perhaps also some of the Real boys now thought that CR would be alighting at West London on his journey South from Manchester come July. Any road up they weren’t thinking that they had to defend corners clearly. But in the event what is now Gene Hackman’s swansong will continue into the knockout stages as Portugal duly qualified for the quarters as group winners.
This result together with Turkey’s win means that someone must win when they meet Czech Republic on Sunday. The two are locked together on points and goal difference, and as the other criteria to split teams is head-to-head record, a draw will be inconclusive. I’m just going to look-up what happens in this event . . .nope nothing on the official website, but if it’s anything like the rules for the qualifying group then it could come down to UEFA’s favourite “Fair Play” (as in “Fair Play, Czech Republic is in Europe and Turkey isn’t”, or “Fair Play, Turkey did give Michel Platini a free condo overlooking the Bosporus”) or flipping a coin.
Turkey and Switzerland splashed about in Basle, which was a shame because had the venues for last night’s games been reversed then I could have woven in some comments about “Lake” Geneva. I’m no expert but even if Basle has a lake it’s not as famous as the one in Geneva so “smart arse writing” value is nil as far as I’m concerned. This probably wasn’t a fixture that to excite you at first glance, but the conditions soon made it probably the best match of the tournament for me. The thoroughly miserable looks on the Turks faces as their shirts soon became transparent were trumped only by their demeanour when one of their own, Hakan Yakin, scored. Yakin, who had been offered Turkish nationality in 2000, was unsure how to react to his tap-in, starting to wheel-away before thinking better of it and all at the same time, trying to look humble and respectful and happy and failing.
The Swiss thought their day had come as Turkey’s game plan was sunk (geddit?) without trace in the first half. Yakin should have made it two before the break but in a fit of sympathy missed ugly in front of an open goal.
The second half saw Turkey surface (geddit?) again with renewed purpose and if their was a smile on the face of Turkey’s coach it was because in the dressing room as the players dried themselves, he had found a Semih in his pocket and it was the substitute who headed their equalizer soon after the restart. A draw suited neither and as the conditions eased it was Turkey who could knock the ball about and probably deserved to stab the Swiss through the heart with a winner in time-added.
Ricardo checks his deodorant rather than the position of the ball
Not many points around in the PAS race last night, the exceptions being Jayne and Ann who snaffled a maximum each. As a result Jayne is now on top with Liam and Butch finds his natural position in the football world.
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