Swiss Make it 3 in a Row |
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Saitama Stadium Sat 10th June 2006. France vs the Swiss in the League Cup Final at Saitama Stadium, what a difference 2 weeks and 9 different starting players can make. The Swiss really struggled to make an impact on the French team 2 weeks ago at the Big Circus in their final league game of the season. Traveling 60 kilos. on a Sunday night can scare off some players and we didn’t have a normal team – more clowns than players (see last write up). Fortunately, for the big game, the real Swiss (at least our one 1/2 Swiss) and our Dutch manager from times gone by showed up and we were able to do a little more with the ball and showed better movement as a team. The French team as well had a few different players but generally the same group from 2 weeks earlier. |
The Swiss have struggled to score all year so we decided to push one of the defenders into midfield and push some speedier players up front to get a goal early on. There were some decent chances with Dale pushing it wide when free in the box following great work by Dave down the wing and Aoki sending in some dangerous crosses. Yuji as well was working hard to get away from his defenders to use his pace. Unfortunately the strategy didn’t work as all the good work meant good chances but poor finishing was the cause of more frustration. Probably the best opportunity of the first half came from Angelo who from 5 yards out managed to miss the ball entirely but turned it back into the field of play for Cho to miss a shot from 7 yards. Coming back the other way, the French had a dangerous Japanese tandem up front and were always capable of breaking free but the back 3 of the Swiss, combined with tough tackles in midfield from Raffaelle, made it tough to get the passes to them. The first half ended 0-0 but the Swiss had to be hoping for better luck in the 2H as they should have been up 2-0 at that point. 
The second half was more of the same with the midfield battle quite tough and very few of the long passes creating much as Francois and Yannick at the back were solid while Cho, Koi, and Kirk were good enough 1 on 1 to keep out the dangerous French forwards. The breakthrough came for the Swiss about 20 minutes in, a great cross from Aoki found Yuji at the far post, he nodded it across the goal to Karl who was there to head it home with the keeper getting a touch to it. The goal didn’t seem to change the pace of the match much and the Swiss still looked a little more dangerous going forward. The second came about 5 minutes later as a pass from Dave to Karl found him free, Angelo made a strong run into the box and Karl laid it off perfectly for Angelo to bang it home from close range to make it 2-0. This seemed to spur the French into action, their midfield started to shoot more from distance and the forwards were doing more. This, combined with some tired Swiss legs did make it more interesting; one of the French forwards got away from Koi and beat Kirk for a free shot in the box, unfortunately for him, Peter Pauli smothered it. 
As the French pushed harder for a goal, it opened up more up front and Yan was able to knock a third goal in for the Swiss with about 8 minutes to go. One of the French defenders kicked out at Yan in frustration and was sent off for it but with or without him, there wasn’t much doubt of the result at this stage. There was one scary scene 5 minutes from the end as Angelo collided with the French keeper and the keeper went down quite hard, he was holding his head so everyone was concerned but after a few minute break he was able to step back between the posts. The match finished 3-0 to the Swiss, victors of the Cup for the third year in a row. It was a frustrating league campaign for the defending champions as we lost a lot of players and consistency was tough to achieve. However, in the Cup, we were able to beat the Hibs. and the YCAC when it mattered and the quality in the big match came through. Thanks very much to Sid for the organization, Ricky and his linesmen for keeping on top of things which always makes it more enjoyable, and to the French who always make it tough.