On the Comeback Trail

I’ve promised to recount the glory days of the ‘Red Devils’, and I shall. A slight digression along the way however, to talk about current events regarding the current squad and it’s current team leader, Dick Advocaat.

Recently, our squad won the LG Cup in Saudi Arabia; did anybody know that LG is a Korean conglomerate, and that they were pretty much forced to attend? This is pertinant in that most national teams eschew these types of inconsequential tournaments for the simple fact that: a) They might lose an important player to injury, and b) it doesn’t affect their FIFA world ranking either way.

Advocaat has a tough task, as both Humberto Coehlo and Jo Bonfrere were pilliored for failing to achieve what Guus Hiddink did; perform miracles. He’s got a few veterans left from their ‘02 campaign, but mostly a lot of youngsters who haven’t had enough experience on the national team to bolster their nerve. Park Chu-Young and Lee Dong-Guk will have to step it up a notch if they hope to advance to the next stage.

The current France squad resembles the same bunch that performed so well in Euro ‘96. As such, they’ll be as hungry to avenge their rotten campaign from four years ago, and as long as the principal squad stays healthy, I think they’ll be able to do so. But it should be noted; France played Korea in a pre-tourney friendly just before losing to Senegal in the opening match, and lost Zidane to injury (not to mention just barely eeked out a win).

Switzerland has never been impressive, but they’re a scrappy team that plays about as dirty as the Philadelphia Flyers circa ‘74.

What can I say about Togo? Never seen them play in my life, and nobody could be criticized for expecting them to fail, but most of the African teams who’ve made it to the final 32 are nothing if not physically fit. And that’s one of the few advantages Hiddink’s squad had going for it the last time around.