The Monday World Cup schedule will be highlighted by the second appearance of Sounder-to-be Blaise Nkufo with Switzerland.
Here’s the schedule:
4:30: Portugal-North Korea
7 a.m.: Chile-Switzerland
11:30: Spain-Honduras
General manager Adrian Hanauer remains in South Africa this week, and I believe he’s planning to watch the Chile-Switzerland match.
“I’m very, very happy for Blaise,” Hanauer said before flying out. “For him to get a chance in a group where potentially they could go through is exciting. I hope he plays well and will be with us as soon as possible – although we don’t want to wish that they get knocked out of the group stage, of course.”
Hanauer said his trip to South Africa is a mixture of work and pleasure. He planned to visit a wildlife reserve, attend all of the USA games, and scout some players who could be signed when the next international transfer window opens July 15. However, he’s leaving later this week and will join the Sounders in Philly for their Sunday return to MLS play.
Looks like Chile and Switzerland are picking up where Brazil and Ivory Coast left off.
A debatable red card, to be sure, but it probably won’t be the only sendoff in this match. There’s always at least one game in the World Cup where the players turn psycho.
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I like what the referee is trying to do… no problem with his philosophy. However, some of the realization has been iffy. I thought the red was harsh. And the yellow on Nkufo would have been more defensible if the Chile defender hadn’t also had a handful of Nkufo’s jersey.
Otherwise, yet another game where it’s hard to scout Nkufo due to lack of touches… and that could continue given the man disadvantage.
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I thought it was a game of good intentions. I liked how the referee tried to control the game, although I’m not sure it quite worked. I liked how Chile kept pushing forward, although it almost cost them in the end.
And I just hate the offside rule that allows an attacking player to break offside if he is judged not to be involved with the play. On Chile’s goal, the offside player at the bottom of the screen certainly drew the attention of a Swiss defender, which certainly could have affected the play. Probably not offside by rule, but I hate the rule.
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