Australia and Togo Give Slackers Hope

It is a super busy week for the World Cup teams. Thirty of the teams are playing friendly matches on Tuesday and Wednesday. The two exceptions are Australia and Togo, a pair of countries renowned for their friendly people, but apparently not for their friendly matches.

With its reputation as a laidback country already firmly established, Australia has opted to hold a relaxing training camp in Holland instead of partaking in an exhibition match. While we would never question the choices of Australia coach Guus Hiddink, we do think that ultimately this will hurt the Socceroos, especially their Australian-based players who are likely to lose quite a bit of their summer suntans.

Togo’s players are not even lucky enough to get a week’s paid vacation in Holland. The team is not holding a training camp, perhaps because it is still trying to figure out if coach Stephen Keshi has been fired or whether he will be at the helm at the World Cup. A group of players are taking their time off to lobby for Keshi. It isn’t Amsterdam, but Lome should be a fun vacation spot for them. I hear it is especially nice there this time of year.

The good news for the Togolese players, and for all of us, is that there should be plenty of entertaining games to watch on the telly.