Friday World Cup Friendlies Rewind

One week away from the start of this thing called the World Cup, many of the teams are winding down their exhbition schedules. Today we saw a solid performance from Germany, a memorable day for the people of Togo, my beloved Palancas Negras of Angola shoot it out with Turkey, and a few other critical, yet meaningless friendlies. Here is a partial recap.

Germany 3 – Colombia 0
The host nation looked good beating up on a Colombia team that has already tied and beaten fellow Group A teams Ecuador and Poland respectively. Germany’s first two goals came off of set pieces with Bastian Schweinsteiger setting up Michael Ballack on the first and knocking a free kick home on the other. If not for poor finishing, Germany would have won by significantly more. Alas, no keeper goals in this one, but a good confidence booster for a German team that could use one.

Togo 1 – Lichtenstein 0
Following the news that their country’s representative was crowned Miss World Cup and the revelation that the spirits say they’ll make the final 16, the Sparrowhawks picked up a win against the country known for its stamps. Kader Mohamed picked up the goal for Togo in the 55th minute. The spirits are happy.

Turkey 3 Angola 2
This one turned out to be a great game. The Palancas took the lead in the first half on a goal by the talisman Akwa. In the second half, a poor bit of defense gifted Turkey’s Necati Ates a goal in the 53rd minute and it didn’t look good for the good guys when Kahveci Nihat scored for Turkey in the 71st. But the mighty Palancas never gave up and Love picked up the equalizer in the 83rd. It wasn’t meant to be, however, as Halil Altintop got the game winner a minute later. Angola showed some fight, although that defense sure has some holes.

Sweden 1 – Chile 1
Sweden continued its uneven run-up to the World Cup with a draw against Chile. Henrik Larsson notched the goal for Sweden. Also worth noting that Freddy Ljungberg played a full half as he continues to recover from a painful foot.

Italy 0 – Ukraine 0
The scandal ridden Italians came up empty against Ukraine, but managed to extend their unbeaten streak to 18 games. Ukraine saw fewer chances than Italy, who controlled most of the game, but managed a tie.

Tunisia - Uruguay
Tunisia and Uruguay also ended even, but Uruguay won a shoot out 3-1 to win the mini-tournament pitting Tunisia against teams with styles of play similar to their upcoming Group H opponents.

On tap for Saturday:

* All Matches displayed in CET
15:00 England - Jamaica
17:30 Switzerland - China PR
17:30 Czech Republic - Trinidad and Tobago
17:30 Poland - Croatia
20:00 Luxembourg - Portugal
22:00 Spain - Egypt