Monday, 16 June 2008
Get in Gombey's!
How exciting was the Czech Republic v Turkey game earlier? Even at two-down I thought the Turks were never out of it and they fully deserved their victory. Turkey's quarter final game with Croatia should be very deserving of being two of the best eight teams in Europe and what about poor old Petr Čech eh?
The standard in the tournament so far has been outstanding and hopefully the excitement continues to build as we move through the all or nothing last round of group matches. I'm not missing England's participation at all, but as other people have pointed out from what I've seen we are a long way behind the majority of teams in this competition.
Anyway elsewhere in another continent today Bermuda's 2010 world cup dream continued. Ranked 139th in the world Bermuda have made it through to Round 2 after beating the Cayman Islands over two legs in Round 1. They were then drawn against 2006 final qualifiers Trinidad and Tobago, ranked number 87 in the world but 6 in the CONCACAF zone. The first leg was in the T&T in Macoya this afternoon and guess what? Bermuda WON!
It was quite a shock in the region and now the 'Gombey Warriors' host the return next Sunday in Hamilton. Bermuda's team is made up almost entirely of players that live on the island, although 17-year old Reggie Lambe did come on as sub and he's in Ipswich Town's youth team. John Barry Nusum, who plays professional indoor soccer in Philadelphia scored both goals, the first in the 8th minute finishing a cross from Khano Smith to silence the home crowd.
Stern John equalised but Nusum sealed victory just before half-time. A second half barrage from Trinidad & Tobago ensued but the Bermudian's held on. T&T's team included Sunderland's Carlos Edwards, Walsall's Clayton Ince, Swansea's Dennis Lawrence and Jason Scotland plus Southampton's Stern John.
The winners will go into a 3-group, 4-team round robin competition. Details here. The USA in the same round today thrashed Barbados 8-0 in Los Angeles in front of 11,400 people. ¶ 01:08
How exciting was the Czech Republic v Turkey game earlier? Even at two-down I thought the Turks were never out of it and they fully deserved their victory. Turkey's quarter final game with Croatia should be very deserving of being two of the best eight teams in Europe and what about poor old Petr Čech eh?The standard in the tournament so far has been outstanding and hopefully the excitement continues to build as we move through the all or nothing last round of group matches. I'm not missing England's participation at all, but as other people have pointed out from what I've seen we are a long way behind the majority of teams in this competition.
Anyway elsewhere in another continent today Bermuda's 2010 world cup dream continued. Ranked 139th in the world Bermuda have made it through to Round 2 after beating the Cayman Islands over two legs in Round 1. They were then drawn against 2006 final qualifiers Trinidad and Tobago, ranked number 87 in the world but 6 in the CONCACAF zone. The first leg was in the T&T in Macoya this afternoon and guess what? Bermuda WON!
It was quite a shock in the region and now the 'Gombey Warriors' host the return next Sunday in Hamilton. Bermuda's team is made up almost entirely of players that live on the island, although 17-year old Reggie Lambe did come on as sub and he's in Ipswich Town's youth team. John Barry Nusum, who plays professional indoor soccer in Philadelphia scored both goals, the first in the 8th minute finishing a cross from Khano Smith to silence the home crowd.
Stern John equalised but Nusum sealed victory just before half-time. A second half barrage from Trinidad & Tobago ensued but the Bermudian's held on. T&T's team included Sunderland's Carlos Edwards, Walsall's Clayton Ince, Swansea's Dennis Lawrence and Jason Scotland plus Southampton's Stern John.
The winners will go into a 3-group, 4-team round robin competition. Details here. The USA in the same round today thrashed Barbados 8-0 in Los Angeles in front of 11,400 people. ¶ 01:08
