Another day goes by in the World Cup and another African team disappoints.Togo entered the game having played well in the other group games in the 2006 German World Cup, but had been missing an important piece to the puzzle to reach the next round. The games was open ended and many chances at goal which kept the GK's very busy, especially the Togo goalkeeper. It seemed that someone was going to score when Alexander Frei, the dangerous Swiss forward scored into the roof of the goal on a powerful right footed blast. Late in the game the aptly named Tranquilo Barnetta whose first name means tranquil gave Switzerland a well deserved win and giving them top in the group.

This was a bittersweet day for me in this year's World Cup. The sweet part was that Thierry Henry ended the goal-less drought by France who hadn't scored since the final in 1998 against Brazil. The bitterness came 81 minutes later when the match had ended, the tired French were dejected and the Koreans had equalized at minute 74 by the Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-Sung and the one greatest French player who ever lived, Zizou- the equal of Fontaine and Platini- had played his last match for Les Bleus. Oh, they'll play another match in the deciding round of the qualifiers for "octavos de final" (I love how the Spanish announcers call the elimination round)but Zidane won't for having challenged a Korean in frustration during the goal that brought the Amazing Koreans level with the aging champions.

Bogey number two. An apparently frustrating match that I slept through with little results on the pitch, but a very nice result for the other two teams in their group Brazil and Australia who realized after dozing off that instead of a Group of Death, this is a Group of Cheese-Whiz.

This is my opportunity to welcome all of my friends to my personal obsession: Futbol aka Soccer in this backward land of Xtreme Sports, Golf and Neck-Car being more in the public zeitgeist than the most important global sport bar-none. Welcome, and be glad that I will give you some great information, some highlights of the week and my personal opinions. A little about who I am and how I have become a fanatico.

I, like many Americans, have been on the periphery of "Soccer" for more than 20 years. As a kid I saw Pele play for the New York Cosmos and I saw Maradona play for Argentina in Mexico against England when God's hand and EL-Pive's gonads entered the public consciousness. It was like a time lapse picture of a generation of players, Dennis Bergkamp, Christian Vieri, Ruud Gullit, Hristo Stoichkov, Romario of Brazil and Roberto Baggio that had all taken hold of my senses but by the time that I could give the sport my undivided attention, by watching DirecTV's coverage, my favorite players had gone or had aged badly.

Today I have imparted my passion for the game to my oldest son, my youngest is following his brother and I am happily single and free to follow my passion for the sport. I follow Arsenal because Dennis Bergkamp still manages to make his much younger Gunners better every day. Nick Hornby, who writes my favorite mainstream novels (of which Fever Pitch denotes his own Gooner-obsession) cemented my own Arsenal fanaticism. I also follow Real Madrid in Spain, AS Roma in Italy and pretty much anyone who plays an exiting, attacking game of football that reminds me of Maradona's Argentina, Romario's Brazil, or Baggio's Italy in my youth. The rest is for tomorrow.

The future lies in the 2005 FA Cup final of Arsenal v ManU, the 2005 Champions League Final of AC Milan v. Liverpool and finally the summer transfer window which is my favorite time of the year. Until next season, Cheers! Go Arsenal, Go TiTi, Go Reyes and Go Totti.

This is my opportunity to welcome all of my friends to my personal obsession: Futbol aka Soccer in this backward land of Xtreme Sports, Golf and Neck-Car being more in the public zeitgeist than the most important global sport bar-none. Welcome, and be glad that I will give you some great information, some highlights of the week and my personal opinions. A little about who I am and how I have become a fanatico.

I, like many Americans, have been on the periphery of "Soccer" for more than 20 years. As a kid I saw Pele play for the New York Cosmos and I saw Maradona play for Argentina in Mexico against England when God's hand and EL-Pive's gonads entered the public consciousness. It was like a time lapse picture of a generation of players, Dennis Bergkamp, Christian Vieri, Ruud Gullit, Hristo Stoichkov, Romario of Brazil and Roberto Baggio that had all taken hold of my senses but by the time that I could give the sport my undivided attention, by watching DirecTV's coverage, my favorite players had gone or had aged badly.

Today I have imparted my passion for the game to my oldest son, my youngest is following his brother and I am happily single and free to follow my passion for the sport. I follow Arsenal because Dennis Bergkamp still manages to make his much younger Gunners better every day. Nick Hornby, who writes my favorite mainstream novels (of which Fever Pitch denotes his own Gooner-obsession) cemented my own Arsenal fanaticism. I also follow Real Madrid in Spain, AS Roma in Italy and pretty much anyone who plays an exiting, attacking game of football that reminds me of Maradona's Argentina, Romario's Brazil, or Baggio's Italy in my youth. The rest is for tomorrow.

The future lies in the 2005 FA Cup final of Arsenal v ManU, the 2005 Champions League Final of AC Milan v. Liverpool and finally the summer transfer window which is my favorite time of the year. Until next season, Cheers! Go Arsenal, Go TiTi, Go Reyes and Go Totti.