It’s just like watching Everton

During the 1996-97 soccer season, the unfashionable English club Barnsley adopted as its slogan, “it’s just like watching Brazil.” When Brazil lost the 1998 World Cup finals 3-0 to France, one wag quipped, “it was just like watching Barnsley.”

Today, when Switzerland — a collection of non-descript lumpy white players — thwarted their glamorous French opponents through a well organized defense and non-stop running, it was just like watching Everton. I know the players had names like Vogel, Wicky, Magnin, and Muller on the backs of their jerseys. But at times I could have sworn they were really Dave Watson, David Unsworth, Nick Barmby, and Don Hutchison, etc. scraping out a 0-0 draw against Arsenal.

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