7th December 2007 - Yokohama, Japan "December 7th, 1941 - a day which will live in infamy."
It was now 66 years since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that led to that speech before Congress. It had also been one year since the war with China began. Only the Japanese had been drawn into this war, as nearly every other power had thought the war was silly American expansionism. Fighting continued in the country, and it was pretty much at a stalemate.
For Mr. Power, none of this really mattered. He had qualified England easily for Euro 2008, and looked forward to the challenge in Austria and Switzerland. He was here on his first trip to Japan on business. He had managed to shock everyone by beating Ajax to win the Champions League 2-1 on the silver goal rule. That was a really boring match that featured five minutes of real quality football.
Inter-Continental Cup
San Lorenzo v. Ajax
Yokohama International
Starting XI:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">San Lorenzo (4-4-2) Ajax (4-1-3-2)GK Sebastián Saja (c) GK Kasper SchmeichelDR Héctor Medrano DR Goran VukcevicDL Gustavo Ludueña DL Jason Di TullioDC MartÃ*n Vera DC Nayef Al-KherboushDC Javier Delgado DC José Julián de la CuestaMR Jorge Ruiz DMC Nigel de Jong (c)ML Walter Romero MR Dean MarneyMC Cristian Guzmán ML Kevin McLeodMC DarÃ*o Barrera MC ÉdersonFC Pablo Gómez FC Georgi KakalovFC Franco Alonso FC Anatoli Todorov</pre>
The match started and Ajax were already in front after just thirteen seconds. Todorov's thrilling run through the defence set up a goal from an unmarked Todorov. Ajax nearly doubled their advantage ten minutes later, but a close range header was stopped by Argentina goalkeeper Saja. However, his defence let him down shortly after. A McLeod corner was headed home from a shamefully unmarked Marney, and the England internationals had doubled the advantage.
In the 15th minute, the barrage continued. Éderson's crisp shot was saved by an outstretched Saja, and the defence was there to clear the rebound. Play settled down after that incident, and the spectators quickly grew tired of the lack of attacking football being shown by the South American champions.
The second half saw more domination from the Dutch champions. A hard shot from Kakalov was easily held by Saja on 59 minutes. Four minutes later, Todorov missed an absolute sitter. He set himself up perfectly for the one-on-one against Saja, but his shot beat both the goalkeeper and the net by several yards. In injury time, Éderson finally got on the scoresheet with a curling effort from the edge of the penalty area.
San Lorenzo 0
Ajax 3 (
Kakalov 1; Marney 13; Éderson 90)
Attendance: 72359
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