I was Rollin’ With Rogo this morning (he does the play-by-play, I am the analyst) at the FSC Studio this morning for the 2008 Toulon Tournament Group A match between hosts France and Japan.

While it would end 2-1, it was really a match about converting your chances as Japan had two great scoring opportunities and scored them both, while continuing to show their commitment to full team defending.

For the hosts, it was more of the same wasteful chances in front of the oppositions net that cost them their opening round match against Chile, a game that saw them lose 3-5 but easily could have been a 6-2 scoreline before Faty’s Red Card Ejection.

Today’s chances were mainly missed by their #8, Quercia. And while his name would eventually end up on the scoring summary with an amazing strike after going down 2-nil, it was his 3 glaring misses in on the keeper one v one that would cost France the 3 points and quite possibly qualification for the next round.

Remember, the host nation has won the last 4 straight Toulon titles.

Oh, and Bonnet kept his shorts on this time.