Togo first World Cup finalist team to arrive in Germany
STUTTGART, Germany, May 15 (Reuters) - Togo became the first World Cup team to arrive in Germany when they landed on Monday in the southwestern city of Stuttgart for four weeks of training before their first Group G match.
The African team, coached by German Otto Pfister, touched down an hour behind schedule at Stuttgart airport shortly before 1400 GMT. They arrived from the Netherlands, where they were beaten 1-0 on Sunday by Saudia Arabia in a friendly.
"We're obviously underdogs," Pfister said of his World Cup debutants after being welcomed by German organising committee officials as well as leaders from the local state government.
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"But I think we can achieve a thing or two at the World Cup. All our preparations are aimed at the first match against South Korea. If we can win that, every match after that will be a like 'final' for us."
France and Switzerland are also in Group G and are the favourites to advance. Togo will play their first match against South Korea on June 13 in Frankfurt.
Hosts Germany will not convene at their base hotel in Berlin until June 4, although the squad will be together for camps in Sardinia and Geneva from May 16.
The African team were given a police motorcycle escort to their training base in Wangen.
"My heart is beating for both Togo and Germany -- hopefully they'll both make it to the final," said Wangen mayor Michael Lang.
