Well, that wasn’t what I’d call a game for the ages, but at least it had some drama. I hate PK shootouts, though. :mad:
It’s hard to feel sorry for John Terry, but I feel sorry for John Terry. Let’s keep the sharp objects out of reach for a few days, shall we?
I wish this had been on at a time when I wasn’t at work. I had to keep discreetly checking the score on ESPN.com every 15min-30min. I missed the final half of the extra time and the PKs because I was driving home at the time. Was bummed to pull up the results when I got home and realize that Chelsea lost. I wish I had been able to actually watch it rather than read running commentary online. Sounds like it turned out to be a good one.
The game can be easily summarized:
1st Half: Manchester United are dominant, score on a brilliant header that leaves Cech rooted on the line, and look to be in command, until an awful spot of defending results in Lampard cleaning up the trash left lying in front of the net on the stroke of half time. 1 - 1
2nd Half: Chelsea dominate, with only occasional Man. U. forays into the danger zone. Chelsea hit woodwork, as United prove once again that it’s better to be lucky than good. At the very end of the half, Giggs comes on as a sub to break the appearance record for United; his appearance sparks United into a display of command again for the final few minutes before extra time.
Extra time: United in the ascendency again, though Chelsea again find the woodwork 8 minutes in. Unlike the 2d half, though, it’s very much against the run of play; Chelsea looked very weary in the second half, and start delaying tactics which annoy hell out of everyone. Eventually, tempers boil over, and in the process, Didier Drogba reaches out and slaps Vidic right in front of the referee. After the melee winds down, Drogba is dismissed. The last few minutes of play are desultory, as Chelsea try for PKs and United attempt some last minute heroics without any real ability to command.
PKs: Ronaldo misses the third spot kick for United, just punishment for his gamey approach to the ball which includes a stop to see which way Cech is cheating (he shoots directly at the keeper for an easy save). Chelsea are perfect through four as Terry steps up to seal the deal. However the game has been played in the rain and Terry manages to slip with the plant foot even as van der Saar is sent the wrong way. The ball smacks the left post and bounds away, the third time tonight Chelsea have found the woodwork. Each side make their sixth uneventfully. Giggs takes the seventh for United and makes quick work of it with a very professional spot kick; low and hooked into the corner with the keeper heading the other way.
Which leaves matters to Nicolas Anelka. Anelka steps up and smashes it right into the diving van der Saar, and the game is over.
To be fair, Essien’s shot took a double deflection.
Both the defender and Van der Sar were wrongfooted by the second deflection, which gave the oncoming Lampard just enough time to score.
True, but a) Lampard shouldn’t have been all alone sneaking in behind everyone, and b) Essien only had the chance for a shot because of a lousy clearance attempt. It was one of the few moments during the half that the Big Red Machine looked disorganized and out of sorts.
I didn’t really care very much who won the game; i just wanted to see a good game. There were a few very exciting bits, but it wasn’t the most inspiring game ever played. Probably the most exciting run of play was in the first half, when Chelsea had a chance at one end, and then, after Man U made a sweeping move in attack, Cech made two amazing saves in a row at the other end.
During the penalty shootout, though, i did start rooting for Chelsea after Ronaldo’s free kick. I think that sort of balking at the ball should be illegal, and i was extremely happy when he shot it straight at the goalkeeper. It would have been poetic justice if that kick had lost Man U the game, but alas it was not to be.
I’m declaring the match something of a victory for the neutral, inasmuch as such a thing was possible. Drogba sent off? Brilliant. Terry and Ronaldo missing spot kicks? Mighty funny. Giggs getting the winning penalty? Seems somehow right. And Scholes playing a part in the opener, then going off having got himself booked and in the wars is pretty fitting, too. The Chelsea goal was a bleeding typical Fatty effort which took the gloss off somewhat, but you can’t really begrudge it them since they hit the woodwork with a couple of quality moves.
I don’t feel sorry for Terry - the man is ridiculous (and should, IMO, have seen at least yellow for his stupid charge across the field to kick off the incident that saw Drogba sent off). I do feel sorry for Avram Grant, though, who has had to put up with more shit this season than seems entirely fair.
By the way, see Bobby Charlton refusing to have a medal put over his head as he led the team up? Liked that.
Shrewd analysis Dead Badger, any outcome that involves tranaldo and JT (the unacceptable face of modern football) missing penalties is heart-warming for the neutral fan of the beautiful game. Rooney barely touched the ball all night, which was nice.
I was laughing when Lampard scored, don’t actually mind the guy, I’m just incredulous at the number of shanks, slices, in off someone’s arse and deflections that seem to go his way.
Being serious, is there a more heart-breaking resolution to a sporting event then penalties? Luck of the draw whether you write yourself into the history books, or sink without trace. Tough on Chelsea, thought they deserved the win over 120 mins.
A friend of mine, who i watched the game with, compared it to deciding a baseball game using a home run derby competition.
I know it’s better if the teams can settle it in normal play, but these two had just spent 90 mins + 30 mins extra and were still level. (And theere had been few scoring chances in that time.)
I don’t think playing on forever until somebody scores is a good idea, what with players getting cramp, crowds missing connections to get home, TV not scheduled etc.
However a replay a few days later causes problems for both teams, plus the nightmare of reissuing tickets to spectators who’ve paid a lot to see a result.
At least penalties are decisive and exciting.
I thought it was a pretty eventful game, I liked watching it. I’m glad ManU won and that Van der Sar played a role in it too 
But on the whole, I guess Chelsea were the strongest team for most of the match.
I can’t agree with you there, they did nothing in the first half other than score a goal that would never have happened without the conjunction of a double deflection, a slip from Van der Sar, and Wes Brown not tracking back (OK, one of those isn’t that unusual :)). In the second half they were dominant, but not as much as United in the first half.
Having said that, even as a Man U fan I thought a lot of decisions went our way, and Terry was unlucky to slip - shades of David Beckham’s pothole there. But there’s no way I’m feeling sorry for him, I lost all respect for him a couple of years ago.
Oh, and glee is correct - penalties are football’s equivalent of democracy - terrible, but better than all the alternatives, from a practical point of view.
I didn’t see the presentations etc. (I hate all the crap after the game, even when my team win - when they lose it of course 100 times worse) but nice that Charlton continues to show his class.
Wonder when Fergie will step down?
Not yet.
Having just guided MU to their 17[sup]th[/sup] league title the Scottish knight must now have Liverpool’s record 18 Championships in his sights.
I’m glad you enjoyed it, but I assure you it was pretty boring.
Loads of passing sideways, back to the goalkeeper, few shots, few corners. When they did attack, it was usually a long ball to an outnumbered single attacker.
Here’s George Best in action.
And here’s the result of the 1960 European Cup Final:
Eintracht Frankfurt 3 Real Madrid 7
The main issue with using something other than penalties to decide the game is the lack of a free substitution rule (thank God!). The reason hockey can use unlimited extra periods in the playoffs to get a winner is that they have unlimited substitution, so the players are able to stay refreshed enough to play. That creates some exciting games (typical examples involve three, even four extra periods to decide 1 - 1 nailbiters).
But, of course, hockey can do the free sub thing because you can exchange “on the fly” without stopping the game, and there are faceoffs which stop the game at regular intervals anyway. Exchanging “on the fly” in soccer would be ridiculous; you’d end up with exchanging defensive for offensive players any time the ball made its way down the pitch. And the last thing we need is for professional soccer to get infused with the sort of silliness you find in youth soccer where coaches feel the need to swap players almost any time they have a throw-in.
Of course, penalties tend to take the starch out of extra time. This game was an example. Chelsea had decided relatively early in the extra period of play to hang on for penalties; they were milking the “cramps” for everything they could. They got their way, too. Even with that silly dustup near the end, the second half of ET only had 2 added minutes originally scheduled, and only went 2:45 over IIRC. That’s much less added time than would truly cover the time spent dealing with “cramping” during that second half of ET, to say nothing of the ridiculously long time it took Drogba to get off the pitch after seeing the red card (hope he gets fined and suspended for that nonsense).
The result was an extra time that, after about the first 10 minutes, lost most of its steam.
By the way, we didn’t mention it earlier, but you have to hand it to Terry for being in the right spot for Chelsea on that ball from Giggs that was looking at nothing but net in the first half of extra time. Didn’t know necks could bend that far.
ETA: Oh, and by the way, was that pretty dreadful refereeing or what? :eek:
Well, let me assure you that I’ve seen better matches but there’s also some finals I can think of that were a lot less interesting. I guess I’m just easy to please, plus I wasn’t around in 1960, sorry for that.
I can’t see another game ever coming near to that one. At the time I was beginning to waver in my support of football after being forced to play rugby at school but that game brought me back into the fold and I’ve never lost my appetite for football since.
With last night’s game I always try to find ways to support one team if neither of them are teams I have any affinity for. So I supported United for the evening, I dislike what Chelsea have become. They are even worse than United for whinging to the referee, and I’m sick and tired of Drogba’s antics. Ronaldo’s bad enough but Drogba is even more a pain in the arse. I hope the rumours are true and that he’s off to Italy.
I don’t know what the reason for it was but I’ve never seen a game with so many players coming down with cramp.
So I’m pleased United won although I hate penalty shootouts, but at least they are football related and not like tossing a coin which I seem to remember from some time in the past.
I think the announcers were blaming the soft field and the long studs the players needed to wear to compensate.
Aah right. I rarely listen to the commentators, I don’t feel they can add anything that I can’t see for myself. Obviously I missed that snippet then, however I’m compensated by also missing a lot of the drivel they do talk about.
Thanks.