In case you missed it, and you probably did, the soccer match of the year was played yesterday in Moscow. For the first time ever the match involved two English league teams, two of the biggest English league teams: Manchester United and Chelsea.
We live in Fulham, which is mere minutes from where Chelsea has their home stadium. Which it is rumored you can hear from the front "stoop" on game day.
Here is a little bit of background, so that you can understand the magnitude of the game.
Manchester United:
More commonly referred to as Man U, is the perennial superpower of English Football. Yes, ladies this is the team that Beckham once played for. (Thus making it highly favored in Hailie's eye). They have won the English title many times. In fact this year they earned their 10th English League title.
Chelsea:
Chelsea is owed by a 40 year old Russian billionaire who has no qualms about spending loads of cash to bring great players to his teams (Ala the New York Yankees, and as a Yankee fan, I understand this behavior and even applaud such lucrative business tactics). Chelsea has never been to a European Championship and is looking to gain some respect by knocking off its English rival.
The match was a classic. An epic struggle between the traditional power Man U and the new kids on the block (who have a new CD out FYI), Chelsea.
At the time the first goal was scored, Hailie and I had just left the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. We were feeling very cultured and sophisticated after having appreciated the works of master artists such as Von Gogh, Monet, and Caravaggio. As we walked to our tube stop, still riding the wave of cultural enlightenment, we heard a loud cheer from inside of a pub. We initially ignored this roudy cheer, as being beneath us highly cultured people, but soon remembered that was could only be called the match of the year was being played. Too tempting to pass up, we poked our heads inside one such pub just in time to see a replay of a brilliant header by Ronaldo (a Portuguese guy with a fohawk). Man U was up one-nil. (No soceer post would be complete without the using of "nil"). Going from appreciating the fine arts to enjoying the workingman's game just shows what great cultural range Hailie and I are capable of.
When we arrived home, Chelsea had evened the match 1-1 moments before halftime. The rest of the game was hard fought, but after 30 minutes of extra time, the game was still tied and went into penalty kicks. Keep in mind that the game was delayed in Russian, so by this time it was well after midnight in Moscow.
The first penalty kicks went back and forth. The Ronaldo of Man U stepped up. Ronaldo is one of the best players in the worl. However, on this occasion his attempt was poor and the Chelsea keeper took the shot off his face and it bounced away from the goal. All Chelsea had to do was make its next two kicks and they would be the Champions! Chelsea netted the next attempt. Then English soccer icon Terry stepped up with a chance to win the match and the European title for Chelsea.
Terry approached the ball and struck it, sending it to the keeper's left as the four previous Chelsea strikers had done with success. Unfortunately, he sent it a little too far left, and it bounced off the post and into the Moscow night.
At this point, the penalty kicks became sudden death.
Man U connected on the first, so did Chelsea. Man U again connected. But, this time, the Chelsea kicked was stopped by the Man U keeper! A tragic end for the Chelsea blues. Manchester won 6-5 on penalty kicks.
Thank for that enlightening analysis Andrew. Just so you know I added everything in the parenthesis. Oh and the next day found out that there had actually been riots in Chelsea and Fulham due to the loss. That's what I think American sports need....more fan riots.
And on to the Battle of the Davids.....needless to say I haven't watched it yet because it doesn't come until Friday. I heard the news and all I have to say is.... I heart David Cook.
One more thing.... seeing as how we are 7 hours ahead of all ya'll back in the states, Andrew and I have the great opportunity to see the new Indy Jones flick.... and let's just say it was AMAZING. Now I know that there are some avid daily readers of this blog, and so I am not going to ruin for anyone. But let's just say that it did not disappoint. Even in his old age Indy still had it going on, bravo Indy, bravo.
2 comments:
I'm impressed Andrew. I think we need more of your commentary on this blog. I feel like I need to become an avid English soccer fan now. It helps that 2 of the players are nice to look at.
All right, I don't want to wear out my welcome here on your blog, but I have a few items of business I'd like to discuss:
1. Even with Law's riveting description, I was still bored out of my mind. Soccer sucks big time. Any game where the clock increases has got some problems. The whole point of athletic contests is that they end- there's a time limit. And any sport that can end it a tie doesn't deserve my attention.
2. The people in my office, surprisingly, were very into the game the other day. They set up the projector in the conference room and all day loud cheers/profanities were heard all around the office depending on which team you were rooting for. So don't say all Americans don't care about soccer.
3. When my family and I were in Rome, the local team had just won the Italian cup. That entire night they marched through the streets of Rome with fire and pitchforks. We were right in the middle of it and we saw broken windows, smashed cars, drunken frenzies, fist fights... it was pretty crazy. But I can't blame them, because I was the same way when BYU beat Utah last year.
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