SCOUSERS NEED PENALTIES TO EDGE HAMMERS IN CLASSIC FINAL

 

(Image taken from Liverpoolfc.tv)

 

Back in 2001, me and some mates were at the tail end of our A Levels in a Teddington pub known for it's great atmosphere at football matches for that year's FA Cup final. My best Gunner mate had put a load of cash on his side to beat Liverpool only for Michael Owen to first level the match then hit an extra time winner in a 2-1 win. Rewind further to May 1980 and my parents weren't even married but the history books say that a previous generation of Gunners got sunk 1-0 under the old Twin Towers of Wembley by a West Ham side that weren't even in the top flight at the time with Trevor Brooking hitting the winner.

In the present day, the Scousers and Hammers were matching up against each other in the FA Cup Final for the first time in the competition's history. Of course this looked like a mismatch with Liverpool looking by far the classier side heading for the Millenium stadium. With the Reds already garunteed a Champions League spot(albeit in the preliminaries) West Ham subsequently had a UEFA Cup spot in the bank. There was still a Cup up for grabs though.

The match starteed at a pretty slow pace with Liverpool having the edge if anything, the Scousers certainly had the first decent shots on target. However in the 21st minute the Hammers broke against the run of play and Jamie Carragher put a Lionel Scoloni cross into his own net. A disaster for the Reds as Alan Pardew's side took over when a fumble from Jose Reina in the 28th minute allowed Dean Ashton to tap in his side's second goal. The Scouse response was fast though with a quality Gerrard cross finding Djibril Cisse in the 32nd minute and Reds fans prepared for a comeback. Both sides had further chances before half time but it was still West Ham's Cup to lose.

West Ham were the side that hit the ground running first in the second half. However the Scousers found an equaliser in the 54th minute when Peter Crouch set up Gerrard who slammed the ball home. From there on in it was anyone's match but West Ham certainly looked up for another winner and it looked to come in insane fashion as a 64th minute Paul Kochesky cross floated over Reina and into the net. West Ham's Cup. Had to be. Gerrard was suffering from cramp and the match went into injury time with both side's allowance of subs used up. Gerrard can be a stubborn git though and was still able to blast a shot into the net from 'way' outside the box. I can't remember a more jawdropping 90 minutes as a football fan.

This meant extra time. The laugh was though that players on both side were increasingly affected by cramp and so the pace dropped off significantly. John Arne Risse fired in a solid shot for the Scousers and Marlon Harewood was left hobbling around for the Hammers. The sort of stuff that I'd thought had been left behind in the 1950s.

The second half of extra time was more of the same really, both sides were running on empty, really just playing out till penalties. The biggest question was how many players would be up for taking a penalty. The most blatent example of this set of circumstances was when Harewood couldn't even tap the ball into the net to win the game.

So, after over 100 years without a penalty shootout in the FA Cup final we have it happen for the second year in a though. Unlike last year United weren't involved so I personally wasn't about to explode with nerves. Dieter Harman scored, Bobby Zamora missed. Sami Hypia missed, Teddy Sheringham scored. Then Gerrard and Risse scored and Kochesky and Anton Ferdinand missed and it was the Scousers that were celebrating, having won the FA Cup in a similar fashion to their Champions League win last year. Either side would have earned it though.

As for other bits and pieces...in the Kirin Cup Scotland faced Japan at the Saitama World Cup stadium. The hosts ran the show for most of the match with the Scots rarely getting an attack in in the downpour. However Cardiff goalie Neil Alexander kept the Japanese out and the resulting goalles draw was enough to give the Scots the Kirin Cup by one point thanks to two great performances by a new generation of Scottish players.

Back to the domestic scene and the Scottish Cup final was played at Hampden Park between Hearts and Division Two side Gretna. Yes, the underdogs may be the noveau riche of the Scottish lower Leagues but with Hearts in the Champions League, they are in the UEFA Cup and that's the first time I remember something like that happening in this reality. Anyway, Rudi Skacel opened the scoring for Hearts(though the insanity at the club looks to be driving him out)only for Ryan McGuffie to equalise and force first extra time then penalties. Hearts won the shootout 4-2.

Back south of the border and going down a couple of levels. Brentford faced Swansea in the second leg of their League One playoff semi final at Griffin Park. It should have been a straightforward affair for the Bees who had everything in their favour but Leon Knight hit two early goals for the visitors and Brentford face another season in the third tier of English football which they needed like a hole in the head financially.

So now, the only thing left in the club season is that Champions League final and that's sure to be tasty

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