BORO'S RUN BLOWN
(Image taken from MFC)
Back in '03 I remember watching that year's UEFA Cup final from my Halls of Residence flat and seeing a dirty Jose Mourinho coached Porto side beat Celtic 3-2 on the old silver goals rule. Rewind another couple of years to the tail end of my A Levels and you have the most insane Cup final I've ever witnessed. Gerrard Houlier's Liverpool eventually beating Spanish nobodies Alaves 5-4 after extra time with the lead seesawing and the match finally decided by a 'golden' Alaves own goal.
And from there we go back to the present day. Neither Middlesborough nor Seville had made a European final prior to their meeting in the PSV Stadion. However I don't need to say any more about Boro's comeback abilities and Seville have bigger plans for next season as they're loking for a Champions League spot. Mark Schwarzer was back for Boro complete with face mask and Steve McLaren was preparing for his last match in charge at the club.
To start off with, both sides looked up for the match and both sets of fans were making a lot of noise. It was end to end with either side looking like they could win it. An early Seville chance turned out to be a bad omen though and in the 27th minute one Brazilian, Alves Daniel crossed to compatriot Luis Fernando who headed it into the net. The Spanish side quickly took over the game and McLaren knew he had some talking to do at half time.
In the second half Middlesborough turned things up again and started to evolve into all-out-attack mode. Mark Viduka first had a hot shot early on after a free kick and then got pushed to the floor at which point Boro should have had a penalty. What actually happened in the 78th minute though was that while Schwarzer kept out ex-West Ham striker Frederic Kanoute's effort, Italian Enzo Maresca slammed in the rebound before slamming in a second in the 84th and failed to get a hattrick in the 89th only for Kanoute to get the rebound. It was the biggest collapse of an English team in Europe that I can remember and the only explanation for it was simply Boro running out of fuel at the wrong time. I don't think their run will ever be matched in similar fashion though.
On the international front Scotland began their participation in the Kirin Cup, a competition that's taken place in Japan in one form or another since 1978. Since 1992 it's been kept exclusivly for international sides though and this time out it's a three team min-league featuring the Scots alongside Japan and Bulgaria, Bulgaria having beaten Japan 2-1 in the first match in the Nagai stadium in Osaka.
The Scots made their entrance in the Kobe Wing stadium against Bulgaria and with a young squad in tow, devoured the East Europeans road on by a small but mainly Scottish crowd. Rangers striker Chris Boyd opened the scoring only for Yourdan Todarov to equalise for Bulgaria. At which point the Scots moved up a few gears. Boyd got a second before James McFadden made it 3-1 and Rangers's Chris Burke slammed in two of his own. Nothing short of brilliant.
Back to the club scene and going down a bit, in the Championship playoffs, Leeds beat Preston 2-0 at Deepdale while Watford's 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace at Vicarage Road was enough to get them through to the final. So it's Leeds vs Watford at the Millenium Stadium, both clubs having seen Premiership not long back though I'd predict Leeds to win.
Going down another level, Brentford were in the League One playoffs semis finals against Swansea at the Liberty Stadium. Jay Tabb opened the scoring for the Bees only for goalie Stuart Nelson to get himself sent off. A late Swansea equaliser from defender Samuel Ricketts could have been done without from Martin Allen's point of view but his side still take an away goals advantage back to Griffin Park for the second leg.
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