Football…

Thanks to the anticlimax of the Champions Trophy finals yesterday (where the only thrill after Gayle got out was regarding the weather), I got a chance to watch two excellent London derbys on ESPN. Both resulted in upsets. Both had their share of umpiring errors. And both were extremely thrilling to say the least.

In the first match, West Ham beat Arsenal thanks to a near-last minute goal by Harewood. Now that the Argentinians are being kept out, West Ham seem to be getting back to their original winning ways. It would be interest of Mascherano, Tevez and the club if the two of them are sold during the January transfer window.

The second match was a real thriller, with Tottenham getting the better of Chelsea. Terry was unfairly sent off but what resulted was perhaps something as close to Total Football as we can get today. The Chelsea players were all over the place, and kept going at Spurs in search of that elusive equalizer. As one of the commentators put it “Carvalho plays back, Drogba plays forward and the rest play everywhere!”

Chelsea, when a goal down is a treat to watch as they throw all their players forward in search of that elusive goal. A similar show was on display in the FA cup semis earlier this year when they played a 2-7-1 formation a goal down to Liverpool. And it almost worked this time as Arjen Robben rattled the goalposts once with a Maxi-level (2nd round Argentina-Mexico FIFA 2006) shot from the edge of the area.

Anyways, it was refreshing to see Mourinho take the defeat sportingly and hug Jol after the match. This was after Wenger had refused to shake hands with Pardew and had even gotten into a fistfight with him midway through the second half.

Put Comment