During my daily routine, I run across plenty of people that carry a certain, shall we say, disdain for soccer. There are plenty of reasons why they dislike it, but the primary cause is lack of scoring.
Even Ricky Reilly in the losing-relevance-by-the-millisecond Sports Illustrated threw the standard, 'soccer is boring, it has no scoring' joke in one of his recent columns.
And you know what?
To a certain degree it's hard to disagree with them. In America a lot of people parachute in for the big games, namely -- the World Cup.
However this month ESPN actually did a pretty good job promoting the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League final. Naturally, when ESPN hypes something, people cannot resist it. They are simply powerless in the face of it -- like most of America with an inane televised talent show.
Now was Wednesday's final between Liverpool and AC Milan a good game? I enjoyed it. It had its moments. Was it a cracker on the same stage as 2005, God no!
Yet, was this the kind of game where if you only watched one soccer game all season would say, hey, I kind of like this sport? Probably not. (And with the massive running-track separating the fans from the field, a little bit of the passion from the terraces was lost. 'You'll Never Walk Alone' lost a little juice.)
Most casual fans aren't going to appreciate AC Milan's defensive prowess, which to a certain extent was a lack of ambition. This flies in the face of everything rah-rah, red, white and blue Americans stand for. They really didn't do anything. The capitalized on a free kick in a dangerous spot and beat a tired defense on the counter.
Is Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti going to throw it back? No.
Will I, and other like me be talking about this game months from now? Probably not.
The game was what it was.
People don't realize the utter class laid across the field for both sides. For AC Milan, you could count 9, maybe 10 players as truly World-Class that started (sorry Marek Jankulovski). For Liverpool maybe 7 or 8 (Agger is too young, Zenden was hurt, Pennant unproven). With this much talent on the field, it's a lot easy to defend as a unit, than attack. There are no weak links to really hack at.
And when you couple this with the stakes at hand -- winning the Champions League -- there's not a lot of incentive for a team to play 'pretty/attractive' football. There is a time for that, but not during the most important game of the season. That doesn't win you seven Champions League trophies, which Milan now has on display in Northern Italy.
I try to tell people that a big soccer game is a lot like the Super Bowl. How many times has it been an absolute dud? Yes, you can blame the Denver Broncos/Minnesota Vikings/Buffalo Bills for some of this. But if you only watched the Super Bowl, what would your impression of NFL football be? (No, commercials don't count.)
So yes, I've taken multiple paragraphs to actually talk about Wednesday's game itself.
Honestly, if you watched the game, what is there to say?
It wasn't a repeat of the Miracle in Istanbul in 2005. Things like that only happen like the Whale beating Vancouver -- once, nay twice in a lifetime.
If you read that rambling, preview I wrote a couple days ago, I honestly hate to tout myself, but I had this game pegged.
"Methinks Milan might notch a sneaky goal from Inzaghi, a poacher's poacher."
Actually, I was wrong -- the sneaky bastard netted twice. (I got lucky, but not as lucky as Pippo himself...with the ladies, zing!)
The first tally, which checked in right before the first half ended, was basically a credit to Andrea Pirlo's skills on free kicks. Phil Leotardo might not approve of his first name, but the Mike Suppe favorite has again proven he is perhaps the world's best midfielder. It's certain Italy wouldn't have won the World Cup in June without him, as he set up Fabio Grosso's semifinal winner over host Germany.
And think about that -- Pirlo, Inzaghi, Massimo Oddo, Gennaro Gattuso and Alberto Gilardino each won both the World Cup and the Champions League in the same year. Amazing. Goes to show there is still some value is building teams domestically.
Inzaghi's second tally, well, that's just knowing how to catch a man offside.
All and all, a wild season for AC Milan. Nearly dumped into Serie B for match fixing, eventually docked points, toiling around in Italy and somehow capturing the Champions League. No, it won't be romanticized like Liverpool's win in 2005 was, but for a neutral standpoint it's pretty damn impressive.
Isn't it odd that Milan, after shedding Shevchenko and Crespo -- both to Chelsea -- ends up winning the biggest (and most important) trophy in club football without them.
Too bad the slimy ex-pol Silvio Berlusconi had to be involved with this as chairman of AC Milan.
Random game thoughts
* A suggestion -- ESPN ought to upgrade its pregame studio graphics, no?
* Kaka -- The Brasilian drew all the hype ahead of the game and was mostly invisible, though he did set up the second goal. By the same token Ronaldinho didn't exactly dominate last year in Paris.
* As I type this, an ESPNEWS anchor, "And you think the Super Bowl is big, wait til you hear about the UEFA Finals." Dear lord, how many times do I need to type this. Id you're going to cover the sport for the love of Matt Busby, call it by the right name. Please. Pretty please. Do I fear for the 2008 European Championship on ESPN? Yes.
* Jermaine Pennant -- The ex-Birmingham man made runs and got behind the defense. What he didn't do was whip in any threatening crosses. I thought he'd tear it up for Liverpool this season but ended up a dud.
* Luis Garcia -- Rafa Benetiz certainly missed his countryman, no?
* Dida -- Say what you will about the human flare-target, he made the saves when needed Wednesday. The Liverpool goal can off a weird deflection.
* Understatement of the year -- "There's no way either of my two teams' fans have the level of intense passion that Liverpool has. I want them to. Hopefully, someday they will." -- New Liverpool owner Tom Hicks to the Associate Press. He also owns the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars.
* Steven Gerrard -- The King of the Scousers, not his best day. His best chance came on a 1-on-1 on Dida in the 61st minute and blew it.
* Dirk Kuyt -- Quite simply, I'm happy to see Dirty Dirk score even in the loss.
* Rafa's tactics -- Is this your homework Larry? This is what you get when you play a lone striker in a cup final. Were Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano both necessary? To one degree, they did slow down Kaka, on the other the left the Liverpool offense to the flanks, where they were hapless with crosses. The pairing are classy players, but not going to aide on offense. In any event, expect a lot of new faces and passports at Anfield next year. Maybe there was a reason this club finished third in the English Premier League table?
In the end, the final ended up almost playing to script. It lacked controversy and overall, any good verve.
To that end, Gabibbo doesn't care. He just wants to party.
In closing, your typical Serie A match played in front of a half-empty stadium by Ascoli Calcio and Reggina is as fun to watch as a hemorrhoid examine. But at least for one day, thanks to a winning-display from AC Milan, Italian football is again on top of the world.
And I wonder who's walking around with a puffed up chest in the streets of Milan tonight? Inter for winning Serie A or Milan for winning the trophy with the big ears?
Hope this covers it. I am officially Champions Beleaguered.
And that Heineken advert with the igloo? It reminds me too much of the arctic listening post on 'Lost'. Time to fire up the DVR.
Labels: champions league, Lost, Soccer
Well said, bud.
Tough afternoon for me, as a yankee Reds fan. I applaud Rafa for leading them that far -- without him they certainly would have fallen short of the final. But he mismanaged that game 100 percent and he just was not the master tactician that rode them this far. Crouch on way too late, Zenden on far too long. Kewell was questionable there, too -- I think Arbeloa for Zenden at half was probably the right move, moving Riise up to the left wing.
I think the lack of a true left mid just killed them all season, and it finally caught up to them in the CL. Will we see Quaresma, Simao or Gamst in red next year? This loss may be the best thing to happen to them, 'cuz now they see their weakeness and vulnerabilities for what they are. I'd love to see Gamst/Masch/Gerrard/Pennant across the midfield next year (or any of the other guys).
Liverpool was the better team yesterday, but I'm not sure they're the better team in general. So it all works out. This was Round II, and now they have to meet in the 2009 final for an every-other-year two-out-of-three takes it battle royal.
And, hey, maybe let's compete in the Premeriship next season?