larsivi

I've noticed that my previous posts on football is somewhat less read than the rest, particularly those about D. Expected I guess, as I mostly only have announced this blog in the D community. If you can't stand football (or Liverpool FC ...), you can use either of the category choices to the right :-)

Over to the joyous reason to blog about football! Last saturday, this years final in the English FA Cup was played at the Stadium of Light in Cardiff. Liverpool played it for the first time since their win in 2001, and were huge favourites after beating the opponents West Ham only a couple of weeks ago in the league.

The game started bad for Liverpool though, as West Ham got into a 2-0 lead after only 25 minutes as two less than optimal defensive involvements let West Ham score. Liverpool woke up after this, though, and soon Peter Crouch was on target and put the ball in the net. Unfortunately the goal was disallowed after the assistant referee falsely judged Crouch to be offside. Only minutes later though, a wonderful pass from Steven Gerrard found the Cisse's boot and he powered it into the corner.

The importance of Steven Gerrard in the team cannot be played down, and when he is at his best when he is needed the most. A few minutes into the second half, he got the ball 8 meters from the goal and with a beautful volley he clinched it into the top left corner. West Ham got lucky once more though, as a pass from the left went all the way over Reina in Liverpool's goal.

This result held into stoppage time, when Steven Gerrard stepped up once more. At more than 30 meters from the goal, he hit the ball with another volley. The shot was so hard that even if the ball didn't rise much above the players' knees, it neither hit the ground before testing the stitches of the net in the lower left corner. Even at that distance, the keeper didn't have a chance.

The extra time didn't do anything for the players as they were all exhausted and riddled with cramps, and the game had to be settled by penalties. Stories had trickled up from Spain that Reina is really good at saving penalties, and boy, were these rumours right! West Ham didn't really shoot bad penalties, but after their fourth try, only one had got past Reina, and the Cup was secured for Liverpool. A wonderful topping on a season that showed a huge improvement in the league form, ending with 9 league wins in a row, 12 wins in a row counting the last cup matches, and a place in next seasons Champions League.

My feelings on this can be summarized by "W00t!1!"

In Norwegian football news, Lillestrøm is shaping up to be a really tough title contender, with Brann just a few steps behind. Rosenborg is luckily still not entirely back to their usual winning form, I would like a few more league titles spread over the country before they start racking them up again.

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