FA Cup Final Highlights

May 14, 2006 2:15 AM

5 mins of highlights from yesterday's epic FA Cup Final between Liverpool and West Ham. Read the West Ham and Liverpool player ratings for a good idea of how the players performed individually. This game had everything.
posted by nthdegx (29 comments total)

Skateboarding Dog.
posted by MetaMonkey at 2:22 AM on May 14, 2006

Well that was stupid. The link was meant for this thread.

Was a hell of a game though. I felt exhausted at the end just from watching them.
posted by MetaMonkey at 2:26 AM on May 14, 2006

Gretna v. Hearts was pretty good yesterday, it went to a penalty shootout!
posted by By The Grace of God at 3:16 AM on May 14, 2006

And in the Metafilter tags league, Liverpool beats West Ham 3-1...
posted by PeterMcDermott at 3:34 AM on May 14, 2006

Best. Cup Final. Ever.
posted by popcassady at 4:21 AM on May 14, 2006

Best. Cup Final. Ever.
Indeed. It went on so long that I managed to get my hair cut and do my weekly shopping all between the beginning and end of the match as everyone else was watching the game. Huzzah!
posted by TheDonF at 4:32 AM on May 14, 2006

That commentator's accent is so... wrong.
posted by sveskemus at 6:14 AM on May 14, 2006

"Just past the mid-half"
That felt kind of like Betty Boo narrating 'The World At War'.
However, Steven Gerrard + The World Cup = Victory.
posted by greytape at 6:42 AM on May 14, 2006

Jamie Carragher + The World Cup = Knocked Out In 1st Round.
posted by the cuban at 7:04 AM on May 14, 2006

Twice in two years the FA cup has gone to penalties after an amazing match. Twice in two years the wrong team won on the day.
Just so long as Mr Gerrard remembers his profession in a white shirt this summer I won't hold it against him. That and I hope Reo-Coker's ushered in to the squad, what a captain at 21.

Bloomin' Marlon Harewood; I've seen better crosses made in Sunday school and my breadboard is sharper than this man.
posted by NinjaTadpole at 7:28 AM on May 14, 2006

Woah Tadpole are you saying that Man U V Arsenal last year was a good match? My memory of it is that it was tragically poor.
posted by daveirl at 7:37 AM on May 14, 2006

For the maybe 1 person who doesn't know, in a shootout the goalie can't wait for the kick before he dives - he has to guess which side the shooter is going for and dive before the kick. Unbelievably difficult. Amazing game, thanks! Oh, and I like the announcer.
posted by Mean Mr. Bucket at 7:41 AM on May 14, 2006

Are those the rules?

I didn't think there was any obligation for the keeper to dive. So long as he stays on the line until the ball is stuck, it's fine surely?
posted by the cuban at 7:56 AM on May 14, 2006

Football Fans, 1 - Tivo'd recording of Doctor Who, 0.

Plus that clip managed to suck all the fun out of the game.
posted by seanyboy at 7:59 AM on May 14, 2006

Two great games yesterday. Too bad we only get to see one of them here in the States -- the FA Cup is on Fox Soccer Channel on Tuesday night.

Oh, and Steven Gerrard + The World Cup - Wayne Rooney = Leaving Germany on the same plane as the US team.
posted by dw at 8:01 AM on May 14, 2006

@cuban: you're right, he doesn't have to dive anywhere. But the alternative is to stand there like an idiot while the ball whistles past beyond his reach, as you don't have time to react after the ball has been kicked.
posted by jacalata at 8:07 AM on May 14, 2006

Hmm: as clarification, you're right, the rule is that he can't move off the line before the kick. But he must decide what he's going to do before this, and commit to the leap as the player comes in.
posted by jacalata at 8:09 AM on May 14, 2006

Not necessarily- there's no must involved. Keepers have been known to remain standing/react after the ball is struck.
posted by the cuban at 8:28 AM on May 14, 2006

Penalties are no way to end a final. I say keep the match going until the players drop, like Ebdon v Dott in the recent snooker final. (For those who didn't see that one, the players didn't actually drop, but Dott did sit out one break with his eyes closed).
posted by hoverboards don't work on water at 9:24 AM on May 14, 2006

The keeper may move side to side before the ball is kicked. She may not move forward though.

Standing still through while the ball sails into the net is perfectly legal, though not advised.
posted by DieHipsterDie at 9:30 AM on May 14, 2006

Jamie Carragher + The World Cup = Knocked Out In 1st Round.

Carragher has been one of the two top defenders in the league this season and last (along with Terry). Scoring an unlucky own goal in a cup final doesn't change that fact.

But yeah, amazing cup final. It's so much fun being a Liverpool fan. Never a dull moment, especially not in cup finals.
posted by einarorn at 10:28 AM on May 14, 2006

Penalties are no way to end a final. I say keep the match going until the players drop

This is the strangest aspect to me — an elderly American with absolutely no affinity for soccer. If this is the 'big game' of the year, in the sport the entire country (in this case) is crazy about, why are they so eager to get it over with? Why not play until someone actually wins, rather than this penalty kick nonsense?

The NHL, as of last year, now does the same thing, but only in the regular season. To paraphrase what this guy says, writing about hockey:
• The shootout may be fun, but it isn't [soccer]. [Soccer] is a team game, not a series of breakaways. Players have to earn scoring chances by outworking and out-[passing] opponents.
• The shootout is a gimmick, the equivalent of deciding a baseball game with a home run contest or breaking a football tie by having quarterbacks throw the ball through a tire.
• [The goalie] works his butt off all night, stops 40 shots and salvages a 1-1 tie for his team. Two minutes later he's a loser because he couldn't stop a couple of guys on free [kicks]. How fair is that?
• What's wrong with a tie? If teams can't decide a winner [after the whole game, plus the overtime], a tie is a just result.
posted by LeLiLo at 12:24 PM on May 14, 2006

Lelilo - nothing wrong with a tie. Americans though HATE ties and seem to go to great lengths to avoid them.

No one wants to see a soccer match end in this manner. Brazil's 94 WC win was the worst example of this. They maybe should have let them keep playing. But wasn't it something like 90 and sunny. Do you keep playing till players drop from exhaustion?
posted by DieHipsterDie at 12:50 PM on May 14, 2006

DieHipsterDie: No, you just have a replay three days later. That's what they did for the first 123 FA Cups, and I have no idea why they changed it.
posted by afx237vi at 2:09 PM on May 14, 2006

I have no idea why they changed it.

For one, it makes a sport that's difficult to condense into highlight reels and clips - and where 1-0 finishes are not at all uncommon - much more SportsCenter-friendly. Bear witness that of this 5 minute recap of a 90+ minute game, fully 2 minutes were dedicated to the shoot-out.
posted by ChasFile at 3:28 PM on May 14, 2006

Personally, I wish they'd kept the golden goal, though instead of the 15 minute halves in extra time they should play a full 45 with golden goal. Too often the teams would spend 30 minutes playing for penalties.

In the NHL during the playoffs they play 20 minute overtime periods with intermission until one team scores.

The infamous "Brett Hull was in the crease" game was a 3OT affair.
posted by dw at 3:38 PM on May 14, 2006

I thought they hadn't scrapped replays completely, just this year because of the timing of the World Cup - the logic being that if the players replayed on Wednesday, it's an extra three days off their rest before the pre-Cup friendlies. It sounds stupid even as I type it, but that doesn't mean the FA didn't do it.

And I missed the match. I had to work. *WAIL*
posted by athenian at 4:33 PM on May 14, 2006

Gah, Penalty Kick shootouts suck.

Now the "running in from midfield with the keeper free to do what he wants" kind of shootouts, those kick ass. As a former keeper, I can say there's nothing I can do in a penalty kick to effect the result of the play. It's all about the kicker. If the kicker is worth their salt, the ball is going an inch from the post, and there's nothing I can do about it. If they screw up, I win. Bah.

Now on the breakaway style shootout, it's me vs. the kicker, and I have to decide when to charge, and the kicker has to decide what to do about it. And those are a lot of fun...
posted by Windopaene at 10:19 PM on May 14, 2006

not a fan of shootouts, but nice that my boys managed to pull off the win regardless.
that comic above the player rating links in the original post is pretty funny.
posted by juv3nal at 10:40 PM on May 14, 2006