Outgunned

Liverpool wins instant goalfest shootout featuring 3 goals in the final 9 minutes of play. Arsenal outdone by Reds destined to win in Europe while Gunners lose again in Europe.

The third meeting in 6 days for these giants of English football turned out to be an instant classic. This was easily one of the best games I’ve seen in then last 10 years and was only matched by Manchester United’s improbably 2 goal comeback on injury time against Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League championship.

This was a great game featuring tense drama, positive football which resulted in pulsating end to end action, and where each goal changed the fortune of which team would advance to the semi-final. This game was perhaps the most offensive, positive-minded game I’ve seen in quite a while, and in the end it produced a thrilling 4-2 result for the ages.

As mentioned before in this space, I have recently become enamored with Liverpool. Not just the team, but the history, the players, and the current makeup of this year’s squad as epitomized by Gerrard, Mascheranno, and especially the Dutchman Kuyt. I love how the spirit of the fans and players, their style, and how they just don’t ever give up and play the game to the finish. This bond was strengthened last night by the incredible game featuring some of the best sports fans there have to be in the world. Those who say that there isn’t such a thing as a 12th man (such as Tommy Smith of ESPN) have probably never played a game against Liverpool at Anfield.

The energy before this game was simply scintillating. Seeing all of those fans singing “You’ll never walk alone” before the game and the thunderous explosion after the minute of silence at the start of the game signaled that something pretty special was forthcoming.

Arsenal and their fleet of highly skilled players came out flying in this game with the rangy Adebayor playing on the edge but mostly offside early on. As Arsenal settled in, the ball ping-ponged in the most exquisite triangulations with the most amazing speed, control, and skill. When Diabi scored the first goal from a dazzling set of passes (and with a pretty decent shot), Arsenal had in their hands the prized away goal. Arsenal continued their dominance in this game flying at the Liverpool goal at will and creating havoc as well as a host of excellent chances to score a second goal from Diabi and Clichy.

Slowly but surely at about the 25th minute Liverpool started to get back into the game. Finally able to get some possession, they started to make advances on the Arsenal goal, most notably with a shot by Fabio Aurelio that was deflected forcing Almunia to make a spectacular save. Then in the 31th minute off of a corner kick from Gerrard, Hyppia got away from his defender Senderos and put in a postage-stamp header that has to be one of the best headed goals I’ve ever seen. Suddenly, Liverpool were back even and the game totally changed. Instead of being backed into the proverbial corner as they had from the onset, Liverpool got some confidence and started holding the ball better and attacking Arsenal. With the game tied at 1-1, the game went into halftime.

In the second half, ESPN’s Tommy Smith noted that Liverpool would be attacking the KOP end. Energized by this as if it were a magical force, Liverpool turned the tables on Arsenal and it was the Gunners who couldn’t control the ball, who resorted to the quick punt, who totally lost control of the midfield as Mascherano and Alonso and Gerrard took over. Torres, who had had a disastrous first half, was again being sent on long probing runs down the flanks and actually doing something with the ball. Liverpool had regained the advantage and Arsenal looked spent from their first half energy expenditure.

In the 69th minute, Torres raced towards a ball into the left side of the Arsenal box, turned back against the grain of defenders covering him, a fired a superb rocket high into the Arsenal goal leaving Almunia with nothing to do but admire the shot. Once again, the KOP was credited as Torres has stated he plays better when attacking the goal at the KOP end. Liverpool were up 2-1 and it looked like curtains for Arsenal.

But the game then oscillated as both teams had excellent chances. First Adebayor, finally not off-side, was spotted wide open in the middle but his shot went just wide. ThenTorres would get a second chance in the 78th but could not get a shot off. A minute later, Ryan Babel, who had come in the second half had his shot blocked by Senderos. In the 84th, with Liverpool pressing forward for a third, Theo Wolcott collected the ball in his defensive end after a Gerrard swing and a miss, and raced 3/4 of the field, beating 4 Liverpool defenders in the process before coolly centering to Adebayor, who put in a low shot past Reina. It was the 83rd minute and the game had taken a wild swing the other way, courtesy of the away goals rule. With this result, Arsenal was on it way to the semis.

But just as I finished writing notes down, I hear Tommy Smith yelling: Is it a penalty kick ? Yes it’s a penalty kick. Liverpool’s Ryan Babel, a supremely skilled Dutch forward had been inserted into the game for Peter Crouch just 5 minutes before, and on a darting run into the box immediately after the kick-off following the goal, he was brought down in the box. In the previous leg, Arsenal’s Belarusan midfielder Alexander Hleb had been brought down in a similar manner and had been yellow-carded by the ref, a ridiculous call if there ever was one. This time, Liverpool were correctly awarded a penalty kick.

(A digression here about fouls in the box is needed. I personally think it was the right call to make. The offensive player is making a positive move into the box to try and score and when he’s fouled, it should be a PK period. Why is that called a foul anywhere else except for in the box ? Because it results in a penalty kick that’s why ? And penalty kicks are not given away lightly, especially when they could decide the game. This kind of reasoning is more rooted in history and especially in the problems that giving penalty kicks have caused referees than in a firm application of the rules of the game. Referees are too afraid to make the call for their own safety, or because they don’t want to appear to influence the game, or because they don’t want to be duped by the cheaters who flop trying to gain the advantage. But the problem with this thinking is that this gives the defense way too much of an advantage and it is used heavily to influence the game in a negative way, that is by preventing the scoring of goals. Applying a different standard in the box than is applied in the rest of the field results in a lower rate of awarding penalty kicks than should be, which again results in lower goal scoring.)

Gerrard, he of the clutch goals, stepped into the kick and did not miss from the spot. The momentum had swung wildly yet again within a matter of seconds.

Arsenal fans in the stands were now quite upset and rightly so. They had been denied an obvious penalty kick in the first leg and now were being penalized by an award of a penalty kick in this leg for a foul which incidentally didn’t look as obvious as the flagrant pull-down of Hleb in the first leg. Conspiracy thinking must have been rampant in the minds of the Arsenal supporters.

Arsenal fought on bravely in search of the 3rd equalizer and a goal which for sure would put them back in the lead again because of the away goals rule. Instead, on a clearance in the 92nd near midfield, Ryan Babel outran and outmuscled Cesc Fabregas to a loose near midfield, then fired a shot past Almunia to cement the Reds victory and forever end what would have been a huge amount of controversy over the penalty kick.

Liverpool now moves on to the semi-finals against Chelsea. Is in them to end a London’s club first quest for UEFA Champions League glory ? History would undeniably be on their side. I just hope history doesn’t influence some referee’s mind too much when it comes to making the right call, either for or against Liverpool.

NOTES:

I recently had an interesting conversation with a soccer fanatic buddy of mine about refereeing (including introducing technology in order to help with such controversies as off-sides and fouls in the box) and the number of goals scored in soccer (two timeless honored debating points for any soccer aficionado I’m sure). We agreed on some of these points and disagreed on others, most notably on scoring in soccer. I have recently become convinced that soccer’s greatest games usually involve more than 1 or 2 goals. And while this is a murky area because I don’t want to see rule changes that would unnecessarily add to the number of goals scored such as widening the goals, I would like to see the game opened up a bit more so that we see more games that feature 3-6 goals. Part of that opening would be to have referees not be so bashful about calling fouls in the penalty area, or in other words seeing more penalty kicks called during games, no matter how controversial they are.

As for positive flowing games, I say good riddance to teams that play a negative defensive oriented game, teams that play for the penalty shootout, teams that don’t play to win. Good bye to the catenaccio style of play which I think is simply offensive except perhaps to the most purists of fans. Welcome to a new era in football highlighted by games like we just saw yesterday.

It has been a great year in sports for this fan. First the New York Giants beat undefeated New England Patriots in one of the most exciting Super Bowl of all times. Then Kansas pulls a another improbable comeback to match the Giants’ to beat Memphis for the NCAA mens basketball title in easily one of the best finals of that tournament. And then this game for the ages.

Gunners denied

One of the characteristics I have always admired about the Reds’ recent teams is their grittiness and tough-mindedness. This is a team that seems to win more by will than by skill.

This is best illustrated by how their leader, Steven Gerrard, plays the game. Gerrard is not England’s most skilled player but he’s by far the one with the most will to win. He isn’t the flashiest of players either but he has a knack for scoring the most incredible goals at the most opportune of times. In other words, he is as clutch a player as they come.

Besides Gerrard, their best two offensive players are Torres, a truly gifted young Spanish player, and the workmanlike Kuyt, who manages to score some of the least aesthetically pleasing goals you’ll ever see. I’ve always liked Pepe Reina in goal (although he never crack the Spanish team), their defense line is unspectacularly steady, and the midfield led by Alonso and Mascheranno can best be described as combative lot who play the game like a collective Genaro Gatusso.

Liverpool’s style was in recent display in their recent tie against Arsenal in a UEFA Champions’ League quarterfinal. Even though Liverpool is always one of England’s best teams, they don’t have a recent EPL championship to show for it. Their more recent successes have come in the FA Cup (which they won in 2006) and also in the Champions League, where they have made the final 2 out the last 3 years. Arsenal, on the other hand, is at or near the top of the League, and has a host of very promising young players but not have had the Reds’ success in Europe recently.

In the first leg of their quarterfinal affair and first meeting of three meetings in 7 days, Arsenal could only tie while Liverpool managed to get the all important away-goal despite being badly outplayed the entire game, and especially in the second half where Arsenal had a decisive 20-25 percentage lead in possession and Liverpool could do nothing more than the occasional counterattack.

Arsenal has a stable of young studs such as the tall and rangy Adebayor, the sikly smooth and impeccably technical Fabregas, the slippery Hleb, speedy Walcott, and a very steady back line of Toure, Gallas, Eboue, Clichy, Senderos, and William Gallas.. Arsenal dominated this game from top to bottom but could only score one goal.

Arsenal started out flying in this game, putting the Liverpool under fire and constant threat early as Adebayor forced Reina to play defender outside the box, and van Percie’s shot went barely wide. Arsenal then went ahead on a header by Adebayor in the 22nd minute on a beautiful header where he seemed to hang in the air forever.

This early advantage was negated just 2 minutes later by Kuyt, who true to form, barely toe poked a cross from Gerrard and scored a truly ugly goal. The beauty in the play was Gerrard’s double drag fakes that allowed him to blast past two Arsenal defenders down the left side of the box before finding the opportunistic Kuyt.

The rest of the first half was fairly even with Arsenal always looking like the prettier (and therefore superior) team. The Gunners started off the second half flying as well and put the Liverpool goal under heavy duress with a shot by Wolcott, and another shot that forced Liverpool to clear the ball inches from the line.

Arsenal’s big break should have come in the 66th minute, when an incursion into the box forced a Liverpool defender to yank him down by a vicious tug of the arm. As is typical of referees in high profile games, the previously impeccable Dutch referee signaled nothing but a corner kick on the play. This was such an obvious penalty that I felt like Arsenal had been cheated. Denied the penalty, Arsenal still kept the foot on the accelerator but could not crack through. Liverpool could only manage the occasional counter-attack long ball to Torres, who ran himself ragged trying to beat 2 and 3 defenders all night. This proved to be enough to keep the pressure on the Liverpool from being so overwhelming forcing it to crack.

The Reds thus parlayed the classic bend but not break defensive sp rinkled with the opportunistic counter-play perfectly and came away with a very favorable tie going into Anfield. Arsenal proved the be the better team, but as is always the case in football, the better team doesn’t always win.