Memorable Sports Moments: Soccer (Football)

     GGR is American born, but since the internet is a global communications network,  we've had a lot of other countries who've checked out our site, too. Now that we have this GGR Sports section, it would be rude to not include the most popular sport in the world: Football. Now, I'm not going to pull the arrogant American card and plug my ears, while yelling "SOCCER!!!!" as loud as I can. We're not the only country who's guilty of calling it soccer (The Aussies and Irish got our back. So does New Zealand, South Africa, and Japan, too.) but I did finally figure out WHY this started. 

     The term soccer is originally British in nature. Years ago, when the sport starting getting popular and came to the states, It was often given the nickname "soccer." It was short for "Association Football." So, someone who played AsSOCiation Football was a SOCCER. They did the same thing with Ruby, too. It was originally called "rugby football." The Brits called that "rugger."  So, with all these different versions of football flying around, they had nicknames for each. Soccer stuck with us for some reason or another, especially because we came up with our own version of football. There you have it. Nothing to do with arrogance. Nothing to do with Americans trying to steal something, just a nickname thing.  

       Alright, glad that we got that all cleared up. I'm going to break this article into 2 parts. The first one is going to be those pro moments people remember for either joy or heartache. I'm lucky enough to have a perspective a lot of Americans don't get: my cousin Stephanie lives in England and her husband, Jamie is from there. Jamie has been an incredible resource when it comes to how football is part of the culture in England. Fans live and die with their teams. I'll let him describe it:

You have to understand how huge football is here. I would easily run out of fingers if I tried to count how many people I know that have their team's crest tattooed on them and they are just the die hard fans, everyone here has at least one lasting memory. Many have way more than that.

Sound familiar? It's no different than a rabid Steelers fan with a tattoo for all of their Super Bowl wins or an obnoxious Yankees die hard/ Red Sox "Sweet Caroline-er" trying to tell you how their team is different than their rival.  

From what I've heard, Red Sox/Yankees is very similar to Liverpool/Manchester United

Jamie was kind enough to give me a few memorable moments, both the good and the bad.  Let's get started:

Liverpool vs AC Milan 2005 UEFA Champions League Final

(This was courtesy of Jamie's friend Sean Young. Thanks for the recap, brother!)

Milan scoring 3 times in the first half and having a goal disallowed.

The 2nd half (well a 9 minute section of it) was the most inthralling I think I've ever seen

Liverpool scored through captain Steven Gerrard, who headed in John Arne Riise's cross. Soon afterwards, Liverpool scored again; Vladimír Šmicer beat Dida in the Milan goal to leave Liverpool a goal behind. Three minutes after Šmicer's goal Liverpool were awarded a penalty, after Steven Gerrard was judged to have been fouled by Gennaro Gattuso. Xabi Alonso's penalty was saved, but he scored from the rebound to equalise for Liverpool.

Lots more happened in the 2nd half but no more goals

Penalties.... (The game went to penalty kicks)
Jerzy Dudek mimicking Bruce Grobbelaar's "spaghetti legs" antics during the shootout in the 1984 final.  Google it to find out what I mean.

To sum it up Liverpool were dragged from 3-0 down to win on penalties
Awesome, awesome game.

 

Reading vs Arsenal 2012

     If you're unfamiliar with European Football and the way the teams are set up, I'll give you a quick break down. There are tiers for the stronger teams and weaker teams. If you're familiar with American College Football, it's like the FBS vs FCS. The FBS being your big name schools who play in bowl games and the FCS being the smaller schools who play in an end of the year playoff style tournament. European and American College Football are similar in that these two divisions crossover and play each other. In College Football, it's normally a huge upset if an FCS team beats an FBS team (the biggest one in recent memory being Appalachian State taking out Michigan). So...now you have the background.  Here's why this all matters: Reading is a Champions League team. Arsenal is one of the biggest, baddest Premiere League teams. Reading didn't have a snowball's chance...or did they?  I'll let my buddy Ed Nader give his play by play:

      Reading, a humble team embarrasses one of the EPL top dogs. Reading played an amazing half in putting Arsenal down 4-0. Arsenal didn't give up and until the 89th min the game some how was 4-4. 

Arsenal scores the 5th goal but somehow Reading ties it up 5-5 two mins later. They went to extra time. Arsenal ended up scoring two more goals to win the game 5-7. 

England's World Cup Run 1990

     When Jamie was telling me about this being his most memorable moment even though England ended up not winning the World Cup, it reminded me of some of my sports memories (sorry for the spoilers those of you who are soccer/football fans and have been in a coma since before the summer of '90). The Washington Capitals have no championships to call their own but have fought many a hard fight and made me proud to be a fan of theirs. In a strange occurrence, I specifically remember the 1989-1990 season where the Caps made it all the way to the Conference Finals and eventually lost to the Boston Bruins. It was when I remember becoming a hockey fan. The Caps lost, but I was still proud of them for getting further than anyone had predicted. Boy is it odd that two of our most memorable sports memories happened in the same year. Maybe it's something about being 8 years old, who knows. 

Dino Ciccarelli of the Caps on the left, Paul Gascoigne of the England National Team on the right...they really could be interchangeable. I could see Gazza crossing checking a dude in the face and Ciccarelli kicking in a PK and sliding to his knees in celebration. And Gazza looks like Michael Fassbender...well he did back then at least. lol WE'RE ALL CONNECTED!!!!

     The Brits were not happy with their national team.  It had been quite some time since they had been relevant in the international football scene and with hooliganism causing massive amounts of injuries, destruction, even death in the UK. It was a source of embarrassment for England. In the late 80's to early 90's, football was on life support in what could be considered one of it's homes.
     The 1990 World Cup was held in Italy and no one expected much from the English squad. Their coach, Sir Bobby Robson, was often vilified in the media and had announced he would be coaching elsewhere after this season. He was a living legend and he was being forced out by irritated fans and media members. The British were expected to bow out rather quickly (I love saying this next part so much haha).......BUT NO ONE TOLD TEAM ENGLAND THAT!!!!!!              
     The Three Lions rallied behind their embattled coach (side note: what a bad ass nickname for your football team! Way to go England). They overcame a lackluster opening game against Ireland and proceeded to move on from group play and defeated a very good Belgium in the closing moments of extra time. Next they beat an upstart Team Cameroon in the highest scoring game of the quarterfinals, again with some last moment heroics. The took on the feared West Germans in the Semis. They fought heroically and ending up losing in penalty kicks 4-3. They were one win away from the World Cup Finals, further than they'd been in 24 years.

    The team was devastated by the loss but had done something amazing back home in England; it had rejuvenated interest in football. The entire country watched their unexpected run on the edge of their seats. To go from disinterest, to intense national pride to devastating loss all in a matter of a few weeks had endeared this team to their countrymen. They came home heroes and saved football for the entire country and helped make it what it is today. 

     These are the kinds of stories that exemplify my love of sports. This loss unified a country, it reminded people why they fell in love with the sport. If you have the time, check out the documentary on Youtube below. It's incredibly moving. 

     The American perspective is that soccer is "boring" and there's not enough action going on. In just a few examples from some soccer/football fans, we've seen that the game can be very exciting.  I'm not a huge soccer fan at all but I watched "Gazza's Tears" and the two matches we mentioned and they were incredible. Perhaps a World Cup from the US Men's National Team would be the catalyst for a spike in American interest. It's sad that the recent World Cup won by the US Women's National Team didn't spark it...but that's an article for another day. 

I hope you enjoyed this look at the pitch as much as I enjoyed writing and researching it. Thanks again to Ed Nader and Jamie Cornish for their assistance in this article.