Sunday, September 27, 2009

Manchester Derby

I'm sure no one cares, but last week I saw one of the greatest football (soccer) matches I've ever seen.

Manchester United was playing their crosstown rival Manchester City. Although early in the season, it was a big match because Man City had made several big aquisitions in the off season and after 4 games were tied for first place along with Man U and Chelsea - this, after years of mediocrity, barely surving relegation and hovering around the middle of the Premiere League.

Man U led most of the game but in the final minute of regulation Man City scored an improbably goal on an uncustomary error by one of Man U's star defenders. For those who have never sat through an entire football match, this is the equivalent of a homerun in the top of the ninth inning. But unlike baseball, football does not have extra innings and that's why about a quarter of all games end in a dull, unsatisfying, "kiss your sister" tie. However, they do have injury time - usually, 3 to 5 minutes added to the end of a match that makes up for lost time from carrying injured players off the pitch.

Tied at 3 a piece and in the final seconds of injury time, Michael Owen, who had just come off the Man U bench knocked in a long pass of Ryan Giggs to secure the win and 3 points for Man U - in other words, a home run in the bottom of the 10th to seal the win. See Below

Fortunately, I was cheering for Man U, who I adopted about 9 years ago for no other reason than they were the best team at that time.


This is what it looked like at the pub where Nuch and I watched the game.

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