Footie Moments of 2011
In this space last year, I was hoping for mere survival for my beloved Leeds United. Well, we did survive (and, indeed, just barely missed out on the playoffs) and will likely survive again this season with 15 points to get in the second half of the season. But the bloom is off the rose at this point and our season is over for all intents and purposes; I'd argue the same for all but a handful of sides at top and bottom of the various divisions. So, what keeps us tuning in? Here are my highlights from 2011: Team of the Season - Barcelona: Sorry, ManYoo fans, but the Catalan club's demolition of your lot in the Champions League Final at Wembley was a master class of tiki taka , especially David Villa's sublime third goal.
Player of the Year - Lionel Messi: He hasn't yet proven himself as one of the greats at international level (still the pinnacle of football IMHO), but there several moments this past season when the unstoppable Barca schemer had me leaping off the couch and applauding his exploits like a crazy person.
Match of the Year - Newcastle 4 Arsenal 4 (February 5, 2011): Gooner won't want to relive this one but this 4-4 thriller showed us again why the world loves the English Premier League. Arsenal were famous 0-4 at half time and cruising. By the time Cheik Tiote hit the improbable volleyed equalizer, we were all losing our minds.
Goals of the Season: Germany's three training pitch style goals against a stunned Holland team in a November 15th friendly set down a marker for next year's European Championships in Poland/Ukraine. If you missed them, watch and marvel here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPigFubRlm8. Oh - and that recent Robin van Persie volleyed goal was a bit tasty too, wasn't it?
Villains of the Season: Sepp Blatter and the FIFA suits win again, following up their attempts to ruin the 2010 World Cup in South Africa with more rotten ideas borne of corruption. Blatter's recent statement that players suffering racist abuse should just shake hands and get on with it was especially shameful and should have led to his dismissal.
Comedy Moment of the Year: The Gooner has reminded me that I would be remiss if I were to forget the many, many moments of comic relief provided by Citeh's mercurial striker Mario Balotelli during this last year, including this masterpiece during Citeh's summer friendly against the Galaxy. Relive the classic Balo backheel effort here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsN6svBWYg0
Hopes for the New Year: Once again, it's survival for LUFC with the outside hope of a playoff shot; however, promotion to the Premiership would be a mistake. I would shudder to think of the likes of RVP, Aguerro and Rooney running at the likes of Andy O'Brien and Tom Lees. My brain says England stumble through the group stage and go out to either Spain or Italy in the Euros but I hope I'm wrong and that we can compete with the big boys. That's it - very modest hopes.
What about the rest of you lot - what kept you glued to the Beautiful Game in 2011?
posted by The Blue Devil @ 10:04 AM
2 Comments:
Bob,
Thanks for sharing. You view the soccer world through the eyes of a West Ham supporter, but with less dreaminess of the possiblities. That is to say, while I always expect the worst, I cling to more hope for something magical. Leeds are only 1 point shy of a spot in the playoffs. You are like Microsoft managing an earnings release to have such low expectations when clearly your prospects are much better.
I appreciate the video links. Had missed both links and both were worth watching.
Cheers, John. I'm glad that you're optimistic. I expect the Hammers to go up and - more crucially - I expect that WHU would be able to invest in players over the summer in order to bolster the squad for a survival quest in the Premiership.
No so for the Mighty Whites. It appears that Cap'n Birdseye is gearing up to sell off our skipper Jonny Howson, our most skilful playmaker Robert Snodgrass and our top scorer Ross McCormack in the January transfer window. This after selling four key starters in the summer (Schmeichel, Kilkenny, Johnson and Gradel). That doesn't give me any confidence at all that, were we to gain a shock promotion through a playoff win, we'd be able to do anything in the top flight.
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