Europa League Final Live!
posted by The Blue Devil @ 1:14 PM
Lakenheath Old Boys
We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Lakenheath Old Boys
We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
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128 Comments:
Dnipro are certainly the Cinderella story of this season's Europa League. The unfancied side from the fringes of the continent could have an advantage tonight with loads of fans making the short trek to neighboring Poland for the final.
Good afternoon, Bob. Dnipro will definitely be the home team. Sevilla will need to show their quality to win this evening.
Afternoon, MUR - are you teaching today? If so, I hope you've scheduled some independent work for your classes around about 1:45pm or so. Great to have you on board.
The team news out of Warsaw tonight:
Dnipro: Boyko; Fedetskiy, Douglas, Cheberyachko, Leo Matos; Kankava, Fedorchuk; Matheus, Rotan, Konoplyanka; Kalinic
Subs: LAstuvka, Vlad, Seleznyov, BEzus, Gama, Luchkeyvch, Shakhov
Sevilla: Rico; Vidal, Carrico, Kolodziejczak, Trémoulinas; Mbia, Krychowiak; Reyes, Banega, Vitolo; Bacca
Subs: Beto, Navarro, Figueiras, Gameiro, Iborra, Suarez, Coke
Ref: England's own Martin Atkinson (England)
For the record, I'm hoping for a Dnipro upset tonight. I would love to see young Matt Nocito claim the LOB Shield this season. The Shield should continue its trek around the country.
Cheers Bob. I have conference until 2:30 , so I should be around for the first half. I have completed all grading and have run off semester exams for next week, so I am all set to chat with you.
If Dnipro win then it all comes down to the Cup Final could finish a tie between Matt and Uncle Tony .
More explosive news out of Zurich and New York about the on-going FIFA scandal. 14 people have now been arrested on charges ranging from racketeering to wire fraud to money laundering spanning two decades.
New US Attorney General Loretta Lynch has just wrapped up a press conference in New York in which she said, "Many of the individuals we will describe today were entrusted with keeper soccer open and accessible to all. Instead they corrupted the business of worldwide soccer to serve their interests and enrich themselves. The 14 defendants charged in this indictment include high ranking officials of FIFA, leaders of regional and other governing bodies under the FIFA umbrella and sports marketing executives who, according to the indictment, paid millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks to obtain lucrative media and marketing rights to international soccer tournaments." Wow!
Wahay - the Fox Soccer 2 Go coverage has started with some fairly spectacular Polish dancing in the pre-game. Highly amusing.
It's what we've suspected all along, but it's now official. It seems as if Sepp and his top ranking assistants are immune . Are those indicted merely sacrificial lambs? I hope this is the beginning of what should be more charges to come.
I'm back from the loo and water bottle ready for the action. I'm ready for the end of the school year too.
Jerzy Dudek kicks off the opening ceremony by marching out on to the pitch with the trophy in his safe hands before placing it on a podium, flashing a sincere smile and strolling off. No milking the acclaim, no pouting for the camera, just an honest-to-goodness grin and a friendly wave.
I'm still convinced that Lynch will put the hard press on those indicted in order to give up the goods on Blatter. There is no way he can survive this. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he retracted his name from Friday's vote.
The teams are headed out of the tunnel. it's blue vs red just as it is in the American political arena.
The teams are out on the pitch now listening to the EL anthem.
Even more reason for me to root for the Blue team tonight.
Make sure you keep hydrated during these proceedings.
I sure hope so. I believe that the bids for the 2018 and 2022 WCs are reopened in the wake of this investigation as the wards to Russia and Qatar and are invalid.
I sure will. It's blue as always for you, mate.
They're off from Warsaw.
And Sevilla, the holders, get us underway in tonight's final.
Oh dear - it's our favorite dirty old man, David Pleat, on the color commentary duties tonight.
David Pleat is part of the commentary team. Sigh.
An early chance for Sevilla and Carlos Bacca, a Colombian international blasts over with just the keeper to beat
Oh - Bacca with an early chance on the turn. Hoofs it wide with his left peg. Good early sighting for him, though. He's the danger man for Sevilla.
Thank you - I was just going to ask if you knew where Bacca hails from.
And speaking of anoraking, there is a brilliant Statto article on the Football 365 page today with stats from the past season. For example, you'll be chagrined to read that Falcao had fewer shots on goal than Paddy McNair did!
Fedourchuk had a chuk taken out of him as he was guilty of a clumsy foul.
Thanks for sharing. Chagrined, but not surprised. A good thing he's leaving.
One way traffic for Sevilla so far.
Dnipro cannot keep possession.
GOAL! Oh my giddy aunt, Dnipro have gone in front!!!!
Matt Nocito must be dancing somewhere in upstate NY!
GOAL !!!! DNIPRO TAKE THE LEAD ON THEIR FOIRST ATTACK OF THE MATCH, AGAINST THE RUN OF PLAY
Weak defending down the right side of Sevilla, which allowed Matheus to tee up Kalinic for an easy header.
1-0 Dnipro!
Horrible Sevilla defensing off an innocuous long ball down the right. The left back was caught ball watching watching . Leo Mattos made a run down the right and Kalinic took advantage , scoring with a free header from close range.
Oh - former Arsenal man Reyes tried to play Mbia in but the ball was too long.
Interesting - Dnipro had a free kick in their opponents' half and went straight back to the keeper with it. Is that an indication that they'll try to protect this lead for 80 minutes?
Ambitious from the Argentine Banega. Only threatened the pierogie salesman in the stand behind the goal.
High and wide from Banega, the Argie, with an ambitious long range effort for Sevilla.
I am thinking that Dnipro will defend their lead. Their success is built on defense.
Oh - Vitolo took too long there when the ball came into him from the left flank. Could and should have scored.
Reyes now with a training pitch corner; Bacca with a shot blocked out.
Vitolo wins a corner for Sevilla. A training ground routine nearly comes off, but the shot is blocked.
Martin Atkinson is keeping this match flowing without any unnecessary cards.
Can Dnipro afford to strictly defend against a team with the quality of Sevilla.
Bacca called for bacca into the defender.
The announcer just reminded me that Kalinic was a seldom used striker with Blackburn when they were in the Prem. He would not have expected to be an EL hero.
Reyes draws a foul and a caution for Kankava.
Free kick comes to nothing.
Kankava of Dnipro becomes the first player ti receive a card from Martin Atkinson.
Interesting that there are a couple of rejects from lesser English teams on this Dnipro side.
Just wide by former Gunner, Jose Antonio Reyes.
Strange how they made it this far, but couldn't make it with mediocre Prem teams.
Dnipro's defenders doing yeoman's work right now.
Will Villa try the same tactic on Saturday?
Atkinson protects the keeper by giving him a free kick as he punched through a crowd.
Boyko punches away a free kick, but Vittolo is called for a foul on the Dnipro keeper.
It would not surprise me if the Villa defend like Dnipro on Saturday.
Douglas clears a pass from Tremoulinas for a Sevilla corner.
Boyko does well to save a header from Kruchowiak, playing in his home country.The closest Sevilla have come to scoring.,
Kruchowiak should have scored with that header.
And now Reyes streaks into the box but his shot is blocked out for a corner. Close call.
And there is a GOAL!
The equalizer was coming.
OH!!! Reyes was put through off a short free kick as his shot was tipped over by Boyko and
GOAL !!!! KRYCHOWIAK TIES IT UP FOR SEVILLA OFF THE RESULTING CORNER AS SEVERAL PASSES WERE COMPLETED AND HE BLASTED IN A PASS LAID ON FOR HIM.
Krychowiak will be delighted to score in his home country in a major European final.
Now then - what will that do to the game. Dnipro can't just hang on and defend a lead any more. They'll need to get a bit more forward-looking.
Dniprowill be forced out of their defensive shell unless they are playing for penalties, but I don't think they can do it against a team of the caliber of Sevilla.
GOAL! Bacca rounds the keeper and slots home. Sevilla have turned it around in a matter of minutes.
1-2!
Great ball through from Reyes and Bacca gave Mattos the slip with a wonderful run. Cool finish by Sevilla's main target man.
GOAL !!!! BACCA , THE DANGER MAN GIVES SEVILLA A 2-1 LEAD. I THINK IT STARTED OFF A GOAL KICK . THE REPLAY SHOWED HE WAS ON SIDE AS A PASS FROM REYES SPLIT THE DEFENSE AND BACCA EASILY ROUNDED BOYKO TO SCORE.
Dnipro will have to come from behind and I'm not sure they're equipped to do so against the likes of Sevilla.
Clumsy foul by Reyes about 35 yards from goal.
Oh - great save by Ricco there, tipping over a curler.
The free kick from Rotan is headed away . Now Dnipro have a short free kickt taken by Rotan and the Sevilla keeper does well to tip over a long range effort.
A wasted corner from Dnipro corner as a foul is called.
Mattos wins a corner off of poor Sevilla defending
Ricco didn't look too convincing on the corner from Rotan , but was bailed out from a foul by Douglas.,
Vidal shoots over off a counter and pass from Bacca
A bit better from Dnipro who were shellshocked by those two quick goals from Sevilla. The problem for them is that you can imagine Sevilla scoring more now that they've got a taste for it.
Oh - just over the bar!
Dnipro have a free kick just outside the sevilla box.
Decent chance now for Dnipro....
GOAL! It's Desmond in Warsaw after a sumptuous free kick!
GOAL !!! DESMOND IN WARSAW AS ROTAN SCORES WITH A NICE CURLING FREE KICK. POOR POSITIONING BY RICCO.
Rico will want that one back - he seemed ill-positioned for that free kick.
Two minutes of stoppage time.
Peep peep - well, that was a lively old first half, wasn't it? It's even steven here in Warsaw with Dnipro scoring right on the stroke of half time.
Well, that was a marvelous first half and we're back for more of the same. Dnipro gets us started in the second half.
Oh - Mattos was in there from a brilliant pass from Karakava - but he was just stretching too much for it.
Very even in this half so far. Chances for both sides.
That's odd - Reyes is being replaced by Coke. I thought he was Sevilla's best player tonight.
A change for Dnipro now - Bezus on for Fedorchuk.
Just over twenty minutes left now - this one might go down to extra time.
Oh - big penalty shout for Sevilla with Vitolo going down a wee bit too easily. Nothing doing from Mr. Atkinson.
The new sub Bezus has gone straight into the book.
Dnipro are noticeably dropping a bit deeper now, perhaps looking for extra time. Sevilla still pushing for that third goal.
GOAL! Bacca with that third goal - it was coming!
Back in time to see Bacca put Sevilla 3-2 up . Nice back heeled pass and nice finish
A bit messy there, with Sevilla making the most of a horrific sky-high clearance by Mattos. Mbia flicked it through and Bacca finished it with aplomb.
3-1!
They sure are the Barbers of Seville. They shave the opposition.
Bacca ran off the pitch to celebrate with fans and a Colombian flag. Cue Mr. Atkinson with a yellow card.
And now it's Rotan with a yellow. Martin's getting busy with the cards.
Rotan has been booked for Dnipro
Banega wastes the free kick.
Welcome back, mate - great timing to see that Bacca goal. Matt's not dancing any more.
I could finish in a respectable mid table position after fighting a relegation battle most of the season
Cheers mate. I've been helping students with their semester exam reviews.
OH!!! Nearly a hat-trick for Bacca as Boyko tips over his header and is not best pleased with his back four.,
Bacca heads wide from the corner taken by Banega
Gameiro is on for the hero, Bacca as the Barbers of Seville decide to defend their slim lead.
Bacca goes off to a huge ovation, having scored a brace tonight. He's got seven goals in this tournament only one goal behind The Chunk.
Leo Matos is booked for a clumsy foul on Alix Vidal
You would likely finish sixth after picking up six points tonight for this result. I'll be temporarily ahead by two points tonight. It'll all come down to the Cup Final and me vs. Simon.
Kankava trotting off now - a late cameo
Five minutes and change now - surely Dnipro can't pull out another equalizer.
What's going on now here? Boyko has gone down in a heap and they're calling for a stretcher.
Meanwhile, Sevilla have made another change as Mateus is stretchered off.
So that will add a few more minutes to stoppage time.
Great run there by Rotan; cleared out for a corner.
Four minutes of stoppage time indicated.
Dnipro have a corner and are down to ten men on the pitch, having used all their subs.
Rico finally gets the ball in his hands but he's launched it up the pitch, much to the consternation of his manager.
Two minutes of stoppage time played then.
Oh - Coke had a chance to finish it but blasted over from inside the box. Wasteful.
A minute left on the clock - perhaps time for one more chance for Dnipro.
Now or never for Dnipro - and Rico collects and hangs on to the ball.
Into the final seconds and it looks as if the PPP will come down to the FA Cup Final
Rocco punches away and there are merely seconds remaining
We're past the four minutes now....
And that's that - Sevilla have retained their Europa League title!
It's over and Sevilla retain their EL title , defeating Dnipro 3-2.
And that means that it's official - the LOB Shield will either stay in D.C. or come home to the Cottage.
It's down to you and Simon on Saturday. Will his beloved Gunners help him retain the title or will you be celebrating with vanilla soft serve?
We shall see.It will be a dramatic end to the race for the PPP shield.
The most dramatic finale to a PPP season?
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