Sporting Picks of 2012: Part 4; August 4th

"Super Saturday" At The London Olympics

The sporting highlight of this year was of course the Summer Olympics, held of course in London.  Having already posted on my five moments of the Olympics (as well as my five performances), I thought that I would concentrate here on the middle Saturday of the Olympics – a day that saw Britain win six gold medals.  To put that achievement into context, Britain won more medals on Saturday 4 August 2012 that they won in both the Barcelona and Atlanta Olympics.

Farah wins the first of his 5,000/10,000 double

While there were two further rowing gold’s (Copeland & Hosking in the Lightweight Double Sculls and the Men’s Foursomes) and a gold in the Velodrome (Woman’s Team Pursuit), the day belonged to the Athletes on the second day of the Athletics programme.

While Jessica Ennis had been the dominant Heptathlete since the Berlin World Championships in 2009, her loss in Daegu in 2011 had cast doubt over her chances of victory.  Ennis cast that doubt aside and dominated the Heptathlon, taking the lead in the opening discipline (100m hurdles).  In contrast, Mo Farah emerged during the Daegu World Championships as a contender for the longer distance races by winning the 5,000m.  Farah doubled up for the Olympics, going for both the 5,000m and the 10,000m.

Unlike Ennis, Farrah has excelled in a discipline where there is little history of British success, the last male British medal in the 10,000m was at the Montreal Olympics (in sharp contrast, Liz McColgan became the World Champion at 10,000m at the Tokyo World Championships in 1991 & maybe should have added the Olympic crown in Barcelona a year later).

 

While Ennis & Farrah were expected to be contenders, the Long jumper Greg Rutherford kind of flew under the radar as a medal contender (though not thought of as a contender for the title itself).  Yet his second jump of 8.21 metres was enough to take gold, though he did extend his jump to 8.31 metres.

The funny thing though is that if I had to pick one moment that encapsulated these games perfectly, it would not be Britain’s most successful hour on the Athletics track but the Mens 8 (above) at the rowing regatta.  The mens team were leading at the half way point of their race, but having put everything into the race fell behind as the German crew found that extra gear to take Gold.  The British crew finished with Bronze medals but conveyed both the sense of disappointment at loosing alongside an air of dignity that has been amiss from Football.

Sporting Picks of 2012, Part 3; July 21st

Tour De France: - Stage 20

Nibali followed by Froom & Wiggins during Stage 17

“Bradley Wiggins is poised to become the first Briton to win the Tour de France after victory in Saturday's time trial.  Only an accident, stopping Wiggins, 32, from finishing Sunday's final stage in Paris, will prevent him from winning.  He now leads Chris Froome by three minutes, 21 seconds after beating his Team Sky team-mate in the 53.5km race. 

"Today was a superb performance," said Wiggins. "I really wanted to get out there and finish with a bang. Fortunately I managed to do that."  He added: "It's the stuff of dreams to win the final time-trial and seal the Tour.”

In among the hype surrounding the BBC’s Sports Personality… programme little was made of the small cheat the BBC employed to award the “Team of The Year” award to the whole of the British Olympic team.  The award should have gone to the outstanding British sports team of the past couple of years – The BSkyB sponsored British Cycling team headed by David Brailsford.  Their most spectacular feat was turning Track cyclist (and Olympic champion at the Individual Pursuit at Athens 2004) Bradley Wiggins into a Tour de France winner.

That probably sounds unfair on Wiggins, he did become the first British sportsperson to win three Olympic medals at a single games since 1964 at those games.  It’s just that the transition from track to road racing had proved too much for others, notably Chris Boardman.  For Wiggins though, it would be a different story as he worked hard and made a breakthrough of sorts in 2009 by finishing fourth, equalling the record finish by a Brit.  2012 though was his best chance for glory at Le Tour, Contador was serving a ban, while Andy Schleck dropped out because of injury.

Wiggins still had to contend with the defending champion Cadel Evans, Andy’s brother Frank Schleck, Vincenzo Nibali and surprise package from the 2011 Vuelita de Espania, teammate Chris Froome.  However when he pitched up in Liege for the prologue time trial at the end of June, Wiggins was clear favourite.  Wiggins showed patience in waiting to take Yellow, when he did – on Stage 7 at La Planche des Belles Filles – it was on the first key mountain stage.  So why have I picked the penultimate stage?

In truth, Wiggins was a comfortable winner but did not really cement his win until the penultimate stage, where he more than doubled his lead over second placed Froome and firmly put third placed Nibali out of the frame.  Wiggins had successfully kept Nibali at bay on the 17th stage at Peyraguides buy finishing ahead of him and just behind team mate Froome. The individual time trial from Bonneval to Chartres saw Wiggins extend that lead over his nearest challengers and effectively win the tour by putting himself out of the reach of Nibali & Froome.

Of course, the story for Wiggins doesn’t end there.  After cementing his place in the pantheon of British sport, Wiggins rang the bell at the start of the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.  Wiggins also added to his Olympic haul by becoming the Olympic champion at the Time –trial, overcoming the disappointment of his team mate Mark Cavendish’s fruitless attempt to win the Road Race.

The Tour of 2012 could be seen as the high water mark of British Cycling.  Brailsford, Wiggins & co will be working towards ensuring that the successes of 2012 continues and is built upon in the same way that the successes of the track cycling team from Beijing in 2008 were built upon.   

Introducing This Years Sporting Picks

So with 2012 almost at an end, it’s nearly time to say goodbye to a truly vintage sporting year.  Before we do though there is the (almost) annual sporting picks posts.

Last years picks included Barcelona’s European Cup triumph at Wembley, the high point of Novak Djokavic’s incredible year, the deciding stage of Le Tour De France, England’s demoralising defeat of India in the Trent Bridge test and at that point the lowest ebb of Scottish Football. 

This years picks has been difficult to choose, but I have somehow managed to pick five moments.  There is staggeringly only one from this years Olympics, however there was a separate moments of the Olympics post that i compiled at the time.   However there are two moments of sporting history related to victorious Olympians.  The last two moments are from Football, including the biggest football story of the year, one shamefully glossed over during the BBC’s “Sports Personality…” programme.

So before those posts are published, may I wish you a happy new year..

Olympic SPOTY... If You Please!

Sunday sees the annual BBC smug-fest that is Sport’s Personality of the Year.  Unlike in previous years, where there was a problem with the quality of sporting achievements by British Sportsmen & women, this year sees a high standard of contenders for this award.  Most of the contenders were Olympic Champions, the Olympics being the one bright point in the BBC’s year given the continued decline of their Football coverage and the perceived decline in other broadcasting standards.

2011 Sports Personality winner Mark Cavendish flanked by Darren Clarke & Mo Farrah

So, there are no footballers because of England’s failure to get beyond the quarter finals of the European Championships while there is just the one Golfer – Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy – nominated.  There are no professional boxers nominated, while the first female Olympic Champion in boxing – Nicola Adams – is nominated.  You could quibble about the exemption of the likes of Alistair Brownlee, Victoria Pendleton or Greg Rutherford but honestly who would you leave out.  The question is, who will win the award that has tendril like taken over the old “Sports Review of the Year”?

Of the twelve, there are probably four contenders slightly ahead of the rest.  Jessica Ennis has been here before, this time however she is nominated as the Olympic Champion at the Heptathlon.  Having come close when she added the European Championship to her World Championship gold medal, she will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of Mary Peters, who won the equivalent event at the Munich Olympics and then became Sports Personality of the year in 1972.

Having also been previously nominated, Mo Farrah was nominated last year for his heroics in winning the 5,000m at the World Championships in Dageu.  Farrah “doubled up” for the Olympics, going for gold in both the 5,000m and the 10,000m.  He won both, becoming only the 7th man to become Olympic champion at both the 5,000m and the 10,000m (Lassie Viren managed the feat twice – in Munich in 1972 and again four years later in Montreal).  Farrah also became the first Brit to win Olympic gold at those events. While these two contenders represent sports that had been in the doldrums recently, the next two contenders represent sports that have had their best year.  For British Cycling and British Tennis, 2012 will go down as their Annus Mirabilis.

The spearhead of British Tennis’ great year has been Andy Murray.  When he was nominated in 2009 and 2011, there were slam sized holes in his CV.  This year the knocking at the door became louder and louder until the door opened at Flushing Meadow’s.  His performance against Djokavic in the Australian Open semi final hinted that Murray was going in the right direction – it took Djokavic just under 5 hours to defeat Murray.  After defeat in the Quarters at Roland Garros, Murray’s season then took off at Wimbledon.  It wasn’t just that Murray became the first Brit to reach the final since 1938 that generated momentum, but that until Federer snatched the second set to level at 1-1 Murray was on top.

Murray’s season then went from strength to strength.  He won Gold at the Olympics, beating both Djokovic and Federer on the way and also picked up a Silver in the mixed doubles partnering Laura Robson.  His high point though was his US Open triumph in September – the first British Slam winner in 35 years and the first male Slam winner in 76 years – reversing the result when he faced Djokavic in Australia.

The last of the main contenders won Olympic gold after their historic victory.   Bradley Wiggins had previously won three Olympic gold’s, but before the Olympics began took part in Le Tour de France.  Justifying the tag of favourite, he finished 3 minutes and 21 seconds ahead of compatriot and team-mate Chris Froome in the annual jaunt across France, becoming the first Brit to win Le Tour.  As an encore, Wiggins won gold in the Olympic Time trial.

Ennis, Farrah, Murray and Wiggins to my mind are the four front runners.  That’s not to say that they are the only contenders, the Golf constituency could easily rally behind McIlroy and see him home – miffed at the exclusion of the Ryder Cup hero Ian Polter, while the status of Ellie Simmonds – at times the face of the Paralympic Games – could enhance her popularity.   I however suspect that Wiggins will prevail out of that group of four, following in the pedals of Tommy Simpson, Chris Hoy and Mark Cavendish as Sports Personality winners from the world of Cycling.  If only the BBC extended their awards-fest to Villain of the year, then I would confidently predict that award would be won jointly by Craig Whyte, David Murray, Stuart Regan and Neil Doncaster.

Top 5 Performances of London 2012

In the second of the two posts looking back at the London Olympics, this post will look at the 5 great performances of these games.

Before I go on there are a couple of things to mention.  Firstly there should be an honourable mention to the BBC’s coverage, which has been exemplary.  I am somewhat bemused at all the sudden attention to Clare Balding.  She (alongside fellow Radio 5 Live “graduate” John Inverdale) have been excellent for years without acclaim.  In sharp contrast, the American broadcaster NBC has been receiving nothing but brickbats for it’s decision not to show the Olympics live, spawning the Twitter hashtag #nbcfail.

The other thing I was going to mention is that the one blight on the British team’s effort was the Swimming team.  One silver, and two bronzes was quite clearly the one low point of Britain’s performance – considering we had several “medal prospects” too.  There is the suggestion that maybe some of the swimmers were not mentally prepared, which shows that charged with coaching our swimmers had not perhaps covered all bases.

However, that debate is for another time.  This post is about the best performances of the games.  Those performances that might not have been as memorable but deserve to be recognised.

1) Ye Shiwen (Womens 400m Medely – Swimming)

In the opening days of the games, Shiwen was the most controversial figure of the games.  Her record breaking performance (winning in 4:28.43, a second inside the previous record) started a debate about where the startling improvement in her performance came from.  One of the American coaches went so far as to hint that there were performance enhancing drug’s involved.  As it is, the “debate” somewhat took the gloss of a very fine performance.

2) Ruta Meilutyte (Women’s 100m Breaststroke - Swimming)

In sharp contrast to Shiwen, Meilutyte’s performance came from a similar left field position yet garnered none of the loud whispering campaign that accompanied Shiwen’s victory.  Meilutyte was also a similar age to Shiwen so gave her defenders positive arguments to counter the spin.

Meilutyte’s performance didn’t quite come from leftfield.  For starters, she showed similar form during the heats.  It was however as noteworthy as Shiwen’s performance and also, considering she was coached in Plymouth, that there’s not really that much wrong with British Swimming.

3) Andy Murray (Mens Single’s – Tennis)

Murray’s finest moment on the tennis court.  Murray completely outclassed not just the former No#1 Novak Djokavic in the semi final, but also the man who beat him in the Wimbledon final four weeks previously.  In the style of “Fever Pitch”, you could have billed the final as Murray V Federer IV – The Catharsis.

After dispatching Wawrinka and Niemenen, Murray then faced Baghdadis in the first repeat of his Wimbledon campaign from weeks earlier.  In the quarters Murray beat Almagro to set up a semi with Djokavic, which he won 7-5 7-5.

In the final, Murray produced his best performance in a “Slam” final – and arguably his best performance ever - to beat Federer 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.  All of which bode’s well gong into the US hard court season leading up to the US Open at the end of the month.

4) David Rudisha (Men’s 800m – Athletics)

The man who nabbed the headlines from Usian Bolt’s 200m win (which took place after the 800m final).  The World champion at this distance went after a world record and got it winning in 1:40.91.  While Rudisha won by a large margin, none of the other finalists were slouches – all the other seven finalists posted either personal bests or season bests in this race.

However, Rudisha’s performance arguably was the performance of the Olympic track meeting alongside Usain Bolt and…

5) Mo Farrah (Men’s 5000m – Athletics)

Farrah had won the men’s 10,000m title the previous Saturday and was now going for the double, aiming to join Kolehmainen (1912), Zatopek (1952), Kuts (1956), Viren (1972 & ’76), Yifter (1980) & Bekele (2008) in that list of “double” winners.

Farrah managed to win by his clever positioning and his ability to begin his wind up at the optimum moment, remember that the 1,500m, the 5,000m and the 10,000m races can be tactical races.  Despite his 10,000m win being a close race, I have gone with the 5,000m win because of the occasion and because of the quality of athletes that Farrah outwitted to win.  That and the 5,000m was the race I saw live (as opposed to glancing at in the pub).

The highest profile events of the Olympics is the Athletics meet, the London Olympics was blessed with such a great meet.  On top of Rudisha and Farrah, you could also add the Bolt and Blake duel’s and the performances of Allyson Felix, Felix Sanchez and Kirani James.  While the organisation was superbe, London 2012 will go down as a vintage games because of the moments and the performances.

Top 5 Moments From London 2012

So, the games of the thirtieth Olympiad are over, with the Paralympics still to come.  In more than one sense, all roads lead to Rio de Janeiro over the next four years as first the next Football World Cup concludes in that city on July 13^th 2014, followed by the next Olympics on 5^th August 2016. 

Everyone will have their moments of the games, and this blog is no exception.  In a couple of day’s I will be posting my performances of the games, but first (in no particular order) here are my five moments of the games…

1) Glover & Stanning win Britain’s first Gold in the Woman’s Pair.

By the fourth day of the games we were all beginning to get a bit itchy as Britain had not bagged a Gold Medal.  Mark Cavendish had finished down the field in the Men’s Cycling road race, while Rebecca Adlington took bronze in her 400 metre’s Freestyle race.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning were unbeaten in the Women’s Pair since being pipped to gold in last years World Cup by New Zealand.  They carried that form through the heats for this event, and controlled the final to take Britain’s first gold of these games – becoming the first British women to win gold at the Olympic regatta.  Glover and Stanning also set the template for these games as much of Britain’s top performers were women – not just Jessica Ennis but Grainger/Watkins (in the Double Sculls), Copeland/Hosking (in the Lightweight Double Sculls) and of course Nicola Adams in the inaugural Woman’s boxing competition.

2) Phelps Become’s the Most Decorated Olympian ever

The Olympic Swimming meet was billed as the greatest swimmer ever, Michael Phelps, versus the pretender to the throne, Ryan Lochte.  Phelp’s motivation was that he needed three medals’s to become the Olympic’s most decorated athlete.

Thing’s did not start well for Phelps as he finished fourth in the 400m individual medley, well behind Lochte.  Phelps fortunes picked up as he picked up a silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay.  He equalled the record by finishing an agonising 0.05 seconds behind South African Chad de Clos in the 200m butterfly, however he broke the record by being part of the US team that won the 4x200m Freestyle relay.  Astonishingly Phelps went on to add three more medals, two relay golds and the 200m Individual Medley title to his haul – which takes his all time total to 22 medals.

3) Britain’s “Golden Hour”

If Sydney 2000 had “Magic Monday” – the night Kathy Freeman won the 400m title on the Athletics track, then London 2012 scheduled “Super Saturday” which was the busiest day of the games.  “Super Saturday” was also Britain’s most successful day ever in Olympic History, with gold coming from Katherine Copeland & Sophie Hosking in the Lightweight Double Sculls, the Mens Foursome’s and the Women’s Team Pursuit at the Velodrome,  The climax of this day was from 9pm to 10pm when Jessica Ennis won her 800m race to confirm her place as Olympic Champion in the heptathlon, Britain's third Gold medal in the heptathlon after Peters in 1972 and Lewis in 2000.  That was about 40 minutes after Greg Rutherford jumped 8.21m, who an hour later was confirmed as Britain’s first Olympic champion in the Long Jump since 1964m as he extended his jump to 8.31m.  Completing the triumphervate of track and field gold’s was Mo Farrah, who took the Men’s 10,000m title with an excellent run that showed awareness & timing.  Abilities Farrah would show again the following week in the 5,000m.

4) Bolt

There doesn’t need to be anything else to be said about this man.  Suffice to say we kind of wondered if he was coming into these games in top form and was able to hold off the challenge from the pretender to the throne, Johann Blake.

After retaining all of the titles he won in Beijing, I suspect that he was closer to top form than we thought…

5) Hoy takes his sixth Gold

While Steve Redgrave remains for some the British Olympic athlete, his record as Britain’s most decorated Olympian came under threat from two fronts.  Britain’s Tour De France winner Bradley Wiggins drew level with Redgrave with 6 Olympic medals with his victory in the Men’s time trial, but it was Chris Hoy that overhauled Redgrave’s Gold tally. 

Hoy drew level by being part of the Men’s Team Sprint victory.  His remaining chance to overhaul Redgrave came in the Keirin  Leading most of the way, he was overtaken by Levy in the back straight, but held his line to take back the lead and win his sixth Olympic gold..

The Road to the Quarters – Key Games in the First Round part 2

Today sees the start of the last round of matches in the first round of this years European Championships. So lets have a look at the runners and riders for a place in the last 8 in this competition (all games kick off 7:45pm BST)
 
Group A:

1	Russia	+3	4
2	Czech Republic	-2	3
3	Poland	=	2
4	Greece	-1	1

 
Saturday:
Czech Republic V Poland (Wroclaw)
Greece V Russia (Warsaw)

A win for Russia tonight will see them qualify as winners of Group A, eliminating Greece in the process. A Greece win would see them sneak into the quarter finals. If either the Czech Republic or Poland win, they will qualify at the expense of their opponent, regardless of what happens in the other match. A draw would see the Czechs through, unless Greece win (they have a better goal difference).
 
Group B:

1	Germany	+2	6
2	Portugal	=	3
3	Denmark	=	3
4	Netherlands	-2	0

 
Sunday:
Denmark V Germany (Lviv)
Portugal V Netherlands (Kharkiv)

Germany only need a draw tomorrow to win Group B and take on the runners up of Group A next Friday in Gdansk. Denmark need to make sure their result is better than Portugal’s result to qualify. A Denmark win, twenty years on since their last meeting in the European Championship’s would see them win the group and take that place in the Gdansk quarter final. Portugal need to win to take the second qualifying place, which would see them in a quarter final with the winners of Group A in Warsaw on Thursday if Denmark drop points to Germany. For the Netherlands to grab qualification from the jaws of elimination, they would need a two goal win against Portugal and hope that Germany beat Denmark.
 
Group C:

1	Spain	+4	4
2	Croatia	+2	4
3	Italy	=	2
4	Republic of Ireland	-6	0

 
Monday: 
Croatia V Spain (Gdansk)
Ireland V Italy (Poznan)

A point will see the World and defending European Champions Spain into the last 8. In truth, they will probably go for the win on Monday that would see them win Group C and see them avoid Germany until the final. Croatia also need a point to see them into the last 8. Italy need to beat Ireland and hope that there is a victor in Gdansk, or that there is a low scoring draw (which would knock out Croatia). A 2-2 draw in Gdansk would knock Italy out.
 
Group D:

1	France	+2	4
2	England	+1	4
3	Ukraine	-1	3
4	Sweden	-2	0

 
Tuesday:
England V Ukraine (Donetsk)
Sweden V France (Kiev)

A win for France will see them win Group D and take on the runners up from Group C next Sunday in Kiev. A Draw would also put France through, but they wouldn’t be guaranteed to win the group. A draw would also be enough for England to qualify as group runners up, this would see them play the winners (seeded to be Spain) from Group C next Saturday in Donetsk. Ukraine need to beat England to secure qualification from the group.

After a rest day next Wednesday we reach the quarter finals, which means knock out football. There will be penalties!

The 14th European Championships

Torres & company list the Henri Delaunay trophy

Four years ago, we all thought that Spain could win this championship.  The nagging doubt that we all had was that Spain were the epitome of so near and yet so far.  As we approach these championships, we are still asking questions about Spain, they are different ones though.  Ones about history being re-written.

There are only four sides who have won two championships in a row, yet the odds are firmly on Spain becoming the first team to retain the European Championships, as well as to win three Championships in a row.  Spain though are not without their problems.  They will be missing Carlos Pujol at the heart of their defence as well as David Villa up front.  There are also signs that this Spain side are a tired side – after all shape based teams only last so long.  Spain’s biggest problem will be up front, they will miss Villa cutting in from the right and they will have to figure out whether to start with Torres (who has been out of form for the best part of two years now), or Llorente (who has been spearheading Athletic Bilbao’s Europa Cup run).  Spain start with a Sunday teatime kickoff against the side they beat in the quarter finals four years ago, Italy.  If they finish top of their group (ahead of Croatia, Italy & Ireland), they are seeded to face either France or Sweden (though could conceivably face England), and will possibly face the runners up from Germany’s group in the semi final – either the Netherlands or Portugal.

If Spain do fall short, the next in line looks to be Germany.  Many people think that they are overdue another championship – it will be 16 years since they last won this tournament and 22 since as West Germany they lifted the World Cup.  They look as ominous as they did during Italia 90, while their young side that reached the World Cup semi final two years ago has…  yes…  two years experience under their belts.  Much though will rest on how Low handles his Bayern Munich contingent, who lost both the German Cup and the European Cup finals in the final weeks of the season.  Germany don’t exactly start with an easy tie either. In a tough group that features The Netherlands and Denmark, Germany start off with the side they beat in the Quarter finals four years ago, Portugal.  Finish Top and they will face either The Czech Republic, Poland or Greece with a possible semi final against England, but more likely to be against France, Italy or Croatia.  If they finish Runners up in their group, they will be in the same half of the draw as Spain.

Torres scores the winning goal four years ago, can Germany turn the tables on Spain this time?

The last side you can put into the heavyweights category is the Dutch, who are currently ranked fourth in FIFA’s rankings (behind Spain, Germany & Uruguay).  They have been remarkably consistent over the past four years, losing in the Quarter finals to Russia four years ago before reaching their third World Cup final (the less said about that game the better…).  Like four years ago, The Dutch have drawn a rotten group (Germany, Portugal and Saturday’s opponents Denmark, four years ago they had Italy, France and Romania).  Four years ago they faced Russia in the quarter finals and were in the same half of the draw as Spain, should they finish behind Germany they are seeded to face Russia in the quarters and are seeded to be in the same half as their World Cup final opponents.

There are quite a few possible dark horses, France look as if they have seriously re-grouped since the disaster that was the last World Cup for them, Russia have pretty much the same side as four years ago while from the hosts the best placed country to progress may well be Poland, who have three members of Borrusia Dortmund’s double winning team in their squad.  Representing the British Isles will be our friends from the south and our “cousins” from across the water. 

England has made a sensible judgement call in appointing Hodgson.  One of his problems though will be quelling the ego’s that rampage through England away days – witness Ferdinand’s unwillingness to accept that there may actually be footballing reasons behind his omission.  I actually suspect that England will do OK in this championship, sure they’ll get knocked out in the quarter finals but I think they’ll get out of their group.  The other team representing these isles is Ireland, who with typical luck of the Irish…  er… play Italy, Spain and Croatia.  I suspect that a lack of experience of this level will do for them.

Come the end of the month though, the last four will be The Netherland’s, Spain, Germany and France with Germany beating The Dutch in the final.

The End Of The Cycle

57th European Cup Final, Allianz Arena - Munich; Bayern Munich 1, Chelsea 1 (Chelsea win 4-3 on Penalties)

In the run up to this match, there were competing omens at play.  One omen went that the circumstances of this match resembled the 1975 European Cup Final where an English team that started the season with a new manager intent on re-shaping an aging squad sees an managerial change mid season and somehow manages to get to European football’s showpiece event.  we all forgot about the other omen staring us in the face – that the last time a team played a European Cup final in their home stadium they lost out to an English team on penalties.  Oh and the one about Bayern always losing European finals that they dominated, like they did in 1982, 1987 and 1999.

What is almost certain about that game though is that Liverpool did not win against all the odds and despite being very much on the back foot for most of the game, and they did not send a suspended captain up to collect the trophy – the collection of the trophy by Terry was highly inappropriate especially given he changed into full kit.  Chelsea spent much of the first half penned into their own box, while Bayern created chance after chance.  Most of which fell to Mario Gomez, who missed three chances – two in particular should have been goals.  Just before the 20 minute mark, Muller found Gomez who took one too many touches in the box when he should have shot, on 35 minutes a Gomez volley went wide of the target while just before half time Gomez ran on to a Muller flick and blasted the ball over the top.  Bayern at this point were playing 4-2-4 with Robben and Ribbery playing in advanced wide positions and Muller slightly off of Gomez.  Chelsea’s intended formation was 4-2-3-1, but this too changed as the game went on to 4-4-1-1.

In the second half, the game opened up slightly, but the pattern still remained with Bayern dominating.  Bayern did manage to get the ball into the back of the net during the first 10 minutes of the second half.  A low cut back from Muller found Robben, his shot was deflected and found Ribbary who put the ball into the back of the net before being flagged offside.  Such was Bayern’s dominance that it took Chelsea until the last quarter of the game to create their first chance.  It looked more and more like one goal would settle it.  The winner looked like it had come on the 83rd minute.

With 10 minutes to go, Kroos put a cross in that Chelsea had difficulty in dealing with.  Minutes later Kroos put in another cross which Muller headed into the turf and into the net (left), it was vaguely reminiscent of another European Cup final goal scored in Munich.  Both sides then made substitutions that would have a bearing on the remainder of the game, Bayern brought on Daniel van Buyten for the goalscorer Muller in a clear defensive move while Chelsea brought on Torres.  With three minutes left, Bayern’s worst nightmare began as Chelsea’s first corner brought their goal – Drogba evaded his marker to bullet a header past Neuer.  Bayern then began to look nervous and tired as the ghosts of 1987 and 1999 began to circle, however they did manage to reach extra time.

In Extra Time, Bayern had two chances to win.  Firstly, Drogba brought down Ribery to concede a penalty.  Robben’s penalty was saved by Cech, then in the second period a Lahm pass found the second substitute Olic who elected to cross into Buyten rather than shoot himself.  That was it, and the match went to penalties.  Must be a win for Bayern Munich considering how good German teams are at penalties, right?  Well, no.

Chelsea recovered from missing their first penalty to win 4-3.  The key penalty takers being Olic and Schweinsteiger – who stuttered with his run up and hit the post (right) – for Bayern while Drogba scored the decisive penalty.  So Chelsea became the 23rd team to win the European Cup, the first new team to win since Borrusia Dortmund down the road at the Olympiastadion 15 years ago.  Unusually for a European Cup winning team, this victory does not go to a team with a glittering future or in the middle of a trophy glut but to an experienced side that will break up in the next couple of years.

Bayern Munich will face questions of their own, like how on earth they lost that match.  For Chelsea, the questions will revolve around the identity of their new coach and of the rebuilding job that will be required to replace Terry, Lampard and Drogba.  It’s one thing for Di Matteo to re-shape an existing squad to make them more compact and harder to beat (which countless sides have done with much success in Europe and in Cup matches in England) but it’s another to re-build this Chelsea side.  However, as last hurrah’s for great teams go, this one will probably take some beating.

Hearts Are Broken...

127th Scottish Cup Final, Hampden; Hibernian 1, Heart of Midlothian 5

The 2012 Scottish Cup final will go down as one of the most one sided Scottish Cup Finals of all time as Hearts ran out 5-1 winners over their Edinburgh rivals.  The Hearts win was built on a complete and total dominance of the midfield area, a dominance that was cemented once Kujabi was sent off right at the start of the second half for a tug on Suso.  Hearts converted the resulting penalty and scored a fourth within moments to cement their 8th Scottish Cup win, their third in 14 years.

The first quarter of an hour of the game was very nervy as both sides settled into the game.  Both sides were playing 4-4-2.  Hearts were showing signs of exerting some dominance of midfield, and took full advantage in the 14th minute.  Hearts first corner was poorly cleared and fell to Ryan Elliott, his shot was defected into the box where there were two unmarked Hearts players waiting.  Closest to the ball was the former Falkirk skipper Darren Barr, who stabbed the ball past Brown.

All of a sudden Hearts were now dominating the midfield and the game.  They had created a couple of half chances, but did manage to double their lead on 26 minutes.  Andrew Driver picked up possession on the Hibs right, he passed the ball into Skatcel who’s deflected shot flew past Brown.  At this point you were beginning to think that Hib’s really had to do something or else they were going to really subside.  More so when moments after Hib’s missed their best chance so far (through O’Connor), Hearts could have gone 3-0 up.  Suso Santana's shot was cleared off the line by McPake.  Just before half time, Hib’s dramatically got back into it as a Soares cross was turned in by the Hib’s captain McPake.

At half time the speculation was that Hib’s had come back into the game, yet the game was over within five minutes of the re-start.  Santana was running into the box, tracked by Kujabi when Kujabi tugged Suso’s shirt outside the box, Santana also fell over just inside the box (there may have been contact between the two – replay’s show that this was minimal but did happen).  Referee Thompson made the correct decision to give Kujabi his second booking, which meant a sending off.  However it was a rank decision to give the penalty, which Granger scored to make it 3-1.  However, it does not excuse the poor decision by Kujabi to pull Suso back, his choice to pull Suso’s jersey back handed a rampant Hearts an even bigger advantage.  However, even if Thompson had not given the penalty, Hearts were still very much in the pound seat for this game, as the balance that had looked to be tipping back in Hib’s favour just before the break decisively came back into Heart’s favour.

Barr score's Hearts opening goal in 14 minutes

Within moments of the penalty Hearts extended their lead to 4-1 as a Skatcel shot was headed in by Ryan McGowan.  The fifth arrived with 15 minutes to go when Skatcel again smashed a shot past Brown, but by that time the party was well and truly under way at the Mount Florida end, while at the Kings Park end Hibernian fans took their cue to leave early.

So congratulations to Hearts then, it was a thoroughly professional ruthless performance against a team that, save for the 10 minutes before half time, just did not turn up.  Hearts now move ahead of Aberdeen in the all time Scottish Cup winners list (two behind Queens Park) with their eighth win.  Hibernian remain the Scottish Cup’s bridesmaid as their wait for a Scottish Cup win extends to 111 years.  Hibs might not be quite Hearts bunny in this competition just yet, but this heavy defeat will take a very long time to get over.

The Impossible Final

Bayern Munich's last European Cup win in Milan, 2001

Saturday doesn’t just see the first Scottish Cup Final contested by Edinburgh’s top two since the 19th century.  Saturday night sees Bayern Munich attempt to become the first team to win a European trophy on their home patch since Feyenoord beat Borrussia Dortmund in the UEFA Cup 10 years ago.  Of course, this is the European Cup, so things are a little rarefied.  Munich are only the fourth team to reach a European Cup final that is played on their home ground (Real Madrid in 1957, Inter Milan in 1965 and AS Roma in 1984 are the others).  Standing in their way is the improbable shape of Chelsea.  Because of their respective semi final victims being both halves of El Classico, this is the most improbable final pairing for many a year.

In some respects, Bayern Munich are the favourites.  Having lost out two years ago to Mourinio’s Inter Milan side, this side will constitute most of the team that lost out then.  Notably Frank Ribbery will be available, as he was banned two years ago.  They also have the experienced Jupp Heynckes in charge (for the third time).  Heynckes will be aiming to emulate a former Bayern manager Ottmar Hitzfield (as well as Ernst Happel and Jose Mourinio) in winning the European Cup with two different teams.

Yet what will be key will be how both teams adapt to their missing players.  Bayern have Gustavo, Alaba and Badstubber suspended after picking up bookings in the semi final win over Real Madrid.  All are players who take up defensive positions.  Van Buyten may well be pressed into service, while Phillip Lamm may well be shuffled around the Bayern back line.  Chelsea appear to be worse off though – they will be missing the Skipper Terry, Ivanovic, Ramires and Meireles.  It will be the defensive positions that will be hardest to fill as both Luis and Cahill are racing to be fit.  Meanwhile one of the possible replacements for Meireles, Florien Malouda is also struggling to be fit after a pulled hamstring.

Terry's miss depriving Chelsea of European Cup Glory in 2008

That Chelsea has reached this stage of the tournament is something akin to a miracle.  In January and February, they were listless and directionless as the senior players fell out with their manager Andreas Villas Boas (Who?).  From the moment he was sacked, and former midfielder Roberto Di Mateo was installed as the caretaker manager, Chelsea became that bit more difficult to beat.  They did miss out on the top four of the English Premier league, but they did pick up their sixth English FA Cup in 15 years and went on a European Cup run, disposing of the highly rated Napoli, followed by Benfica before their staggering toppling of Barcelona – a win that puts an end to the claim that this Barcelona side were the best football team ever.

The consensus seems to be that with essentially the second string defences playing for both sides, that it will be an open game.  Certainly the only time these sides have met (in the quarter finals in 2004/5) it finished 6-5 on aggregate.  I’m not so sure about that, Chelsea under Di Mateo are not set up to be open.  While both sides play 4-2-3-1, Bayern’s attacking 4 is much more advanced than Chelsea’s, though there is the suggestion that Bayern will be forced to change formation.  If Bayern adapt quickly, then I suspect that they will win comfortably.  Whatever happens, this may well be the last hurrah for this Chelsea side.  They will be hoping to go out on a high.

The Salt & Sauce Final

Hearts last Scottish Cup win in 2006

For most rivalries in football, there are always one or two high profile meetings with your biggest rivals.  Fans in Liverpool will always remember the trilogy of cup finals between Liverpool & Everton in the mid 80’s, Fans in London will not just remember the trilogy of FA Cup semi finals between Tottenham and Arsenal, but both the FA Cup final (of 2002) and the European Cup Quarter Final (in 2004) between Arsenal & Chelsea.  Up here, the biggest rivalry outside of the Old Firm (who seems to contest domestic finals once every couple of years or so) get their day in the sun on Saturday when Hibernian and Heart of Midlothian contest the 127th Scottish Cup Final.

What has added to the occasion is that the last Edinburgh derby in a national final took place in 1896 – which was played at Logie Green, the home of Edinburgh’s third team – St Bernards.  It hasn’t been as long as that since both sides came to Hampden, both teams met at the semi final stage of this competition six years ago with Hearts winning 4-0 on their way to their seventh Scottish Cup win.  From that day, there will be only three survivors (all of whom have moved around and come back to the clubs they played for) – Andy Webster and Rudi Skacel for Hearts and Ivan Sproule for Hibs.

Hearts have of course been here before, they are bidding for their third Scottish Cup win in 14 years, and their eighth in total.  Coming on top of their historic win against Celtic – their first win over one of the Old Firm at Hampden in the Scottish Cup since their win over Celtic won them the Scottish Cup in 1956, Hearts go into this match as favourites.  Hib’s have been fighting relegation for most of this season, yet much will depend on how much of their 110 year burden their manager Pat Fenlon can keep from the players.  Yet in Hibs favour seems to be that Fenlon appears to know his team this far out.  Hearts have a couple of doubts, mostly surrounding whether the matchwinner from the semi final, craig Beattie, is fit enough to start.

Hearts beat Hibernian 4-0 in the semi final of 2006

Since Hearts & Dundee United lifted the Scottish Cup in the 1990’s, Hib’s are now Scottish Football’s bridesmaids.  Since their last victory, they have lost 8 finals in differing fashions.  Both Airdrieonians (in 1924) & Clyde (in 1958, skippered by Harry Haddock) won their only Scottish Cups against Hib’s, while Celtic plundered four of their Scottish Cup wins against Hib’s (4-1 after a replay in 1914, 1-0 in 1923, 6-1 in 1972 and 3-0 in 2001 – Hibs last Scottish Cup final appearance).  The closest Hib’s came to Scottish Cup glory though came in 1979 when Hib’s contested the longest Scottish Cup final of all time.  Two 0-0 draws was followed by a second replay that went into extra time before finishing up at 3-2 to Rangers.

Saturday has all the ingredients for something special to happen, it also has the ingredients that things could boil over.  In the last cup final to be played at 3pm on a Saturday (hopefully for a couple of years at least), I hope that Saturday will be one to remember.  As for a prediction, am I alone in having a sneaky feeling for the Hibbies to win 1-0 or 2-1?

Tactic’s Shmatic’s…

European Championships, Qualifying Group I, Synot Tip Arena, Prague; Czech Republic 1, Scotland 0

Scotland's Jamie Mackie competes for a header with Marek Suchy.

Not one of Scotland’s finest nights, but Craig Levin’s tactic’s seem to have detracted from how badly Scotland kept possession.  Worryingly this is the second international on the trot where Scotland’s poor technique on the ball has translated into a poor performance.  That the world’s best exponents of possession football are Scotland’s next opponents should be a worry to Levein, on current form, Scotland will struggle to hold on to anymore than 5 minutes possession out of the 90. 
Touted in various quarters as 4-2-2-2 or 4-1-5 or ever 4-6-0, it eventually panned out as 4-2-4 when Scotland were going forward.  There was however on glaring fault with the system, the quality of passing from the back four was utterly dire.  As a result, in the first half McManus & Weir kept on hoofing the ball towards the space vacated by the lack of a centre forward.  Which resulted in possession being given back to the Czech Republic.
It was a tactic which seemed to work well in the first half, as the Czech Republic seemed to be becoming more and more frustrated.  The second half however saw the Czech Republic step up a gear.  Kadlec had a chance saved by McGregor, who also made a great save from a Polak header.  Scotland were looking like a team needing a change personnel as the tactics that had worked to some effect now stopped working, Miller prehaps should have been on for the last 25 minutes of the game (or at least we should have gone to 4-2-3-1 with Mackie in front of Morrison, Naismith and Dorrens with Caldwell & Fletcher acting as midfield anchors).
The goal was a criminal goal to concede.  From a corner, a Rosicky header was flicked on by the former Hearts forward Roman Bednar to the defender Hubnik, who had found some space to head home from metres.  Scotland had deployed a zonal marking system, but still should not have afforded Hubnik the time to get into position to head home.
The game then opened up, with Scotland switching to a straightforward 4-4-2, but crucially still could not put together enough fluid passing moves to trouble the Czech Republic.  The Czech’s on the other hand were able to break at speed and pick out space, looking way more comfortable on the ball than their Scottish opponents.  In the end, with superior technique and a desire to win, the Czech’s deserved their win.
While the result will not be a disaster (the Czech Republic are now on 3 points, one behind Lithuania and Oh ourselves – Spain lead on maximum points), it will be the manner of the defeat, especially the controversy surrounding the formation and the “dropping” of Kenny Miller (BTW, Mackie did ok, even if he was played out of position.  He deserves an opportunity as the forward in Scotland’s regulation 4-5-1 formation) which will ensure a tough couple of days for Craig Levein.  Of more concern should be the lack of basic football technique from some of the Scotland players, who were wasteful in possession, and awful in retaining it.  Perhaps some video’s of Spain’s run in South Africa is in order for the Scotland team to look at and to learn from…  before the real thing visits Hampden on Tuesday.

Repeating Past Glories

So, just how good are the Czech Republic, Scotland’s next opponents in Euro 2012 qualifying?  The easy answer is that we will find out on Friday.  But that won’t do for a preview piece.

The Czech Republic have been, since their split from Slovakia 20 odd years ago, one of those sides that you would file firmly as “Dark Horses”.  In Euro 96, they got to the final after escaping from that tournament’s version of “The Group of Death” – losing to Germany before beating Italy and drawing with Russia.  After condemning Scotland to a Playoff against England, they once again lined up in another group of death in Euro 2000 – this time failing to make it out of a group containing France, The Netherlands and Denmark.  The hat trick of “Group of Death” appearances came in 2004 when they topped a group containing Germany, The Netherland’s and Latvia.  The Czech Republic then slipped into favourites camp, and wilted against Greece.

Since Euro 2004 though the Czech Republic have gone backwards.  The qualified for their first World Cup in 2006, but failed to get out of a group containing Italy & Ghana.  They also got to Euro 2008, but again failed to get out of their group.  Despite beating the hosts Switzerland in their opening game, they fell to defeats against Portugal & Turkey.  In qualifying for the last World Cup, they finished 4 points behind Slovenia and six behind their neighbours Slovakia as both countries went to the World Cup.  On the face of it, the Czech Republic is in transition, and not really of the same vintage as 1996, 2004 or even 2000.  That impression is not hindered by the start the Czech’s have made to this group, losing at home to Lithuania.

Yet, there looks as if there is still the quality there to see off Scotland.  Milan Baros will miss the game through injury, while the injured Roman Bednar has been included in the squad.  Petr Cech and Thomas Rosicky, familiar names to followers of the EPL, should start against Scotland.  Jaroslav Plasil of Bordeaux has also been included in the squad.  Vaclav Kadlec of Sparta Prague has also been included in the squad, if he makes his debut either against Scotland or Liechtenstein (on Tuesday) he will become the second youngest player to be capped for the Czech Republic.

Scotland will be missing Lee McCulloch for the tie against the Czechs through suspension, while Hutton, McGreggor, Whittaker are the obligatory walking wounded, with injury already rulling out Broadfoot, Scott Brown, McFadden & Hartley from the last squad – Brown though may make the Spain tie on Tuesday.  Gary Caldwell is recovering from hip surgery, so may not be match fit yet.  While there are rumours that Kenny Miller may be left out of the starting 11.

 

While the Czech Republic are unbeaten in European Championship matches against Scotland (2-1 at Parkhead and 3-2 in Prague in March & June 1999 respectively), Scotland have won their last meeting against the old Czechoslovakia.  Though they have not won in Prague since 1937, Scotland have a good chance of a win.  However such is the tight nature of this group (Spain apart), an away draw should also be seen as a good point won, i think that it will finish 1-1 tomorrow.

If It’s Lithuania, It Must Be The Euro’s Again

Dailly's score's V Lithuania, September 2006

12 years ago Scotland started a Euro 2000 campaign that would end in heartbreak at Wembley with a 0-0 draw in Villnius, a game that saw Neil McCann & Barry Ferguson make their debuts, 4 and a half years later, a 1-0 loss in Lithuania nearly derailed Scotland’s hopes of qualifying for Portugal (losing 6-0 in Amsterdam eventually did that), while four years ago Scotland’s 2-1 win made it two wins out of two going into their crunch clash with World Cup finalists France (before losing out, by that most Scottish of means, with a loss away in Georgia).  On Friday, Scotland are again in Lithuania, this time in Kaunas, for European Championship qualification duty.  All that will be missing will be the rendition of “I’ve Got You Babe”.

The background for this game couldn’t be more difficult for Scottish football.  Last week saw a series of results which together were a disaster.  Celtic were particularly culpable in surrendering a two goal lead by crashing to a 4-2 aggregate loss to Utrecht.  That is the equivalent of going to somewhere like Paisley and losing…  no wait they did that last season.  Celtic are now clearly a side in transition, Lennon will need to be afforded time to see if he can get things pulling in the right direction.  Motherwell’s fate was also frustrating, and alongside Dundee United’s fate, symptomatic of the general lack of exposure to the higher levels of the game.  Both sides lacked experience (Motherwell have got thus far with experience in the dug-out, they could have done with some experience on the pitch on Thursday).  All of which leaves Rangers alone in Europe struggling to keep the Scottish co-efficient afloat, a task not really helped by their European Cup draw.

For Scottish football, it will be key that the national team get off to a good start, starting with Lithuania.  For the double header (Scotland play Liechtenstein four days later at Hampden), Craig Levin has re-called David Weir, Lee McCulloch & Paul Hartley.  Should Weir play, he will be the oldest outfield player ever to have been capped by Scotland.  Making up a triumvirate of returning defenders for Scotland will be Andy Webster.  With Gordon still missing with injury, and a shaky defensive display against Sweden last month, the return of Weir, McCulloch & Webster will provide needed stability at the back.  I would also like to see Scotland start with a 3 man centre midfield (either playing 3-5-2 or 4-5-1, maybe evolving to a 4-3-2-1 as the game goes on).

Lithuania will be familiar bedfellows in more ways than one, no fewer than 9 of the Lithuania squad have plied their trade in Scottish football at one time or another. Zaliukas is still with Hearts, Velicka has joined Aberdeen on loan from Rangers this week, while Saulius Mikoliunas (he of the subtle dive during the last meeting, at Hampden in September 2007) is also in the squad.  His motivation will clearly be that the dive made him the most hated player in Scottish Football for a short period, with the media fallout forcing him from Hearts.

A win on Friday really is vital for Scotland to have a chance of qualification for Euro 2010.  After Liechtenstein on Tuesday, Scotland will be away to the Czech Republic before the arrival of the Defending champions, and new World Cup winners Spain.  Maximum points from the first quarter of the qualifying programme would provide Scottish Football with a much needed shot in the arm.