Monday, May 19, 2008

The magic of the FA Cup...or not.

I would like to tell you that this year's FA Cup Final was a riveting match that encapsulated all that's best about the game, but that would be a big fat lie. I watched with a few of my teammates, and we were all more interested in rehashing our own game from the night before than watching Portsmouth and Cardiff swat ineffectually at each other. I suppose it was still better than the Manchester United-Chelsea bore-off the year before, but that's not really saying much.

Portsmouth obviously had more quality in the their lineup than Cardiff did, and they were largely controlling the play through midfield. Cardiff did a decent job of containing them, but it didn't seem like they particularly cared about winning the game themselves. And it still came down to just one goal for Portsmouth -- through a goalkeeping blunder, but not even a really good one like the keeper accidentally throwing the ball into his own net.

I don't know, it was all just a bit flat, and it certainly didn't help that Fox kept cutting away to commercials instead of showing any of the pre-match stuff or more than about 15 seconds of the trophy being handed over. So much for match atmosphere. (Well, we did get plenty of shots of that fugly shirtless fan with the braids, but I for one could have done without that.)

More enjoyable, at least in my opinion: Toronto FC versus Columbus on Saturday afternoon. Yes, even though it ended scoreless. And even though Guillermo Schelotto is a diving, whiny asshole who embodies every negative stereotype of Latin players. It's a bit disappointing that Toronto couldn't win, but a nil-nil draw is a decent result against the top team in the league. And I didn't get rained on; what more can you ask for, really?

Seriously, though, having been to BMO Field a few times in the past month, it's starting to feel much more homey to me. It's a nice, friendly little stadium to watch a game in. (And my own team gets to play there this weekend, which is going to be kind of cool.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awful game but pleased for Harry, he's a good bloke and deserves some silverware. Shame his son's a complete ponce though. All in all it was good to see teams outside the top 4 enjoy this occasion. Well in Pompey and Cardiff.


For your information, BBC's commentary was absolute dire. I switched to Sky half way and at least Tyler/Gray know their stuff and keep the excitement up, rather than being boring, drubby buggers. Lawrenson's comments are almost insulting at times. I really dread for the Euros with these BBC muppets at the helm.

Jen said...

It was nice to see two teams outside the big four in a cup final; I just wish they'd made a bit more of it.

I don't know if we got the BBC or the Sky commentary team; I was just relieved that it wasn't Fox's in-house people, because their terrible. I am sort of dreading the Euros too, but in my case it's because I'm afraid of what ESPN might do.