Thursday, May 9, 2013

9 May 2010 - Chelsea, Champions

On 9 May 2010, a record win over Wigan lifted Chelsea to their fourth league title and sent them on the way to their first Double.

It was the last day of the Premier League season and Chelsea were at the top of the table, but they had only a one-point lead over Manchester United, who had won the league for the last three seasons. Needing a win to secure the title, they were hosting Wigan at Stamford Bridge while United were playing Stoke City at Old Trafford.

Chelsea wasted little time in staking their claim to the trophy, going up 1-0 after only six minutes with a goal from Nicolas Anelka. Wigan regained their composure and managed to right their defensive ship for a time, but lost defender Gary Caldwell about ten minutes before the break when he fouled Frank Lampard in the box and received a straight red card. Lampard converted the ensuing penalty to put the Blues up 2-0.

With Wigan down to ten men and the hosts having one hand on the trophy, the second half was all Chelsea's.    They got a goal from Salomon Kalou (54'), another from Anelka (56'), and a hat-trick from Didier Drogba (63', 68' (p), 80'), before a final strike from Ashley Cole in the 80th minute sealed the 8-0 win. It was Chelsea's biggest margin of victory in a league game (later matched against Aston Villa in 2012) and also helped set the Premier League record for most goals in a season at 103, beating the previous record of 97 set by Manchester United in 1999-2000.

Chelsea went on to complete the Double that year, beating Portsmouth in the FA Cup Final on 15 May.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

8 May 1996 - N'Gotty Got It

On 8 May 1996, Paris Saint-Germain won their first and only major European trophy, beating Rapid Vienna in the Cup Winners' Cup Final.

It was the first time in the tournament final for PSG, but the second for Rapid, who finished as runners-up to Everton in 1985. They met at King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, where a crowd of  37,000 gathered for the occasion.

The people in the stands were anticipating a furious offensive clash, with both teams featuring some of the tournament's top scorers--Carsten Jancker (6 goals) and Christian Stumpf (4) for Rapid and Youri Djorkaeff (4) and Patrice Loko (4) for PSG. But what they got was a tight match decided by the day's single goal.

And that goal came from an unlikely source. PSG defender Bruno N'Gotty (pictured), who had not scored at all that year, found the back of the net in the 28th minute to deliver the trophy to the Parisians.

N'Gotty and PSG returned to the final the following year, but lost to Barcelona, 1-0.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

7 May 2007 - Arsenal Ladies Do Some Heavy Lifting

On 7 May 2007, Arsenal Ladies won the Women's FA Cup to complete a record-making Sextuple.

Arsenal had already completed a dominating league season in which they won all 22 games to claim their ninth title. They also won their ninth League Cup that season, as well as their first UEFA Cup. In addition, they took that season's Community Shield and the London County FA Women's Cup, making the Women's FA Cup the final piece of silverware needed to complete a full sweep of all available trophies.

Playing at the City Ground in Nottingham, Arsenal faced Charlton in the final and stumbled out of the gate, falling behind after only two minutes when Charlton's Katie Holtham opened the scoring. But the margin did not hold for long, as Kelly Smith's free kick brought Arsenal level five minutes later, then captain Jayne Ludlow put them ahead in the fifteenth minute.

Ludlow scored again just before the break and Smith added another in the 80th-minute to cap the 4-1 victory.

Monday, May 6, 2013

6 May 2007 - The Red Devils Reclaim The Title

On 6 May 2007, Manchester United won their sixteenth league title after challengers Chelsea drew with Arsenal.

United started the season seeking their first league honors since 2003, with both Arsenal (2004) and Chelsea (2005, 2006) lifting the trophy in the interim. True to their mission, they claimed the top spot on 1 October and held on to it for the remainder of the season, with only Chelsea staying within touching distance. After beating Manchester City on 5 May, Manchester United were eight points clear of Chelsea, who had three games left to play.

The first of those three games was away at Arsenal. There, the defending champions suffered an early blow with the loss of defender Khalid Boulahrouz (pictured) to a red card in the 43rd minute. Compounding their injury, the foul led to a penalty that was converted by Arsenal's Gilberto Silva, putting them down 1-0 at the break.

Despite the man disadvantage, Chelsea fought back to earn a draw with a diving 70th-minute header from Michael Essien. It was the second 1-1 draw Essien had salvaged against Arsenal that season, but it wasn't enough to deny the title to United, who went on to win four of the next six trophies.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

5 May 2002 - The Italian Job

On 5 May 2002, Juventus completed a remarkable run to the Serie A title, thanks in part to a season-end collapse by Inter.

It was the last day of the season and Inter had been at the top of the table since 24 March. On 30 March, they had a six-point lead over Juventus, who were then in third, with Roma in between. But Juve went on an unbeaten run to climb into second, while an Inter loss to Atalanta and draw with Chievo saw their lead shrink to a single point. Roma had dropped to third, but were separated from the top by only two points.

All three teams were away for their final matches of the season, Inter at Lazio, Juventus at Udinese, and Roma at Torino. In his pre-match conference, Roma manager Fabio Capello took a fatalistic approach to the day, saying that he expected all three teams to win, leaving the table unchanged.

As it turned out, he was two-thirds correct. Both Juventus and Roma went on to win--0-2 and 0-1, respectively--but Inter fell hard to Lazio. Despite taking a 1-2 lead in the first half, they went into the break level at 2-2, then surrendered a pair of second-half goals to fall 4-2.

The results pushed Juventus into first, Roma into second, and Inter into third.



Thursday, May 2, 2013

2 May 1975 - The Beginning Of A Beautiful Rivalry

On 2 May 1975, the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers played for the first time, starting a rivalry that has spanned over six different leagues.

That first game in the series was Portland's first game ever. Founded earlier that year, they were starting their inaugural NASL season and opened it by hosting Seattle, who were in their second year in the league. A crowd of 8,131 showed up at Portland's Civic Stadium for the game and watched Seattle claim the win, 0-1.

But Portland got their revenge by winning their division, then eliminating Seattle in the playoffs en route to the Soccer Bowl, where they finished as runners-up to Tampa Bay.

Since then, the teams have met in the Western Soccer Alliance, the American Professional Soccer League, the A-League, the United Soccer League, and their current home, Major League Soccer. They've also played four times in the U.S. Open Cup, with Portland winning three of those. Overall, though, Seattle has the edge with a record of 42 wins, 29 losses, and 9 draws.


Wednesday, May 1, 2013

1 May 1904 - Game Of Threes

On 1 May 1904, France played their first official international, drawing 3-3 with Belgium in Brussels.

The French had formed an unofficial team in 1900 under the control of the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques and competed in the Olympics that year, winning the silver medal. They played five other matches, including a 6-2 win over Belgium and four losses to England. Then, in 1904, they joined FIFA.

For their first official game, they traveled to Brussels for a friendly against Belgium. The hosts took the lead with a 7th-minute goal from Georges Quéritet, but France surged ahead within five minutes after goals from Louis Mesnier (12') and Marius Royet (13').

Quéritet brought Belgium level in the 50th minute, then they reclaimed the lead with a 65th-minute goal from Pierre Destrebecq. But with three minutes left, Gaston Cyprès scored for France to end the day as a 3-3 draw.