Feb 28 2008
Sheffield United Finds New and Exciting Ways To Lose
This may be that absolute shittiest way to be eliminated from cup competition. Scoreless in the 2nd set of Extra Time and about 6 minutes from going to PK’s against a Premiership side where anything is possible. Then, this:
What fuckin language is this? French? Arabic? Swahili? This guy is the Joe Buck of Swahili football commentary.
12 Responses to “Sheffield United Finds New and Exciting Ways To Lose”
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I heard about this, and after watching the tape, I don’t feel as bad for the keeper as I did. The shot was deflected off the defender, then off the post, then off the keeper. It reminds me of an indoor goal that one would see at the local rink.
Classic, I hadn’t seen this clip, but being in the goalkeeping profession myself, I can honestly say I’m pretty sure I would have saved this.
Knowing your skill level in the pipes, I can agree to the above comment! Maybe even with a cig in the mouth?????
Can’t say I blame him so much as this was just a freak goal. Its the timing and the situation (5th round FA Cup) that makes it more heartbreaking for the Blades and their fans.
There’s nothing heartbreaking about it. This team stinks and it doesn’t matter how they lose. It’s kind of a ridiculous thing for you to be saying. What exactly is a freak goal? A goal is a goal. Same way a loss is a loss.
A goal is a goal and a loss is a loss. Thank you for that insight. Losing a match on a goal (freak, unusual or nondescript) late in extra time certainly is heartbreaking to the fans and club. The fact that this was such an unusual goal magnifies that heartbreak, in my opinion.
The quality of the teams in play is a non-factor. It would have been equally heartbreaking to the smoggies had the roles been reversed, just as it would have been to ManU, Inter, Barca, or Munich fans. Thank you for your comment!
Thanks El Doctor. Its very cool to read a blog that actually doesn’t talk down to people. You made a comment that I didn’t like and when I explained why, you listened and actually respected my perspective. Thats both unusual and appreciated. That said, I’m still not sure I entirely agree with your premise. Was it really that unusual?
Yeah, I gotta say losing on a freakish goal always sucks. The scorecard is going to look the same whether you got beat by a screamer or beat by a silly gaffe… but the fans and the players know the difference, and it has a different feeling. That’s one of the things I like about the game, you can play a team even, and win on a fluke goal like this….of course, being on the wrong end of a play like this one never feels good.
Mr. Moon I certainly do appreciate your comments and please read mine knowing they are tongue in cheek. As per the goal, I think thats a pretty unusual goal. Do you not? There have certainly been some bizarre own goals, most assuredly some that are odder, but the way this poor schlep sat there and watched helplessly as the ball deflected over him (which is a terrible feeling in sports) just to have it ricochet right back to him and catch him off guard and then he knocks it back into the net. I don’t know, thats pretty fuckin unlucky and bizarre. I guess my point being if I were a Blades fan and Boro hit a 30 yard rocket to the corner or linked together some nice passes to score it would hurt less. Like in baseball, you may have a superior team but you will run into a pitcher who is having a brilliant day and all you can do is say, ‘ok he got us tonight’. But if you outplay the other team and then a check swing blooper 2b, followed by HBP on a 3-0 count and then an error leads to you losing by a run…that hurts more. To me anyway.
LOL. And thanks for clarifying. Re-reading your initial post I can clearly see that it was in tongue in cheek. As far as the goal, you actually make a good point. I wasn’t thinking of it that way. While I maintain that a loss is a loss and it hurts if you lose a heartbreaker, a blowout or on a bizarre play, I suppose there’s something to be said for just losing to the better team. Baseball is a fair analogy, but I think it actually supports my point. I am, not surprisingly, a huge Astros fan (spare me the Clemens jokes). The way we lost in 2004 to the Cardinals was like a punch in the gut. Pujols basically ripped the hearts of of Houston in one swing of the bat. The next year, we get to the Series. I’m thinking we have it won. The Chicago White Sox? They’re nothing. Meanwhile, they sweep us in 4 boring, agonizing games. The moral of the story? It hurts the same either way. I was heartbroken in 2004 and 2005.
Fair enough. I’m a Met a fan and have had two wholly different and yet equally gut wrenching losses the last two years. The Cards two years ago were a vastly inferior team and beat us and wont he WS and last year we died while the Phillies, who were a very good team, got hot and eliminated us. Fuck. I need baseball to start again to remove these memories.
Ouch. Those were tough. But, I’m still thinking the 1-2 punch of Pujols ending both our Series hopes and Lidge’s effectiveness (Lidge might have been the most exciting reliever I’ve ever seen up until that point), followed by what seemed to be a shot at redemption only to end in a forgetabble, lousy World Series beats that. At least the Mets have enough money to keep spending their way into the playoffs. All kidding aside, payrolls are out of hand. Unless you live in Boston or NY, it’s sickening to watch virtually every marquee player go to those markets: Beltran, A-rod, Johan, Clemens, Schilling, Beckett, Damon, Delgado, Pedro, Abreu, Mussina. Those were franchise players for other teams. I imagine I would have a difficult time rooting for them.