I'm right, shut up. Except I'm not right.
The bottom line is this. Howard Webb missed the call. Even though he missed the call, Spurs still had a 2-1 lead after Cristiano Ronaldo poked in the penalty kick. They could not hold the lead they had from there.
I was crushed. My Dad, who makes one road trip per season and was in Old Trafford, was crushed. We’ll both be fine, it’s part of the game. Also, I’m done ranting about Howard Webb. I could write paragraph after paragraph about him, but I said my piece yesterday and it’s over. Today is a new day.
There were a ton of meaningful results around the world yesterday. Roy Keane began his Ipswich Town career with a 3-0 win over Cardiff City. West Bromwich Albion tried to find a way out of the relegation zone as they punched Sunderland in the mouth, 3-0. Bayern Munich continued their run of mind-boggling play losing 1-0 to Schalke 04. Barcelona needed a late equalizer from Thierry Henry to eke out a 2-2 draw with Valencia. Real Salt Lake had seen enough of New England’s undefeated start, and promptly thrashed them 6-0.
If you’ve had your fill of the NFL Draft, here are the matches on television today, all times EDT:
6:00 AM – FK Rubin Kazan v. Spartak Moscow – Russian Premier League – Setanta
8:30 AM – Arsenal v. Middlesbrough – Barclays Premier League – Setanta
9:00 AM – Palermo v. AC Milan – Serie A – FSC
11:00 AM – Blackburn Rovers v. Wigan Athletic – Barclays Premier League – FSC
11:00 AM – Energie Cottbus v. Wolfsburg – Bundesliga – GolTV
1:00 PM – Puebla v. Juarez – Mexico Clausura – Fox Sports Espanol
1:00 PM – Sevilla v. Real Madrid – La Primera Liga – GolTV
2:30 PM – Napoli v. Internazionale – Serie A – FSC
3:00 PM – New York Red Bull v. DC United – MLS – Telefutura
3:00 PM – Santos v. Corinthians – Brazil Paulista – GolTV
3:00 PM – Lille v. Marseille – Ligue 1 – Setanta
4:00 PM – Rosario Central v. Boca Juniors – Argentina Clausura – Fox Sports Espanol
5:00 PM – Atletico Madrid v. Sporting Gijon – La Primera Liga – GolTV (delayed broadcast)
6:00 PM – Washington Freedom v. FC Gold Pride – WPS – FSC
6:45 PM – Falkirk v. Dumfermline – Scottish Cup – Setanta
7:00 PM – Paraguay v. Colombia – South American Under 17 – GolTV
10:00 PM – Bolivia v. Peru – South American Under 17 – GolTV
Enjoy your day, and talk about the games in comments as usual. Cheers.
6-0.
Oh, the shame.
That being said, you can only go so far with an average of five starters on the bench for each of your first five matches. Oh, and the altitude didn’t help.
Side note: if only Clint Mathis’ passion for the game was on par with his ability. Matches like last night just highlight was a general waste his career has been.
@fuse – I didn’t see it, but I will say that Steve Young had a rant about “loving the game” yesterday on the NFL draft that probably could apply to Clint Mathis.
The Russian Premier League is depressing. That’s all.
What’s really depressing is that Fox Soccer’s actual programming didn’t line up AT ALL with what my channel guide said their programming was…which left me with several halves of games but no actual games.
It appears that Athletic Bilbao and Racing Santander had a match worth seeing today. Shame it wasn’t on.
9 v. 8 on the pitch to finish.
Man, I don’t want to pull the plug on your righteous indignation, but I saw the replay of the PK in the Spurs match today and I have to say that the call could have gone either way. I watched the replay three or four times and I still can’t tell if Gomes touched the ball- which would have meant that it couldn’t be a PK in my book. That being said, if you are going to call it, I don’t see how you keep the red card in your pocket. All or nothing, so to speak.
I actually saw the Young rant (which Keyshawn CLEARLY didn’t understand…which was probably why he was “very good” but never threatened to be “great”) and that’s Mathis in a nutshell. He STILL has the ability to take over a match (I believe he had a FIVE goal match early in his career in MLS), but he’s never done it consistently and has always been too much of a hothead for his own good. By the way, his goal yesterday may hold up as the goal of the year.
I agree with fuse; if it’s a penalty (and it’s up in the air for me, too; I can see both sides, but I’d tend to go with penalty), it’s a card, just like it was for Friedel against Liverpool. An unfortunate card, to be sure, but a card all the same.
@fuse and mag: It’s never a penalty. NEVER. Watch Gomes eyes as he’s coming forward, he’s not even looking up at Carrick as if to see where he’s going to come together with him, he’s ONLY watching the ball, and he gets to the ball and touches it away (watch the deflection, that ball is touched by the keeper) and there is clearly no intent on his part to foul Carrick. None. The other thing is, the players on the field know better than anyone when a foul or penalty is committed. Watch the reaction of Spurs players after that, they know he’s gotten it wrong, and then to tell the real tale, watch the tape when they pan to Fergie. That wry smile on his face tells you more than any other reaction that one went in his favor. It’s a terrible call that changed a game.
As I said, Spurs still had the lead, on the road, in Old Trafford. They needed to buckle down and be mentally tougher than they were, and the thrashing they got after that call was mostly deserved. But that call was missed and no one will ever convince me otherwise.