Tuesday, February 27, 2007

We Need a Bigger Couch

It's been awhile since we've posted anything (mostly due to . . . uh, life intruding upon the fantasy that is football), but the two matches I did manage to see this week so far (the melodramatic Carling Cup final between Chelsea and Arsenal and today's FA Cup 5th round replay between Reading and Man U) were brilliant.

What happened today? In the opening six minutes Manchester United, with their silky yet suspiciously robotic killer instincts on full display, managed to score three goals and arguably seal the deal. But Reading player Dave Kitson scored a committed header in the 23rd minute, and though I wasn't convinced that Reading could pull off an upset, I was happy that at least they weren't going to crawl under the porch without a snap of the jaws or two.

But in the second half, the Reading team did a whole lot more. With the inclusion of Glen Little and Leroy Lita, the squad consistently outplayed the big red machine and threatened to even up the score after Lita helped make the seemingly impossible possible in the 84th. Sir Alex, who had been confident enough not to play either Rooney or Christiano Ronaldo for most of the match, capitulated and put both players into the fray in the 76th and 89th minutes respectively to sustain the lead. And though Reading threatened, they unfortunately couldn't pull off an upset. But it was nevertheless exhilarating and I almost flipped over our couch while still seated in it.

Manchester United now face Middlesbrough in the quarter-finals.

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