Weon

Saturday saw the eagerly awaited match-up between Arsenal and Manchester United in the FA Cup final. Anne and I were lucky enough to get a couple of tickets through our secret contact in the FA (Anne’s sister) and so by 11am we were in the car, on the way to the Minnellium Stadium in Cardiff. The traffic was fine pretty much all the way to the park and ride (even though they sent the Man Utd fans to come off at the furthest junction for the second year running - grumble) but unfortunately the same could not be said for the weather. As we pulled up in the car park the it was heaving down and we heard our first clap of thunder of the day. Hoorah!

Walking through the centre of Cardiff, in the rain, surrounded by drunk, sodden football fans is a kind of surreal experience. The last time I was in Cardiff I must have been about 13 and I’m pretty sure I bought a little plastic Smurf, possibly the astronaut (they did a lot of space travel them Smurfs).

But I digress. We finally got into the ground having bought the obligatory programme (for the incredibly reasonable price of £8.50 - gulp) and I was immediately chuffed with our seats. We were fortunate to be at last year’s final too (when United beat Milwall 3-0) and these seats were twice as good. We had about half an hour to kill before the match started and so we used the time wisely by taking painkillers and cough sweets as we were (and still are) full of cold. The teams then came out to warm up. There were the boys, all ready to beat the Arse into the ground. The tension was mounting and I was getting so excited that my nose dribbled a little bit quicker.

All the elements started clicking into place. The brass band play. The teams line up. Abide With Me. God Save The Queen. The coin toss. The handshakes. The clearing of the pitch. The tension. The whistle. The kick-off.

From the outset, United pretty much ruled the game. I’m not saying that just because I’m a supporter, I’m saying it because it’s the truth. We always looked more threatening on the approach with (and it pains me to say it) Ronaldo being outstanding down the left side. Rooney was up for it and showed excellent strength and stamina. Rio was imperious at the back - standing behind the United goal for 45 minutes (and another 15 in extra time) opened my eyes to just why we paid so much money for him (and his drug test dodging). I watched the highlights on Match of the Day and the stats were crazy. Possession: United 56%, The Arse 44%. Shots on target: United 14, The Arse 1. You get the picture.

Where we failed was finishing. Admittedly Lehmann was pretty good in the Arse’s goal but we lacked the clinical finishing that, frankly, we’ve missed all season. From the first cracking header that Scholes missed, I knew it was going to be tough and boy was it tough. Ruud missed chance after chance and as the clock counted down, the fans became more and more restless.

First 90 minutes then 120 minutes were washed away by the Cardiff rain and with the prospect of penalties looming I turned to Anne and said “We need to score - if it goes to penalties we’ll lose”. I wish I had been wrong. As soon as Scholes’ spot-kick was saved you could see that the United players knew they had lost and as Viera’s shot hit the back of the net 36,000 United fans sighed disconsolately.

Ironically, it was a great game and I probably enjoyed it more than last years match but it ends the run of United winning every time I go to see them and losing to the Arse makes it even more bitter.

And so we strolled back to the bus, surrounded by fans all offering their belated advice to an absent Fergie as to who he should have bought on and why. It occurred to me that the Arse had played with 12 men, one of whom had turned up in the away strip.

Another season comes to an end. A month ago I said my season would be a success if (a) Palace stayed up, (b) United won the FA Cup and (c) Liverpool won the Champions League so, in advance of Wednesday night, I apologise to all the Liverpool fans I know.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 22nd, 2005 at 6:12 pm and is filed under Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.