All the over-hyped talk of Vidic’s three straight red cards and Liverpool’s three successive victories over United came echoing back immediately after Fernando Torres netted a wide-open header in the 5th minute, thanks to an untimely Carrick turnover in his own half.
Surely you jest. Down one-nil already?!
Visions of Torres run amok linger with the Old Trafford faithful, as there already was an audible gasp the first time Torres ran at Vidic. That was before the goal.
Not now. Not again. Not against Pool.
Thank God, it wasn’t Liverpool’s day, as United ground out the result thanks to Rooney’s 12th minute conversion of a penalty rebound and Ji-Sung Park’s brave, diving header in the 60th minute.
The three points bring United a step closer to the coveted 19th title with seven games remaining.
On one hand, it’s tempting to break down the reasons behind United’s victory.
On the other hand, Phil McNulty for the BBC and Daniel Taylor for The Guardian have already done a superb job of analyzing the details behind today’s result.
Suffice it to say, Torres was largely isolated, especially in the second half, and United did a better job of linking play with Rooney, thanks largely to Ji-Sung Park taking up a forward position in the center of the midfield where his boundless energy made it almost like playing with a man-advantage going forward. Indeed, Sir Alex continues to amaze with his tactical timing in big matches this season, as he was spot-on today.
To me, upon some reflection here, what really stuck out was how the game’s defining moment illustrates both Howard Webb’s uncanny ability to upset both sets of supporters simultaneously and why more people watch this match annually than the Super Bowl.
The pivitol moment came in the 12th minute, as Mascherano hauled down Valencia, with contact beginning outside and continuing into the box, thereby giving Webb the opportunity to award a free kick or a penalty with equal merit in either claim.
The decision: penalty. The card: yellow.
United benefit from the penalty, but feel Mascherano should have seen red, while Liverpool dispute the penalty claim altogether, saying that Valencia dove and it was outside the box.
It gets better.
Immediately thereafter, Torres kicked up a large chunk of sod directly on the penalty spot in a rage, thereby creating a sizeable divot and wasting time before Rooney’s penalty. Surely, this merited a yellow card.
Not in Howard’s world.
Such was the obviousness of the call that one of the live commentary feeds – Soccernet, perhaps – prematurely gave the Spanish striker a yellow card without confirmation, as someone near us confirmed on his iPhone. Such is our ever-connected world.
To be fair to our referee, however, this match is an enormous pressure-cooker, making every decision gravitate towards a polarized reaction, given the large audience and weight of such a tightly fought encounter between historical rivals.
Certainly you can understand why even neutral observers get out of bed way too early on a Sunday morning and wander down to the pub to watch this one live at 8:30 AM CST.
It wasn’t beautiful football, just a gripping drama that tantalizes fans worldwide.
No comments:
Post a Comment