|
| Gerrard scores the equalizer with two minutes left to play |
Out of boarding for the FA Cup Final
It's always gratifying for a Brit to find that many students are followers of "the beautiful game". No, not cricket, or baseball, or so-called "football", but the REAL football, known in the less enlightened parts of the world as "soccer". Those who know of my lifelong support for England's greatest, Liverpool FC, greet me on the morning after every match day with congratulations or (less often nowadays) commiserations. There's even one particular grade 4 student whose knowledge of Liverpool facts and memory for games would be amazing even in a local! Unfortunately there are still a lot of Chelsea, Arsenal and (horror of horrors) Manchester United fans in the school, but I'm working on them.
This time last year the seniors begged to come out of boarding to watch the European Championship final, Liverpool versus AC Milan. It was a 12.00 midnight kickoff, Indian time, and by the time the astonishing game had come to a climax it was well after 2.00 a.m. If you want to read about that night, you'll have to check out my personal website (scroll down to 25th May) . Suffice it to say that, after being 3-0 down at half time, Liverpool recovered to 3-3 and then won on a penalty shoot-out. Couldn't happen again, could it?
Well, May 13th was the English FA Cup final, Liverpool versus West Ham United, so again we had a group of students up to watch it with us. This time the match kicked off at 7.30 p.m. Indian time, so we had a barbecue first (boy, those lads can certainly put away sausages!). This time, Liverpool were the clear favourites, so when we found ourselves 3-1 down with 20 minutes left, there was a certain amount of stunned disbelief. Then it was 3-2 down, but only a couple of minutes to go. West Ham supporters were already celebrating when Gerrard scored a stunning goal to level the game. It couldn't happen again could it? Yes, Liverpool won on a penalty shoot-out. I can't survive another one of these games - no more student invites: I'll lock myself away in a darkened room and watch on my own.
Pete Wildman, Communications Manager