04/19/24
April 27, 2006
Smoggies complete another incredible comeback to reach UEFA Cup final.: Trailing 1-0 after the away leg, Boro conceded another two goals at home, leaving them needing four to win for a second game in a row. They got all four in the second half and must now believe their name is on the cup. They will meet Sevilla in the final in Eindhoven on the 10th of May.
I thought the last Boro home game in Europe where they came back against Basel was astonishing. But to do the same again beggars belief. Someone better tell them the final isn't over two legs. I'm no Smoggies fan but we were cheering them to the rafters in the boozer tonight and the Steaua fans (refugees I imagine) left looking supremely deflated as the final whistle blew.
posted by squealy at 06:10 PM on April 27, 2006
"Next season, they should spot all their opponents two goals - they could go undefeated!" Nah, they'll still be good for four points in the league. Good luck to them though, they've given me some good Thursday nights this season.
posted by walrus at 06:12 PM on April 27, 2006
'Smoggies?' 'koff, you Puddler. ;) Anyway, yes. It was a very very different match and a different kind of comeback from Basel, which was like a screw tightening for the entire last hour. This one? At 1-2 and 2-2, we still looked physically a step behind Steaua (very good team, amazing travelling supporters) and mentally tired. We also needed a collective change of studs, and the groundsman who watered the pitch for four hours needs a kicking. At 3-2, I got the feeling a fourth was coming, but I also expected a kick in the guts. Steaua really did lose it for themselves. But you have to bow down at the feet of Stuey Downing and especially Massimo, who has definitely paid off his £8.5m now. I was behind the goal. We were simply dazed at the final whistle. And no, it hasn't sunk in; and no, we don't think our names are on the cup. Small, shiny shiny mercies, thankyou. "Geordies at home, watching The Bill, Geordies at home, watching The Bill..."
posted by etagloh at 07:04 PM on April 27, 2006
Bloody Nora. What could the Smoggies do if they didn't keep giving their opponents a 3 goal start!? I had the game on, and at 2-0 (3-0 agg) I decided to watch a film I'd recorded, since I didn't think there was any prospect of lightning striking twice. Once was remarkable enough. Surely this feat has never been equalled in European football?
posted by salmacis at 07:25 PM on April 27, 2006
Sounds like an awesome comeback. Reminds me of a team that was three goals down at half time in a certain Final last May... But FSC do not show UEFA Cup so nuts to me.
posted by billsaysthis at 12:30 AM on April 28, 2006
"I was behind the goal. We were simply dazed at the final whistle. And no, it hasn't sunk in." Istanbul took six months to sink in, and then I was also there when we played Luton in the cup ... but I don't think my heart could have took two in consecutive rounds. Voice a bit hoarse this morning is it? Good luck in the final! I hope you go on to win it now.
posted by walrus at 04:52 AM on April 28, 2006
I hope you go on to win it now too, but I also hope that someone gets Scolari to sign something before lift the trophy and someone in the FA has a fit of the head-staggers and decides your Steve might be the man for the England job after all (which he isn't, even in his own wildest dreams).
posted by JJ at 05:30 AM on April 28, 2006
Teams like Middlesborough strive for years to survive in the Premier League. European football seems like just a dream, and then they and their long suffering fans finally win a Cup final trip to.... Eindhoven.
posted by owlhouse at 07:09 AM on April 28, 2006
Aww crap - the British press have managed to hound Big Phil out of a job he hadn't even taken - what a ridiculous and hateful bunch of bastards they are.
posted by JJ at 12:53 PM on April 28, 2006
Actually, owlhouse, Eindhoven isn't that bad. There are three flights a day to Amsterdam from Teesside, so there's no problem getting there. The problem is that UEFA's allocation is a grand total of 9,000 tickets in a stadium with a capacity of 33,000. Some optimistic diehards already have their tickets through the UEFA lottery, which divvies up the rest of the non-prawn-sandwich capacity, but for a club with 24,000 season ticket holders, that's going to leave a lot of people missing out.
posted by etagloh at 01:05 PM on April 28, 2006
Actually, owlhouse, Eindhoven isn't that bad Because you can always go and see the Philips incandescent lamp factory of 1891.
posted by owlhouse at 01:32 PM on April 28, 2006
Because you can always go and see the Philips incandescent lamp factory of 1891. Tch. Ostensibly nicest away trip this campaign? Roma. Most unpleasant away trip? Roma. Small towns in Europe? The way ahead.
posted by etagloh at 06:20 PM on April 28, 2006
I agree Roma would have been great, and seriously, any final is worth going to, even if it was held in Blagovishensk in December. Good luck in the race for tickets. My father once took my mother to see Roma versus Lazio at the Stadio Olympico. On their honeymoon.
posted by owlhouse at 08:51 PM on April 28, 2006
Up the Boro! That sounds like a fantastic match, I wish I could have seen it. Next season, they should spot all their opponents two goals - they could go undefeated!