what could have been would sum up the game for me. lots of stuff to touch up on.
- lehman. straight red, you can't deny it. i was furious when it happened, thinking to myself, the final has been ruined. although it was a good game, 11 vs 11 would actually tell who the best team in europe was. today barca was the better team, but i would expect nothing less from a team as dominating as barca, to not dominate and win this match. i wish the advantage was played and only a yellow for the purpose of the match. but it didn't. ref was criminal to not play advantage. a defender could have easily gotten back to save a goal, then proceed to the card. poor officiating.
- diving. it is a part of the game, you also can't deny that. everyone gets on every single players ******* back the second they dive. "oh how i've lost respect because the guy dove". grow up. eboue, ronaldinho, edmilson, deco etc all dived, what can you do. the ref will handle it. what henry said was 100% on. if diving ruins a final, then my goodness, it must ruin EVERY single soccer match that has been played in the last 5-10 years. i'm not condoning diving. but i think a distinction should be made between falling under a challenge and play acting. but that's a different story. diving didn't ruin the game, because it is a part of it, the ref who controls the game with his whistle ruined what could have been.
- henry v. ronaldinho. different levels on this day. henry was brilliant. he took control of the game from the 1st minute and terrorized barca for 20 mins. then the sending off, and wenger sitting back, led to henry playing by himself and still producing. he embarassed puyol and marquez (which is one hell of a accomplishment). again 11 v 11 would have told more. which brings me to ronnie. with the way he was playing, if it wasn't 11 v 10, where would he be. he was average. it's not hard for the ball to go through him playing vs 10 men. he dribbled to much and was handled by marking and tackling. i expected more and he should have produced.
- the ref = shocking. he seemingly couldn't get anything right. besides the no brainer red, he was terrible. he didn't play advantage on the red card, he let marquez and i think it was oleguer, get away with criminal challenges from behind on henry, and no cards. he couldn't get a diving call right if his life depended on it. he was erratic is his calling of the game. eboue did get away with the dive because he was sitting near center. the linesmen missed that call. henrys yellow was terrible. sure the cleat was up, but he clearly and swiftly took all ball. he brushed the player who was kicking the ball, but instead kciked henry and fell as if he was shot. oleguers yellow was terrible as well. oleguer had about 3-4 other challenges that were worth calls, instead, he embarasses himself by giving him a yellow on that clean challenge. they should have brought in a ref who applies his trade in a major league, like serie a, bundesliga etc.you can't put it on a ref from a scandanavian country. then again, that's what we have to look forward to in the WC, so i guess in the end, there can be no complaints on where he is from.
- coaching. rijkaard outcoached wenger. although, i will give wenger a break, he did lose his GK. but, in the 2nd, frank made 2 great subs, that changed the game, wenger should have brought on reyes much sooner. and who knows, maybe henry was right with wanting to attack more. although, with a lead, you don't wanna give barca counters. but after the game was 2-1, wenger had no urgency to push men forward. you have nothing to lose at that point. put 4 in the mid and 2 upfront. you have to take that chance, even vs barca. wenger didn't make the changes to give arsenal a chance after 2-1.
players of the game.
- larsson. he changed the game. great way to end his career at barca. he deserves many accolades.
- henry. was dominating in the first 20, what could have been had it been 11 v 11. even in the 2nd he was still creating chances and burning teh barca d. the yellow he received was ridiculous.
- eboue, campbell, toure and cole. all player brilliantly. what other team could hold off barca with 10 men as long as they did. and with a shaky keeper, who in all fairness played well except for the 2nd goal. toure and campbell were forces in teh middle. no goals were coming through the middle. eboue was great. yeah he dived but he was great in defence and going forward. cole had a great 1st half, fell off in teh 2nd. campbells goal was deadly.
- eto'o. he wasn't great, but he was effective. showed some brilliant flashes of skill. and his 30 yard run for his goal was textbook. if you wanna teach a kid off the ball running, show him that replay.
- valdes. kept barca in it. he really owned henry today. i thought he was good enough for spanish NT.
- ljungberg. i love freddie. he was awesome. he terrorized from the start and deserved more.
oh and i was pretty pissed at barca for playing keep away for the final 10 mins. i would expect nothing less from a team about to win but it wasn't "joga bonito".
side note: henry's interview was awesome.
also, i didn't like that edmilson and eto'o brought out there country flags. sure you are proud, that's is awesome. but i'm sure you could have gotten a barca flag and represented. just my opinion. maybe i didn't like it because i don't like edmilson(he's gonna have a chance to do it in germany), and didn't wanna look like a hypocit and not call out eto'o
in the end, good on barca. they are the best team in europe, they deserved to win. good effort by arsenal, under the circumstances, they performed exceptionally. congratulations barcelona.
now there is nothing but the World Cup.
