Mark_Concannon's Blog

The European club soccer season ended yesterday with a decidedly English flavor. No laid back tea and scones crowd here; 50-thousand Manchester United and Chelsea fans making a pilgrimage to Russia for the Champions League Final. No football lover wanted the season to conclude and the Red Devils and Blues obliged, battling through 90 minutes of regulation and two heart-stopping overtimes, still even at 1-1. Finally on the 7th round of penalty kick tiebreakers, United goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar stopped a shot from the Blues Nicolas Anelka, and in the driving rain in Moscow, United had acheived "The Double."

This epic battle came just 11 days after Man U prevailed against Chelsea in a hard fought head to head battle for the English Premiere League crown which was not decided until the final day of the season. And what a season it was!

For the second straight year, Carlos Tevez tallied the most significant goal in the EPL campaign. He scored for West Ham United on the final day of last season, in a 1-0 win at Manchester United, a victory that kept the Hammers from being relegated. This season, Tevez scored for Man U in the waning moments in a late season fixture at Blackburn as the Red Devils salvaged a 1-1 draw. That point picked up by United was crucial, as Man U entered the final day of play even with Chelsea instead of one point behind the Blues, giving Manchester a huge psychological edge and control of their own destiny The Devils then clinched the Premier League crown with a 2-0 win at Wigan.

Speaking of Tevez, he has become the Terrell Owens of the EPL with some memorable celebrations, pulling out a baby pacifier after one goal, and lifting his jersey to reveal "Feliz Cumpleanos(Happy Birthday) Ariel" written on his t-shirt after a Champions League tally against AS Roma.

And what a shock! The top four clubs were Man. U., Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool as the Big Four continued their dominance. But if you think that's bad, in all but one year, only three clubs (Ajax, Eindhoven and Feyernoord) have won Holland's top league championship(Eredivisie) since 1965.

Derby won only one EPL match this year which means one of its players, Marc Edworthy has now been on the roster of four different clubs that have been relegated. Derby's fans behaved shamefully when they booed every English national player on Chelsea when the Blues visited Derby, just a few days after England was eliminated from the Euro Cup competition. But Derby fans had to listen to taunts from visiting Tottenham supporters who sang "We'll never play you again," a serenade of relegation.

In the wildest game of the year Portsmouth defeated visiting Reading 7-4 but then didn't score at home for the next 6 matches, which included 4 scoreless draws. But Portsmouth mustered one goal when it mattered most in a 1-0 victory over Cardiff to win the F.A. Cup in a matchup of two surprise unheralded finalists.

Reading completely collapsed into relegation, not scoring a goal in 6 of its last 7 matches. That was great news for Fulham, who claimed the final safe spot with a 1-0 win at Portsmouth on the final Sunday. Fulham employs five Americans: Kasey Keller, Clint Dempsey, Carlos Bocanegra, Eddie Johnson, and Brian McBride(Captain and UWM alum)

So sadly, we move into another off-season for English Football, but junkies will soon be satisfied. The Euro Cup finals start June 7th. I can't wait for the lads to get back on the pitch.