Couldn’t watch the game today so, hey, if everyone who saw the match would write about it and tell me what it meant to them, well that would be cool…
March 21, 2009
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After a night out with a lass, ended up staying at her place… friend of mine, a big Liverpool fan, sent me a text saying “Fulhammmmm.”
Not realizing the time, I texted him back, “I missed. We win!?”
A minute passes, “Up 1-0 at half.. Scholes sent off in the 17th for a handball in the box. Murphy drilled the pk.”
“We are winning. Wtf.” I responded and hijacked her laptop. Finding a working stream was impossible and I was unable to get Gentleman Jim’s broadcast to go, so I had to rely on a very skippy stream and play by play on JustinTV. Not ideal, but this beggar couldn’t choose.
Apparently Mark Schwarzer made a myriad of crazy saves. Seeing a horribly pixelated set of highlights after the match confirmed this. The man’s 35 going on 25. What a signing.
Finding the highlights also showed Scholes committing possibly the most blatant handball in the history of the game. Hilarity.
But, I digress.
Gera on for Dempsey in the 80th. Gera FTW in the 86th… with a wonderful finish that showed more poise in front of goal than we’d seen all season.
March Madness ever-present in my thoughts, I text my friend, “BRACKET BUSTER!”
And, a minute later, “Ahahahahahha rooney off too.”
Wayne Rooney, displeased with Gera’s finish, felt it necessary to throw a hissy fit and punch an inanimate object. Hilarity, once again, was ensuing. Bizarro world had become reality… Man Yoo comes off as very classy and professional when laying an ass kicking on anyone.
Down a pair on the road at poor, little Fulham? Oh, soooooo unfair. Ronaldo could’ve been sent off too for being a twit… except replace the vowel with a more suitable one.
What a great way to start off the day. I went to Big Soccer to say rude, juvenile things to naysayers. It felt wonderful.
I can’t wait to download Match of the Day.
Comment by El Steve — March 21, 2009 @ 7:57 pm |
For us Yanks: remember the “wanna get away” southwest commercials?
Well, it was like that for me, flying solo in a pub full on United fans.
Comment by timmyg — March 21, 2009 @ 8:26 pm |
What a great day…they all came to play and set the tone early and had Man U on their heels. I thought Dempsey was brilliant early and often.
Comment by Kelly — March 21, 2009 @ 8:26 pm |
If this is how Zoltan Gera want’s to prove me wrong about his finishing, then I say carry on Mr. Gera, carry on.
COYW!
Comment by Bradley — March 21, 2009 @ 9:05 pm |
Heck. What a game to miss. We were outstanding all eleven players on form. United got frustrated with decisions going (correctly) against them and couldn’t find that moment of quality or luck to swing things around. We were comfortably better for an hour the United put us under the kosh. Soaked it up, got lucky a bit, then caught them on the break. Gera’s goal was fantastic, still not sure how he got it to go in. United never recovered. Some sort of match report here > http://fulhamish.blogspot.com/2009/03/fulham-2-manchester-united-0.html
I’ll come back to this later when I’ve had time to take it all in. Fantastic day!
Comment by Chopper — March 21, 2009 @ 9:23 pm |
For me, the first half I watched in awe, thinking, “Is this really Fulham?” For those 45 minutes, we were the best team in the world. I think we outshot them 17-2. Even before Scholes went off, we were the better team. Bobby Zamora was everywhere, Murphy and Etuhu broke everything up, and the back four had little to do. Couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Second half made me very nervous. Rooney had a huge impact when he came on, but Hangeland, Hughes and Schwarzer handled everything perfectly. Murphy got banged up a bit, and was subbed off for Dacourt…things settled down a bit after that, and we showed off some decent counter-attacking. Gera scored on one of these, then Rooney got mad and chucked the ball half way up the pitch after Man Utd conceded a free kick. We regained total control after that, and passed the ball amongst ourselves the rest of the way.
Comment by Colin — March 21, 2009 @ 9:33 pm |
Hey Rich. I’m speechless. We were absolutely fantastic.
If anyone wants to read my thoughts – in quite a lot of detail tonight actually – there are here:
http://hammyend.com/?p=1147
Comment by Dan — March 21, 2009 @ 9:34 pm |
Kept on looking at the scoreboard thinking savour this, the gods deem that United will score two during the inevitable ten minutes added time.
Comment by Red S — March 21, 2009 @ 10:00 pm |
cheers all. Keep it coming. Tell me everything. Details like that from Red S…
Comment by weltmeisterclaude — March 21, 2009 @ 10:05 pm |
One of my favorite quotes on the BBC text feed was, “Fulham have morphed into Barcelona”.
Comment by Bradley — March 21, 2009 @ 10:31 pm |
Couldn’t get a decent stream either, but thank god for Gentelman Jim. GJ was in top form. By his post match summary his voice had almost gone. He had a lot to say during the match about Ronaldo’s antics, trying to get Pantsil sent off. He waxed lyrical about Schwartzer’s saves. Sounded like we were all over them in the first half, but only 1-0 up it felt precarious. They came at us all guns blazing in the second and I thought we’d wilt, but the boys stood up brilliantly by all accounts. A great day.
Comment by Mike H — March 21, 2009 @ 10:39 pm |
We absolutely dominated them in the first half. It would be interesting to see separate player location charts for each half as we spent most of the first 45 minutes in their half.
Ronaldo was like a spoilt child for most of the game. If it hadn’t been for Phil Dowd I suspect he might well have picked up the ball and taken it away yelling “snot fair” as he went.
Particularly amusing was the number of people who walked out of the Hammersmith End after Gera’s goal went in. Oh how we laughed at them! Would I be doing them an injustice if I were to suggest that they were away fans sitting in the home end.
Finally, spooky moment: I usually go to games with my mate Simon. He was unable to attend (and I almost missed it as I only just got permission to leave my 5 day-old daughter at home with the missus). I called him after the game and he told me that he dreamt this week that (a) we would win 2-0 (b) that the first goal would be a penalty and (c) that Murphy would score it. What odds would he have got for Fulham 2-0 winners/Murphy first scorer?
Comment by Kemosabe — March 21, 2009 @ 11:00 pm |
I have to say an awesome showing by the Fulham side!! They came out ready to play and never let Utd get anything going(and I’m a Utd fan). I think this is the best I have seen Fulham look this season and I have watched a few of their matches since I like to see fellow Yank Dempsey play.
Great match to the Cottagers!!!
Comment by Jay in the States — March 22, 2009 @ 2:12 am |
Let’s put it this way, when the recording finished up this morning I had the option to:
a.) Dellete Now
b.) Keep Recording
You can guess what happened next.
Fulham looked like the side at the top of the table, with ManU the mid-table hoping to get in the Europa Cup for the first 45.
2nd 45 was a little tenuous, but never in doubt. Schwarzer with the double save which secured it for me.
Murphy should be good to go next weekend, seemed to roll his ankle along the touch line.
Wow!
Comment by Colin_K — March 22, 2009 @ 2:02 pm |
Made a last minute descision to watch this game over the ruby, and what a choice that was!!
One of my housemates is a HUGE united fan, but was unfortunately not around, however I enjoyed txetual harrasment of him throughout the match. This more than makes up for the fact I had to sit watching Fulham have four put past them a mere few weeks ago.
Ronaldo, Rooney and Berbatov should be ashamed of themselves for their attitude towards the ref. My standout performer was Schwartzer with Hughes a close second. I will have a smile on my face for many weeks to come!
Comment by FulFan — March 22, 2009 @ 4:13 pm |
The more I’ve watched it, the more I can’t believe Man U didn’t finish with eight Men… ronaldo was such a prick. The phrase “petulant little boy” kept going through my head, and when Lineker used the exact same word, I knew I wasn’t barking up the wrong tree.
They just couldn’t hack losing. They crumbled. Amazing skill and absolutely no spine from the wonder boys from the team.
Comment by El Steve — March 22, 2009 @ 5:38 pm |
Ronaldo is the Kobe Bryant of football. Fun to watch and hard to like. I enjoyed immensely the the sight of him pointing to his leg after he got a “widdle boo boo” and the ref telling him in no uncertain terms to “shut it”. Fulham played as a team and won as a team. How can one not be inspired by a performance like that? I am a proud Whites fan and always will be. Now if only North Carolina would get a club I could support…
Comment by Fulham USA — March 22, 2009 @ 6:35 pm |
Fulham USA, you gota support the grassroots level to make it better or it never will get better. Support the Battery and Fulham or support your rival states Railhawks. They’ve got a bright young Scottish coach and they will do good things in the league this year.
Yes, was listening to gentleman Jim and then found a way to watch the game on the net. At half time I raced down to a local pub in downtown Mpls. which is always filled with Man U supporters. I found a spot to sit with Scott, another Fulham fan from Minneapolis and the two of us quite enjoyed taking it to all those moaning and whining Man U fans who very much reflect Ronaldo’s personality.
A great day indeed.
Comment by bq — March 22, 2009 @ 7:06 pm |
Unfortunately, it’s not always so easy to support the small, local clubs… and that’s not just from a lack of coverage perspective.
I just left Pittsburgh and we have the Riverhounds, essentially a third division club for the US… I liked going to games, I’m one of the few who dropped some $$$ on a jersey… but it was a drive of over 50 miles, for HOME matches.
Away matches simply aren’t doable… and the team is REALLY marketed towards youth soccer, parents… not in a way that you can possibly get a feeling like, ‘Hey, I’m at a match that means something.’ It was all about give aways, rock-jock music, and even more give aways.
I’d go to about two games a year, but it’s not like you can open the paper and read a story, get a little more access on TV.
And I understand semi-professional, lower division economics; I’m fine with that. Just so hard to support outside of a centralized location. It’s a “Pittsburgh” team located 20 miles outside of the city.
Fulham’s a team in Fulham… and the rivals are literally a mile away. In principle, I’m all about supporting grass roots. But, I understand those who can’t.
Comment by El Steve — March 22, 2009 @ 7:56 pm |
The little discussion at the end of this thread reminds me a little bit of when I was first taken along to Fulham by my Dad (a New Zealander who didn’t really have a team) when I was little. Fulham were in the Third Divison (now known as League Two) and the glamour clubs in London were Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea and West Ham and got very little coverage. I went along to our lovely ground, completely different from anywhere else I’d been, fell in love and badgered my Dad to keep taking me. He did and the rest is history.
Of course, the dynamics of the US lower leagues are completely different, much focussed around youth football and I don’t profess to know a lot about them. But what I do know is that then Fulham, who nearly went out of business and came frighteningly close to losing their home in the nineties, couldn’t have survived without the hardcore support of no more than 3,000 fans.
Like where we are now and what we did yesterday. It’s nothing short of a miracle.
Comment by Dan — March 22, 2009 @ 9:45 pm |
Great story Dan, thanks!
Comment by bq — March 23, 2009 @ 1:49 am |
Apart from my wedding, the birth of my boys – and the defeat of Chelsea, obviously – this was quite simply the best day of my life. To soundly beat the champions of Europe and England was outstanding…and staying behind to laugh at Gary Neville, while clearly childish, made it even more enjoyable!
Comment by r33g — March 23, 2009 @ 9:15 am |
Wow, what a fantastic result. Rooney shows again that he can be such a liability.
Comment by Derek — March 23, 2009 @ 4:50 pm |
To use one of Ray Hudson’s adjectives, Gera’s goal was “majesterial” . . uneblievable goal, easily the goal of the season so far. Not quite as improbable as Kamara’s last year against Tottenham, but the athleticism, velocity and precision made it a breathtaking sight. Still can’t believe it.
Comment by sublicon — March 23, 2009 @ 4:52 pm |
Sitting in my classroom, in the heart of ‘ammers territody, this lunchtime and heard some kids chiding a Manure supporter, with a chant of ‘Fulham, Fulham’ – what a sweet sound, and one I thought i would never hear.
Comment by Red S — March 23, 2009 @ 6:34 pm |