It’s time again to go back once again and reminisce as we go back to my “Name on the Trophy” blog from last September where by I wrote about three e-mails I found from back the 26th May 2004.
The e-mails were entitled “Name on the Trophy!!! 26/05/1999 (1), (2) and (3)” and it was a load of quotes from the world of TV commentary from the day, as well as various newspaper reports from the days after the event. Below are another two of those reports and I have many more to come, enjoy reading them. I have.
At the end he ran and he ran and he ran. If, as Manchester United’s assistant manager Steve McClaren calculated, David Beckham covered nine miles of the Stadio Delle Alpi in the semi-final against Juventus in Turin, then how much ground did he cover last night in the vastness of Nou Camp? Only this week Beckham revealed that he was the Essex 1500m champion four years running at school, but football, especially at this level, requires sprint after sprint after sprint.
And yet no matter what part of the pitch Beckham filled – the centre circle, his area, the Bayern penalty box, the right-wing and all four corners – no United player seemed to be on his wavelength.
Then Teddy Sheringham appeared. The mood shifted, Beckham shifted. In injury-time he turned up on the left wing, rounded a silver grey shirt and flicked the ball to Denis Irwin, whose cross was booted out for a corner, probably a last corner.
All those years of practice, all those extra hours in training when Alex Ferguson had to drag Beckham away from The Cliff, were boiling down to this. A poor corner and the trophy was Bayern’s. But it was not poor, it was typically fast and accurate, Peter Schmeichel’s not so jolly green giant presence told and suddenly, a couple of half-hit shots from Ryan Giggs and Sheringham later, the ball was in the Munich net.
That was one thing, but then to have a near repeat with injury-time transforming into extra-time was astonishing. Then again, though, Beckham was demonstrating the archer’s art of the corner kick and under the most intense scrutiny. Now Sheringham met this one almost as thrillingly as Roy Keane met another Beckham corner in the semi-finals. Sheringham’s header did not billow the net as Keane’s did but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s volley did.
The Germans had said that they feared Beckham’s crossing. How realistic those fears proved as Sammy Kuffour, the only non-German in the team, was left showing Teutonic angst as he pummelled the Nou Camp turf. Kuffour, in particular, was deserving of his distress because he, along with Bayern’s caveman of a midfielder, Jens Jeremies, did most to nullify the Beckham threat.
was his shadow for long spells but then for 67 minutes, until the introduction of Sheringham, so were a few of Beckham’s team-mates. Beckham may have displayed the emotional maturity and natural ability to dictate a European Cup final, but that does not mean he is a replica Roy Keane. Far from it, in fact. But he does complement Keane in a way that Nicky Butt did not complement Beckham last night.
That was a symptom of United’s problems: a domino effect caused by Keane’s suspension. Beckham may be the genuine article as a top-class playmaker but Giggs is no replacement for him on the right. On the opposite flank Jesper Blomqvist is no Giggs and in the 67 minutes United maintained this formation there was little of the fluid attacking that has characterised their season.
Instead there was frustration typified on the half-hour when a swerving Beckham corner from the right evaded four static red shirts when surely Keane would have met the ball on the run. Beckham was left cursing the Barcelona night air just as earlier he had cursed Ronny Johnsen for not anticipating aninswinging free-kick.
When Kuffour and Jeremies headed away second-half corners Beckham must have sworn again. But at last Sheringham came on to give Beck ham’s passes a point and to change the night.
If only the footballers and journalists of England could make a similar change. Both put pen to ballot paper for the respective player of the year awards when the season’s silverware issues are yet to be settled and the denouement is often far from clear. A sudden glorious run from Christmas to Easter can clinch them for one player over another who has shown regular excellence since August. Hence David Ginola.
But, put all the players and writers in a room last night at the end of the 44-week marathon and a show of hands would have revealed a sizeable majority for David Robert Beckham. It is 331 days since his red card in St Etienne and he has played in all United’s 29 away games. He has taken the abuse; now he should be given the glory.
#9 Beckham runs for glory – The Guardian
Lap of honour for the long-distance sprinter
By Michael Walker
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