2008 UEFA Cup final, FA Cup final

A couple of final matches took place in Europe over the past few days.

2008 UEFA Cup final

On Thursday morning (Brisbane time), Russian club Zenit St Petersburg beat Scotland's Glasgow Rangers 2-0 in the UEFA Cup final, played in the City of Manchester Stadium (home of Manchester City). Both goals came late in the second half, after a tight & rather tentative first half (I managed to miss the first 17 minutes of the match because I woke up "late"). Firstly, Denisov opened the scoring in the 72nd minute after playing a nice one-two with influential playmaker Arshavin. Then, in the last minute, with almost the last kick of the match, Zyrianov tapped in a low cross to seal the trophy for Zenit.

The win was deserved, because Zenit looked to be the more accomplished & more adventurous side. It's a great achievement for their experienced Dutch coach, Dick Advocaat. Zenit had some remarkable results on the way to the UEFA Cup triumph, including a 4-0 hammering of German giants Bayern Munich in the semi-final second leg. So it is fitting that they won the trophy. Rangers did very well to get to the final, though some say that the style of football displayed by Rangers (they defended grimly & pinched a goal here & there) left a lot to be desired. All things said, I'm glad to see Zenit win (nothing against Rangers, though) because of the football that they have displayed in the tournament.

2008 FA Cup final

This morning (Brisbane time), Portsmouth beat Cardiff 1-0 in the FA Cup final at Wembley, London. This final was an intriguing match-up: Portsmouth, 8th in the English Premier League (England's top football league) against Cardiff, 12th in the Football League Championship (England's second highest football division, after the Premier League). Cardiff is actually a Welsh side, but allowed to compete in the English football leagues. So the 2008 FA Cup final was seen by some as an England v Wales contest. The only goal came in the 37th minute, after Cardiff's Finnish keeper Enckelman fumbled a cross from Portsmouth's Nigerian attacker Utaka, giving Kanu (also a Nigerian international) an unmissable chance to score. Kanu could have scored earlier in the match after a nice passage of play by Portsmouth saw him rounding Enckelman, but he tapped his shot against the post. The goal that Kanu did score seemed harsh on Cardiff, who had been comfortably holding their own against the more fancied Portsmouth.

On the whole, the match could be regarded as fairly even, with neither side able to say they really dominated the other team. Cardiff continued to search for the equaliser in the second-half, but without success. It's refreshing to see a different name on the trophy for once, after recent editions have been dominated by England's top 4 clubs (between 1996 & 2007, the final was always won by either Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester United). This was Portsmouth's first FA Cup win in 69 years. It's good to see Portsmouth likeable manager Harry Redknapp with a trophy to show for his good work for the club. Commiserations to Cardiff, who did so well to reach the final. In defeat, they showed that they are definitely a capable side, & if they can keep their squad & get in a couple of decent signings, then there is no reason why they cannot achieve promotion to the Premier League next season. Good luck to them.