February 25, 2007: The Final of the Football League Cup -- then known as the Carling Cup for sponsorship reasons -- is held at the Millennium Stadium (now the Principality Stadium) in Cardiff, Wales between London clubs Arsenal F.C. and Chelsea F.C.
Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger started 2 of his usual starters, Kolo Touré and Cesc Fàbregas. Otherwise, he started his younger players, who had gotten the team through the tournament to this point. In contrast, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho started his usual starting 11.
Arsenal took an early lead on Theo Walcott's goal, his 1st of what would be 108 for the club. But Didier Drogba, Chelsea's diving forward, scored twice to give Chelsea a 2-1 win.
The game is remembered for a moment in the 57th minute, in which Arsenal's Abou Diaby went for the ball, and instead mistakenly kicked Chelsea's despicable Captain John Terry in the face, knocking him out. Diaby, born in Paris of Ivorian descent, is black; Terry had already been accused of racism, and there would be more such incidents in his career. So the moment was seen as symbolic by anti-racism activists in soccer.
The referee was Howard Webb, considered by some English soccer fans to be one of the best in the business, and by others as one of the worst. He recognized that it was an accident, not an intentional foul, and did not give Diaby a card. He did, however, give straight red cards to Arsenal's Kolo Touré and Emmanuel Adebayor, and Chelsea's Mikel John Obi, for a fight in stoppage time.
I didn't think Diaby was a good player, but he remains beloved by Arsenal fans for this one act. Which was an accident: If he'd tried it on purpose, he would have missed. (The other player in the photograph is Julio Baptista, whom Arsenal had gotten on loan from Real Madrid, and had scored 2 goals against arch-rival Tottenham Hotspur in the Semifinal.)
*
February 25, 2007 was a Sunday. Baseball and American football were out of season. There were 8 games played in the NBA:
* The New Jersey Nets beat their arch-rivals, the New York Knicks, 101-92 at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands. Vince Carter scored 40 points.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Atlanta Hawks, 115-106 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta. Amar'e Stoudamire led all scorers with 43 points, and also had 16 rebounds.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Orlando Magic, 97-93 at the Amway Arena in Orlando.
* The Miami Heat beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 86-81 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.
* The Detroit Pistons beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Bulls, 95-93 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.
* The Sacramento Kings beat the Indiana Pacers, 110-93 at the Conseco Fieldhouse (now the Gainbridge Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis. Kevin Martin scored 35 points.
* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Washington Wizards, 98-94 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors, 102-85 at the Oracle Arena (as the arena at the Oakland Coliseum complex was then known). The Warriors consider the Lakers their arch-rival, but not vice versa.
And there were 7 games played in the NHL:
* The New Jersey Devils beat the Washington Capitals, 3-2 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.
* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-1 at the St. Pete Times Forum (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.
* The Dallas Stars beat the Vancouver Canucks, 2-1 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Jere Lehtinen scored the winning goal with 43 seconds left in overtime.
* The Nashville Predators beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-3 in a shootout at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.
* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-1 at the United Center in Chicago. The Blues consider the Blackhawks their arch-rival, but not vice versa.
* The Minnesota Wild beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-1 at the Xcel Energy Center (now the Grand Casino Arena) in St. Paul, Minnesota.
* The Anaheim Ducks beat the Colorado Avalanche, 5-3 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
No comments:
Post a Comment