What Exactly Happened in English Soccer Sunday?

 It is a pretty well known fact that soccer just isn’t a top drawing sport in the United States. Professional football, baseball, basketball, and their college counterparts are the undisputed favorite sports today, with hockey, soccer, and even a growing lacrosse fighting for the remaining adoration from fans. Meanwhile, old favorites such as horse racing and boxing have gone by the wayside. This is just the way it is, and most soccer fans in America have no interest trying to shove “the beautiful game” down anyone’s throat.

For any sports fan with a pulse however, on Sunday soccer was on the forefront of the sports landscape as one of the most thrilling league finals of all time occurred while many Americans were just beginning their day (college students anyway, 10 a.m. is early…).

For those with their heads stuck regrettably in the sand, Manchester City defeated Queens Park Rangers in the final game of the 38-week English Premier League season 3-2 to hang on to first place and the championship. And while this doesn’t exactly scream “must watch,” allow the following paragraphs to explain just how magical of a Sunday afternoon it was in Manchester, England.

Entering the game, Manchester City was tied with local rival Manchester United for first place with 86 points. City held the tiebreaker, however, based on goal differential. With this edge, all City needed to do was beat lowly QPR, who was fighting its own battle of avoiding relegation from Britain’s top league. A win for City meant a championship, and for its tortured fan base, the first such success since 1968. By tortured, imagine being a Red Sox fan prior to 2004. A Tampa Bay Rays fan prior to 2008. A Cleveland sports fan ever. You get the point. A win for Queens Park assured their permanence in the Premier League.

If it’s juicy storylines you want, consider this: Queens Park head coach Mark Hughes was fired by Manchester City midseason in December of 2009 after only 18 months at the helm. The firing was considered by many soccer pundits as unreasonable and several Queens Park players spoke about how they saw this game as an opportunity for Hughes to exact revenge on his former team.

Meanwhile, Queens Park held the worst road record in the Premier league, while Manchester City had the best home record, winning 18 of its 19 games with one tie. City had not lost a game at home since 2010.

When the match started, each team’s game plan was evident. QPR held all 11 of its players behind the ball at all times, rarely even crossing midfield if they didn’t have possession. Meanwhile, City pushed its men forward, yearning for a goal, and a lead that they thought would be sufficient in stifling any QPR confidence and assuring a title clinch.

The statistics matched the styles. City would eventually total an astounding 44 shots, while maintaining possession for an equally unrealistic 81 percent of the game. To put that in perspective, imagine the New England Patriots keeping the ball on offense for more than three entire quarters of an NFL game.

The contest became target practice for City, and in the 39th minute, their efforts paid off in an interesting fashion. Keeping with the story line theme, City midfielder Yaya Toure suffered an injury around the 34th minute that saw him limping around as City head coach Roberto Mancini sorted out who to substitute him for. However, an obviously impaired Toure never requested to come off the field, and Mancini didn’t sub him out, at least not immediately. This decision by Mancini would be the first of several that directly aided City’s efforts, and the way Mancini pulled the strings in crunch time cannot be applauded enough.

When the 39th minute rolled around, it was Toure who somehow hobbled into the penalty area and assisted City’s first goal, a strike by defender Pablo Zabaleta, who, oh by the way, had not scored a single goal in any competition the entire season. At halftime the score was 1-0 and City seemed in complete control.

            Fast forward now to the second half when seemingly everything started happening at once. In the 48th minute, City defender Joleon Lescott horribly misplayed a routine header 40 yards from his own net, allowing QPR forward Djibril Cisse an easy goal, and more importantly, a 1-1 tie.

            With Manchester United holding a 1-0 lead in their final match, happening at nearly the same exact time, City knew that a tie would do them no good. The usually effervescent City crowd was now silent, and doubt began to creep in if their title hopes would once again be lost in some dramatic fashion (Think “Curse of Bartman” for the Cubs in 2003).

            The drama continued. In the 54th minute, all hell broke loose when QPR’s Joey Barton and City’s Carlos Tevez clashed on the edge of the Rangers’ penalty area. After a chat between the head referee and linesman, Barton was correctly given a red card for elbowing Tevez seemingly out of no where. A frustrated Barton then kicked City forward Sergio Aguero before being escorted off of the field in a mad loss of composure.

            The theater only intensified after the expulsion of Barton, as an invigorated City began a barrage on goal. Shot after shot either went wide or was saved by QPR goalkeeper Patrick Kenny, playing one of the best games of his career. City’s attack culminated in a point blank shot by Aguero that Kenny somehow reached back and grabbed just as the ball was even with the goal line. The score remained tied at one, and what happened next would send the game into a whirlwind.

            In the 66th minute QPR managed only their second legitimate attempt on goal, and midfielder Jamie Mackey scored a header on a fast break to take an impossible 2-1 lead. With the QPR visitor section screaming in jubilation, a teenage City fan was shown on camera crying in desperation at the score line, seemingly forgetting there were still 30 minutes left in the game. For an American comparison, imagine crying when your favorite football team falls behind ten points midway through the third quarter. Giving and taking emotions with every minute, there’s a reason soccer is called “the beautiful game”.

            This is when Mancini made the first of two crucial changes that would turn the game around. Down a goal, Mancini immediately inserted forward Edin Dzeko, a talented substitute who had already scored 13 goals for City, in the 69th minute.

            With City sending more and more shots on goal but without a positive result, Mancini then made his final substitution, subbing in temperamental striker Mario Balotelli seven minutes after Dzeko.

            From the 75th minute on, QPR, playing with 10 men, began using everyone as a defender, allowing City to possess the ball unchallenged as close as 30 yards from the Rangers’ net. For yet another stateside comparison, the game looked oddly like a hockey power play, with QPR playing down a man basically sitting back only trying to clear the ball as far away as possible. Except in hockey, a typical power play is two minutes long. This power play lasted 30 minutes.

            Yet up until the 90th minute, City had still not been able to break down QPR’s wall of defense. After the fourth official added five long minutes of stoppage time due to the amount spent sending off Barton, City turned the pulse-pounding final match into a Hollywood story.

            In the 92nd minute, Mancini’s second substitute, Dzeko, strongly netted a corner kick with an open header, sending the stadium into a frenzy. However, the clock continued to tick, and City still needed a goal to take the lead and to turn their glimpse of hope into a first place finish in the Premier League. Before the amazed announcers, not to mention QPR, could catch their breath, City was back on the attack. With the crowd chanting like the Romans in the time of gladiators, Mancini’s final substitute, Balotelli, managed to control and turn the ball in one motion 18 yards from goal and pushed a neat pass to a cutting Aguero, who took one touch and then blasted a shot left of Kenny’s outstretched hand into the back of the net. 3-2 City in the 94th minute.

            There are no American comparisons needed to explain the finality of City’s inspiring comeback. The story truly tells itself. And if you aren’t a soccer fan, perhaps Sunday’s events are enough of a nudge for you to seek out “the beautiful game.” 

Highlights here