Arsenal (0) 0 - 0 (0) Manchester United
Millennium Stadium Cardiff, Saturday 21st May 2005
FA Cup Final
(Arsenal win 5-4 on penalties)
Arsenal:
Lehmann
Lauren Toure Senderos Cole
Cesc (van Persie 86) Vieira Gilberto Pires (Edu 105)
Bergkamp (Ljungberg 65) Reyes
It was a day when expectations were met. The papers had talked up a titanic struggle of epic proportions, a rumble in Cardiff between the old foes…but we all knew that it couldn’t possibly live up to the hype. And that was how it lived up to our expectations. 120 minutes of digging deep followed by 5 minutes of blinding, nerve-wracking excitement.
Cardiff is as superb a city and footballing venue as it ever has been, and I for one am going to miss having FA Cup finals there. It’s treated us pretty well (the Liverpool disaster aside) and once you’re there, everything is just so easy.
The Clwb Ifor Bach, a 2-minute walk from Gate 2 of the Millennium Stadium, was as close to an Arsenal pub away from north London as could be imagined. Not a single black shirt in sight, just a sea of red singing their little hearts out. At this point, the singing was optimistic.
Of course it was raining, but only one team was going to have their parade rained on. There was a point in the day when it looked like it might be us, but no! Our German stopper pulled off the game of his Arsenal career, aided and abetted by Paul Scholes – otherwise known as Michael Glazer’s love child – and of course there was Freddie with a remarkable headed clearance.
So were United mugged? Of course they were! Did they deserve to lose? Of course they did! Was it a ‘beautiful game’? Don’t be silly! The only beautiful thing about the game was Ronaldo’s tears at the end of the match. So close but no cigar.
The technical details of the match I’ll leave to those who had a clearer, more objective view of the game, perhaps from the pub, or you can read other reports. In my £25 seat behind the goal, it felt like I was standing in the Clockend – an absolutely superb seat. There was hardly a pause for breath (except of course when Lauren got skinned, again and again by the crybaby) between songs. We were having a laugh with “Sold to the USA” and tunes about Rooney’s shagging habits in between tributes to the boys in red.
We started to lag a bit in the second half, our singing taking on a bit of a desperate air as we watched our skilful and flair-based team descend into a defensive myopia straight out of George Graham’s days. But how well they did it! We soaked up everything that they could throw at us and asked for more. Our defensive frailties weren’t extreme enough to concede a goal from the wings, whilst our midfield mostly held, a bit deep. Sans Henry, our attack was flimsy, bordering on non-existent. Luckily that hasn’t turned out to be enough of a reason to deny another year to Dennis, and van Persie is going from strength to strength.
And then the penalty shoot-out. What a way to decide a game. But perhaps lucky for us. Fergie won the toss and got the penalties at the Man U end. “Typical. Lucky bastard!” growled the older couple behind me. Maybe the pressure was too much. A great save by Lehmann (Man of the Match, beyond doubt) and 5 superbly-taken penalties, and that’s another FA Cup under the belt, thank you very much. We hug each other in relief as well as celebration, wondering how on earth we had managed to get away with it.
| 
