most dramatic matches

[frederic38]

a thread to post about the most dramatic matches you ever saw

i'll start with the final of the 2006 world cup
i have it on DVD, watched it many times, it's the best final ever in my opinion (and amongst the finals i watched)

the key momment was ofcourse when zidane got a red card in the overtime:

[video=youtube_share;L0zY4SmSZSw]http://youtu.be/L0zY4SmSZSw[/video]

then italy won in the penalty shootout

i was rooting against france: another all-white team winning the world cup :humble:

 

[frederic38]

then france VS bulgaria in the qualifications to the 1994 world cup: the score was 1-1 and france just had to hold the ball for a minute and they would have qualified
david ginola, instead of keeping the ball close to the touch line, intented a cross, but missed it
3 passes later, bulgaria scored and qualified instead of france (bulgaria then went as far as the semi-finals of the 1994 world cup)

[video=youtube_share;tpwNv29XbbQ]http://youtu.be/tpwNv29XbbQ[/video]

it was a disaster for france and for ginola, who didn't had a great career in the national team because of this

 

[frederic38]

then henry's handball against ireland in the qualifications to the 2010 world cup:

[video=youtube_share;2ccim-JjTXs]http://youtu.be/2ccim-JjTXs[/video]

without this goal ireland would have had a great chance of qualifying in the penalty shootout
but henry cheated
they are french commentators: look how they are disgusted once they see that henry did an obvious handball

france qualified instead of ireland, and then had their worst world cup ever

 

[frederic38]

ecuador vs uruguay in the qualifications for the 2010 world cup:

[video=youtube_share;pCNI1RFupvE]http://youtu.be/pCNI1RFupvE[/video]

uruguay had to won this match in order to hope to qualify
bad video quality but it's the only one i found in which you can see the minutes before diego forlan's penalty

they came from behind in that match and won at the last second of the game
then they qualified for the 2010 world cup, and went as far as the semi finals

 

[frederic38]

spain vs france in the qualifications to the 2014 world cup, with french commentators:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xx9qfy_but-giroud-decisif_shortfilms#.URAfYmfWplN

i put the minutes before the goal so that you can see how spain was trying to waste time
there were 3 minutes of added on time, and the goal was scored at the 4th minute of added on time

i stoped watching the game when spain obtained the corner (you can hear arsene wenger saying "c'est le corner qui tue"= that corner is the end of the match for france) so i didn't see the goal live
then i learnt that giroud scored a few minutes later

france is almost certain to qualify to the 2014 world cup because of this goal

 

[frederic38]

and last but not least (for now), suarez's handball against ghana:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xx9r9c_uruguay-suarez-ghana_shortfilms#.URAWk2fWplM

i have already explained how for me suarez's hanball is very different from henry's handball:
suarez saved the ball with his hand, and he knew that there would be a penalty and a red card, he just did everything he could to help his team
on the other hand henry cheated because doing the same handball as him is useless unless the referee doesn't see it
i have trouble explaining the difference in english but i hope that you understand
to make it short, suarez's handball was the hand of a hero, henry's was the hand of a coward

at this momment, ghana was the only african team to have gone past the group phase of the world cup, which was a catastrophy for the first world cup ever played in africa
but with this penalty, ghana had the oportunity to become the first african country to ever go further than the quarter finals in a world cup


the video i put also contains the penalty shootout, and has no commentary, only the sound of the stadium
note that the penalty happened at the last second of overtime (120th minute), and it all came from an imaginary freekick for an imaginary foul by fucile

 

[Matra2]

and last but not least (for now), suarez's handball against ghana:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xx9r9c_uruguay-suarez-ghana_shortfilms#.URAWk2fWplM

i have already explained how for me suarez's hanball is very different from henry's handball:
suarez saved the ball with his hand, and he knew that there would be a penalty and a red card, he just did everything he could to help his team
on the other hand henry cheated because doing the same handball as him is useless unless the referee doesn't see it
i have trouble explaining the difference in english but i hope that you understand
to make it short, suarez's handball was the hand of a hero, henry's was the hand of a coward

at this momment, ghana was the only african team to have gone past the group phase of the world cup, which was a catastrophy for the first world cup ever played in africa
but with this penalty, ghana had the oportunity to become the first african country to ever go further than the quarter finals in a world cup


the video i put also contains the penalty shootout, and has no commentary, only the sound of the stadium
note that the penalty happened at the last second of overtime (120th minute), and it all came from an imaginary freekick for an imaginary foul by fucile

Suarez also knew he would miss the next match. So a red card, a penalty (scored 80 to 90% of the time), and a suspension. (Also, the red card meant Uruguay were without one of their best penalty-takers). If Ghana had converted the penalty or even won in the shoot-out the whole incident would've been forgotten but because Uruguay won and in the process eliminated the "Hope of Africa" Suarez became the media villain of the World Cup.

 

[Phall]

1999 Champions League Final: Manchester United 2, Bayern Munich 1

This was back before Sir Alex (and England in general) refined the fetish for swarthy imports. Apart from the "Reggae Boyz" up top, Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole, not a single non-white dressed for the Treble-winning Red Devils. Bayern was conducting its own isolated African experiment with Sammi Kuffour on the back line, and they also tucked away the rare Iranian player on their bench.

Schmeichel vs Kahn in goal, Beckham and Giggs vs Effenberg and Jeremies in the midfield, Lothar Matthaus ushering out the "sweeper" position, Gary Neville and Jaap Stam tasked with stifling the great Carsten Jancker.

Mario Basler struck early in the sixth minute off a low set piece missile. Opportunities then were few, as United had no solutions for Bayern's five defenders. Finally, substitute Teddy Sheringham leveled for United in the 91st minute, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer put the game away in the 94th.

[video=youtube;p6dXTbKdXjQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6dXTbKdXjQ[/video]

Man United:
Started: Nine whites (three English), two blacks
Finished: Ten whites (four English), one black

Bayern Munich:
Started: Ten whites (ten German), one black
Finished: Ten whites (nine German), one black

 

[Matra2]

Off the top of my head the most dramatic international matches, in chronological order:

1982 World Cup - West Germany v France and Italy v Brazil

1986 World Cup QF - France v Brazil, and Argentina v England.

1990 World Cup SF - West Germany v England

1992 Euro 92 SF - Denmark v the Netherlands (I haven't seen this one since so it might not be as dramatic as I remember it)

 

[Phall]

The final game of the 2010 group stage saw the USA needing three points to advance against last-place Algeria. After 92 minutes of scorelessness, keeper Tim Howard makes an honorary white play and hurls the ball toward Landon Donovan and into space. Donovan dashes up the empty midfield with numbers and lays the ball off before eventually burying a rebound into the back of the net. An hour and a half of futility redeemed by one magic moment.

[video=youtube;2bg8vQKN4m8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bg8vQKN4m8[/video]

I wasn't going to exhale until I was sure the linesman's flag stayed down.

Anyway, this game is the default American answer to your question from the last ten years or so.

 

[davidholly]

and last but not least (for now), suarez's handball against ghana:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xx9r9c_uruguay-suarez-ghana_shortfilms#.URAWk2fWplM

i have already explained how for me suarez's hanball is very different from henry's handball:
suarez saved the ball with his hand, and he knew that there would be a penalty and a red card, he just did everything he could to help his team
on the other hand henry cheated because doing the same handball as him is useless unless the referee doesn't see it
i have trouble explaining the difference in english but i hope that you understand
to make it short, suarez's handball was the hand of a hero, henry's was the hand of a coward

at this momment, ghana was the only african team to have gone past the group phase of the world cup, which was a catastrophy for the first world cup ever played in africa
but with this penalty, ghana had the oportunity to become the first african country to ever go further than the quarter finals in a world cup


the video i put also contains the penalty shootout, and has no commentary, only the sound of the stadium
note that the penalty happened at the last second of overtime (120th minute), and it all came from an imaginary freekick for an imaginary foul by fucile

Make perfect sense, Suarez' play was a tactical use of an intentional foul. The French guy's penalty was a gamble on the fact that the refs would be blind.

 

[frederic38]

Make perfect sense, Suarez' play was a tactical use of an intentional foul. The French guy's handball was a gamble on the fact that the refs would be blind.

thank you, that's what i wanted to say
as matra said it's incredible that the media didn't say the difference between the 2 things

phall, i saw both matches you mentionned live, the manchester united match especially was incredible, althought usually i don't like champions league finals
solkjear the super sub :icon_cool:
ferguson should have started sheringham and solkjear instead of the 2 blacks, but the match would have been less dramatic
also both manchester united goals came from corner kicks by beckham

(giggs is 1/4 black but i learnt this a few years ago, for a regular football-mad kid like me he was just a white player)

 

[frederic38]

Off the top of my head the most dramatic international matches, in chronological order:

1982 World Cup - West Germany v France and Italy v Brazil

1986 World Cup QF - France v Brazil, and Argentina v England.

1990 World Cup SF - West Germany v England

1992 Euro 92 SF - Denmark v the Netherlands (I haven't seen this one since so it might not be as dramatic as I remember it)

for france vs germany in 1982 there were all the kind of emotions, the most dramatic match ever maybe

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3dpd8_france-rfa-1982_news#.URBCm2fWplM

funny how france has always won against brazil in world cups except in 1958 when france played with 10 players against 11

 

[Porthos]

2005 CL final Liverpool-Milan 3:3 (after Milan was winning 3:0!), then Liverpool wins on penalties... Both extremely classy teams... Milan with Sevcenko, Crespo, Maldini, Liverpool with Gererd, Alonso, Baros... Liverpool Polish goalkeeper Dudek man of the match... and that was less then 8 years ago... How things have changed. Milan's black goalkeeper Dida screwed them up...

[video=youtube;z6DElrKyEFs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6DElrKyEFs[/video]

 

[Phall]

(giggs is 1/4 black but i learnt this a few years ago, for a regular football-mad kid like me he was just a white player)

LOL, i also had no idea until now despite looking at his wiki page just last month. you see, i was previously unaware that giggs had indeed spent the greater portion of two years carrying on an affair with his brother's wife. married himself, of course, but no matter. it's the lingering genetic predilection of r/K breeding tendencies. i couldn't believe that a white man would not just succumb to an indulgence, but actually deliberately carry out a hateful, prolonged assault on his own brother's dignity in secret.

but of course, the latent genes from the Dark Continent grant perfect sense to the story.
:ballchain:

 

[Phall]

Around 2000, I scored tickets to see Carsten Jancker's Munchen team play an exhibition in Giants Stadium. I grew confused when he wasn't included in the starting lineup, and became despondent when I couldn't spot any tall bald Teutons on the bench. Looking back now, I can't even remember who Bayern was playing or what the score was, but I do recall my thorough disappointment at missing out on a firsthand look at one of my favorite players.

Since this was well before the era of smartphones, it took me a few days to learn that Jancker had made the flight out to JFK Airport with the team, but was rebuked by customs because he had forgotten his passport. They sent him back to Germany by himself on the next flight!

It wasn't so long ago that passports were superfluous in Europe and airport personnel was more concerned about "customer service" than "security".

 

[Giles Daldanus]

it was a disaster for france and for ginola, who didn't had a great career in the national team because of this

Very memorable match indeed and I felt sorry for Ginola, as I think that he was unfairly scapegoated. Mistakes like that are bound to happen from time to time and it's a shame that the manager didn't really stand by his side. I think that France won 3:1 in their next game against Bulgaria (Euro 1996) and of course they then went on to become champions of Europe and the world, so I am sure that Ginola has now been forgiven by most of the supporters. Two other nail-biting games that I remember watching in real time: Italy vs. Netherlands (Euro 2000): Zambrotta was sent off before the end of the first half and the Dutch miss two penalties before the 90 minutes are over, with the Italians subsequently prevailing in the shootout, Toldo (a really likeable fellow) was the hero for the Azurri and put in a world class performance. France vs. Portugal - semi-final of Euro 2000 that saw a lot of controversy after Abel Xavier handled the ball and a penalty kick was awarded (in my opinion the referee got it spot on). Zidane converted it and chaotic scenes marked the end of the encounter, as the Portuguese team attacked the match officials and had to be restrained by the coaching staff. I also thoroughly enjoyed the "Battle of Nuremberg" (World Cup 2006), would have been an even more dramatic match if the Dutch had equalized and it had gone to overtime: [video=youtube;HmFZ7AlATMo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmFZ7AlATMo[/video] The 2001 UEFA Cup final involving FC Liverpool and Deportivo Alaves from Spain also deserves a mention.

 

[frederic38]

giles, i saw all the matches you mentionned live, and same for the champions league final mentionned by porthos, i saw it in a bar

about the 2000 euro champs, after phall mentionning a frustrating momment, it's my turn:

i watched every game of the tournament, and then came the final, italy vs france
i wasn't rooting for either of those teams, i liked spain and portugal the most in this tournament - spain for raul and portugal because of figo (spain was beaten by france as raul missed a decisive penalty in the last seconds of the game, and portugal was beaten by france after that strange penalty giles mentioned: for the record, i think that the referee took the best decision possible, but i don't think that the handball was done on purpose and i don't think that wiltord's - i think it was his - shoot was on target, so it was really cruel for portugal)
italy led for most of the match 1-0, then france scored a very late equaliser in the last seconds of injury time while the italian players on the bench were ready to celebrate the victory
then trezeguet scored the winning goal in over-time
but i didn't see those goals live , because the TV stopped working
in my whole city, nobody saw these goals because the city's antenna stopped working (somebody destroyed it on purpose)

 

[Matra2]

italy led for most of the match 1-0, then france scored a very late equaliser in the last seconds of injury time while the italian players on the bench were ready to celebrate the victory

IIRC Del Piero had a chance to end it a few minutes earlier but made a complete mess of a really good chance. The Italians sat on a lead, just like they did a few years later in Korea, and ended up losing. In the Holland match they also sat with 10 men behind the ball for much of the match but got lucky because of two missed penalties from the Dutch.

Speaking of Euro 2000 wasn't there a really dramatic end to a match between Yugoslavia (Serbia & Montenegro) and Spain? A vaguely recall the ITV or BBC commentator making it sound like the greatest match of all time yet off the top of my head I can't recall what happened.

 

[frederic38]

IIRC Del Piero had a chance to end it a few minutes earlier but made a complete mess of a really good chance. The Italians sat on a lead, just like they did a few years later in Korea, and ended up losing. In the Holland match they also sat with 10 men behind the ball for much of the match but got lucky because of two missed penalties from the Dutch.

Speaking of Euro 2000 wasn't there a really dramatic end to a match between Yugoslavia (Serbia & Montenegro) and Spain? A vaguely recall the ITV or BBC commentator making it sound like the greatest match of all time yet off the top of my head I can't recall what happened.

i remember it
a player named alfonso with white shoes was the heroe of the match, that's all i recall, and there were a lot of goals

another classic in this tournament was slovenia vs yougoslavia

 

[Giles Daldanus]

I agree with you, Frederic, I think that Xavier's actions were almost totally instinctive, it's unfortunate that the referee didn't have much of a choice according to the rules of the game. Xavier could have won the match for Portugal (with a powerful header) five minutes earlier, if it wasn't for a brilliant save by Barthez. I was neutral when it came to this tournament, but really liked Portugal's style of play.

The Italians sat on a lead, just like they did a few years later in Korea, and ended up losing. In the Holland match they also sat with 10 men behind the ball for much of the match but got lucky because of two missed penalties from the Dutch.

That's right, it's a very risky strategy. The Dutch deserved to advance for the next round, though I was slightly biased in favor of defensively minded sides at the time.

IIRC Del Piero had a chance to end it a few minutes earlier but made a complete mess of a really good chance.

Another Azzurri striker (Vieri) made an unbelievable miss in the match vs. South Korea. Another match I recommend is the 2006 semi-final between Germany and Italy, top notch performances by both sides. England vs. Portugal (Euro 2004) is another thrilling game.

another classic in this tournament was slovenia vs yougoslavia

I enjoyed watching Slovenia, Zahovic was the star for them. I remember how Slovenia took a 3:0 lead and then Sinisa Mihajlovic, one of the most controversial characters for the Yugoslavs, was sent off. Ironically, despite the numerical disadvantage, the predominantly ethnic Serb side managed to secure a 3:3 draw.

 

[frederic38]

spain vs france in the qualifications to the 2014 world cup, with french commentators:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xx9qfy_but-giroud-decisif_shortfilms#.URAfYmfWplN

i put the minutes before the goal so that you can see how spain was trying to waste time
there were 3 minutes of added on time, and the goal was scored at the 4th minute of added on time

i stoped watching the game when spain obtained the corner (you can hear arsene wenger saying "c'est le corner qui tue"= that corner is the end of the match for france) so i didn't see the goal live
then i learnt that giroud scored a few minutes later

france is almost certain to qualify to the 2014 world cup because of this goal

you can't see it on the french broadcast because it was filmed from the other side of the pitch (as usual in friendly matches, there are different sponsors for different audiences on both sides of the pitch) but the referee was about to stop the match when spain lost the ball:

http://www.as.com/futbol/video/arbitro-punto-pitar-perdida-juanfran/20121017dasdasftb_31/Ves

in the video you can see the referee raising his arm to put the whistle at his mouth

 

[frederic38]

[video=youtube;6pg5UFMHW_8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pg5UFMHW_8[/video]

:heart: