With any luck, the FFA Cup will one day replicate the sort of drama we saw at Wembley Stadium on Sunday morning. Few sporting events can match the drama of a thrill-a-minute cup final.
There’s no polite way to put this, but Hull City butchered their chance to win a first major trophy in their long history.
If ever the mantra that you can score your goals too early was true, it was amply demonstrated as Hull went 2-0 up inside 10 minutes against a shell-shocked Arsenal at Wembley.
Never mind that around three-quarters of the ground seemed to be wearing red, it was the Hull fans singing early after James Chester and Curtis Davies had put them two goals to the good within eight minutes.
The stage was set for a dramatic cup upset, but Santi Cazorla’s 17th-minute free-kick was arguably the goal that changed the complexion of the match.
It gave Arsenal more than 70 minutes to try and find an equaliser – they did exactly that through Laurent Koscielny in the 71st minute – and it also meant Hull goalkeeper Allan McGregor would endure a nervy encounter after he was beaten from miles out by the Spaniard.
Sure enough, it was the Gunners who prevailed in extra-time as Aaron Ramsey slammed home a superbly-worked team goal to end Arsene Wenger’s seemingly interminable trophy drought.
Whether it’s a good thing for Wenger to stay on as Arsenal manager is open to debate, but what is certain is that Australia’s own FFA Cup would do well to match the intensity of the English version.
The same can be said of the German Cup, where Bayern Munich wrapped up the double with a thrilling 2-0 extra-time win over Borussia Dortmund.
The Bavarians may be one of the best sides on the planet, but they got lucky when Dortmund defender Mats Hummels had a legitimate goal ignored, after Bayern stopper Dante hooked his header off the line on the hour mark.
Earlier this season Bundesliga clubs voted against introducing goal-line technology – although both Bayern and Dortmund were both in favour of using it – and the Ruhr Valley giants must be rueing its absence after Hummels’ phantom goal was overlooked.
The game eventually went into extra-time, and it was here that Dortmund’s day turned for the worse – no thanks to the contribution of their 33-year-old goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller.
A strange selection for Germany’s World Cup squad, Weidenfeller committed a monumental blunder when his quick throw from goal caught his teammates napping, allowing Jerome Boateng to cross for Arjen Robben to side-foot home the opener.
Dortmund predictably pushed everyone forward thereafter, and they were ultimately caught short on the counter-attack in stoppage-time as Thomas Müller sealed a 2-0 win for Pep Guardiola’s side.
It all happened in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 76,000 at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, and that’s on top of mid-week semi-final crowds of over 80,000 in Dortmund and a sell-out 71,000 attendance at the Allianz Arena for second division Kaiserslautern’s visit earlier in the campaign.
The romance of the Cup may have dwindled somewhat, but it’s still big business in plenty of European countries.
That’s what Football Federation Australia officials will be hoping to mirror one day, and already the various state knock-out competitions have thrown up some fascinating pre-FFA Cup qualifying clashes.
Former National Soccer League heavyweights Sydney Olympic and Sydney United go head to head in a mouth-watering Waratah Cup quarter-final, their Melbourne counterparts South Melbourne and Melbourne Knights have both reached the Dockerty Cup sixth round, while Adelaide City and West Adelaide meet in the South Australian knock-out final for a place in the 2014 FFA Cup.
There are still plenty of unanswered questions about how the FFA Cup will ultimately unfold.
But for now, there’s every reason to dream that one day we too could have our very own cup-final drama.
Lachlan
Guest
The significant thing about the FFA cup is that it allows grassroots football clubs to participate in Football at the highest level for the first time in ten years. That's an absolutely massive deal for anyone who is involved in the game. It doesn't matter if Europeans are moving away from cup competitions - in Australia it will be a very big deal. Look how seriously all those proud old NSL clubs are taking it already - they have finally been given the opportunity to show what they're made of.
Jiminyrant
Guest
Yeah Bob, gee whiz. Next they'll be saying let the women have a vote too.
Bob Anderson
Guest
Lot of anal-retentive political correct types on here.
peeeko
Roar Guru
Stavros is off the mark but the AFL guys are very good athletes and not thugs
jiminyrant
Guest
You seem to have your mind made up. I can disagree but respect your decision. I like to think of South Melbourne as a Melbourne club, WSW as a Sydney club, Sydney Olympic as a Sydney club. I am for integration, not segregation.
bp2
Guest
Explain it to the organisers of the Ethnic Business Awards and the NAB and Government who sponsor it. Also to the Prime Ministers who present the award every year. If it is okay for them it is okay for me. When they change the name of the Ethnic Business Awards then i will be 100% with you. It is not reverse racism, it is being proud of what we were once vilified for.
Bondy
Guest
bp2 Just be careful what you say here that's the point, dont " bracket "people racially.
jiminyrant
Guest
Well, my fiancé is Swedish.... Well actually, her father was adopted from India... Well actually, his father was from Tanzania. When I say Swedish, we'll, that's not exactly true either. Her grandfather is from Northen Ireland (ex-navy of course) and her great grandmother was is of Belgian blood. All true. My point is to me she is Swedish. When we have children, they will be Australian. Not ethnic, not coloured-Australian. Just funny looking things with light brown skin, blonde curly hair and green eyes. You should forgive the past, embrace the future .... In sports and life. Onward forward Leave the reverse racism out.
Stavros
Guest
Fussball - Wales has a population of 3m and Uruguay 4m. Surely you can see that a sporting country like Australia would have the equivalent of a Suarez or Bale. If there was no AFL or NRL, then Australia would be a dominant soccer nation and we would have multiple players in the top 100. Would any Socceroo make the England squad? I wouldn't have though so. There is no way known that if our best sportsmen played soccer that none would be good enough to make the England squad.
bp2
Guest
Sorry, would you prefer Wog? God knows i copped enough of that growing up in Western Sydney. Without getting into a whole debate here, it was not meant to be a slur. If that is all you can comment on what i believe was otherwise a fairly sensible discussion on all sides then i must have has some very valid points about the actual topic at hand. With your mentality Nick Giannopoulos would just be "Out of Work". Sorry, but when i have been vilified for the colour of my skin and ethnicity for my whole life, i have a right to then decide to own it myself and classify myself as being an ethnic. I am ethnic, and proud. Maybe you should talk to the organisers of the Ethnic Business Awards that NAB sponsors every year. Are they in the 50's as well? Give me a break. Leave the discussion here to intelligent debate about sport.
Bondy
Guest
Stavros Your not comparing Franklin to Beckham are you ??.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
@Stavros 1. "If soccer is the biggest participation sport in the country then what we are producing is not great." We are producing the same quality of Footballer, as we are producing for other sport that have global reach: basketball, track & field athletes, may even include tennis - although that is an elitist sport that is not available to the poorest kids In these global sports, we produce competitive athletes ... occasionally we discover a gem who gets global acknowledgement & recognition for excellence. By contrast, not a single AFL, or NRL player will ever be acknowledged or recognised on the world stage - not before, not now, not in the next 1000 years. 2. "We don’t have a Suarez, Ronaldo, Hazard or Bale. We do actually, but they are not playing soccer, they are playing AFL or NRL." I laughed & laughed. Give us another giggle... which AFL players are the equivalent of Suarez, Ronnie, Hazard or Bale. Oh, dear ... this will be clown central. :-D
AZ_RBB
Guest
Jedinak was today named as the 32nd best footballer in the Europe using objective measures by stats guru WhoScored. But we all think he's rubbish don't we?
Stavros
Guest
Fussball – those first three players that you mentioned might have been in the top 100 players in the world for a year or two. Not sure about Cahill. If soccer is the biggest participation sport in the country then what we are producing is not great. We don’t have a Suarez, Ronaldo, Hazard or Bale. We do actually, but they are not playing soccer, they are playing AFL or NRL.
Bondy
Guest
jiminyrant Thats the first thing I picked up with his post too, you can leave that back in the 50's bp2 , that's disturbing and you dont even realise it , dont bring that form of mentality round here.
Bondy
Guest
Stavros Your not making sense you hate NRL how can that be talented then ? . Plus also why didn't K Hunt chase the big dollars $$$$$$ ,he's not skilled enough. Footballs a sport based on skill not pure physical aggression and wrestling ..
Bondy
Guest
Fuss Great news, I remember as a kiddie at school 6 out of 10 kids played football then went home and watched NRL , NRL from what I remember at school had minimal participation in a registered sense ?. I assume that would've been the same in the southern states too, and look whose turned up out of nowhere Stavros.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"Answer the question, why can’t the US or Australia produce champion soccer players?" Why? As with anything in life, the kids who have the passion, the hunger & work the hardest will reap the rewards. It's not just football. This is for life. The Aussie kids who've worked hard have made it onto the world stage. That's why Harry was considered amongst the 3 best left-attacking players in the world. That's why Timmy's face appears on the front cover of Fifa PlayStation video games. That's why Mark Viduka scored 4 goals against Liverpool at Elland Road. That's why Craig Moore was appointed captain of one of the most famous clubs in the world, Rangers FC. And now we have Maty Ryan just voted best GK in Belgium .. he's only 23, so there's no bounds to where his career as a GK will take him. Robbie Kruse at Bayer Leverkusen Musti Amini & Mitch Langerak at Dortmund. These Aussie lads have beaten thousands of guys from Belgium, Germany, Africa, Asia, Europe, Sth America to get contracts. They've not just beaten guys from Australia - that's all that's required to win a contract at an AFL or NRL club.
jiminyrant
Guest
Stop using the word ethnic. She goes to an Australian school.
Stavros
Guest
Fussball - don’t you worry about the standard or play in the AFL or NFL, as you wouldn’t have a clue. You don’t watch AFL anymore and I reckon you have never watched the NFL. Answer the question, why can’t the US or Australia produce champion soccer players? Midfielder – if you don’t won’t people like me commenting on Aussie soccer, then stop mentioning AFL in your posts.