causes
“We had a cause and people with causes become difficult people to play against” – Sir Alex Ferguson made this statement after Manchester United won the champions league title against compatriot club, Chelsea. The winning margin was narrow and was decided via penalty kicks.
I used to think that football was a stupid game until i started watching the 1996 world cup and was smitten by the Swedish and the Brazilians. It’s an amazing game where you see 22 strong and abled men running for a ball and trying to put it into the net. On field, a mixed of skills and emotions are display and it’s a rare thing to see men, expressing themselves emotionally. It’s also a game of strategy coupled with chances and individual slew of talents, foresight, spatial awareness, luck all put in one place. The drama, the spontaneity is something not even a well choreographed script could tantalize anyone’s senses for 90 minutes.
Chelsea was not a pushover. They had to talent and strength to win the champions league but situation has turned out that the penalty would be the means by which the winner would be determined. Postmorterm reports blames Drogba for committing a silly offence and thus being sent off and hence disqualified for taking the penalty which might have caused Chelsea the championship title. John Terry and Anelka both missed the kicks and Edwin Van De Sar (Goalkeeper of Man United), claimed he knew where Anelka was kicking the ball to.
Perhaps, it’s not so much the causes that Man U was playing for (Alex Ferguson dedicated the win to the memory of Busby Babes when United was ripped abpart in the Munich Air disaster in 1958 when 8 of Mat Busby’s young side were killed in a plane crash after beating Red Star Belgrade in the European Cup quarter-finals.) but more like Chelsea gave away their chances.
Was it luck, the lack of it or personal responsibility in seeing the big picture, in the case of Drogba, was he prepared for a penalty shoot out? It’s anyone’s opinion now but I’m sure playing for a cause kept Man United focused, all the way to the end.
