Chelsea Wins FA Cup

It has been a good week for fans of Chelsea FC. First off, Manchester United got their backsides kicked by Barcelona (Spain's only team) in the Champions' League final. Then, Chelsea won the FA Cup by beating Everton (the Tory team from Liverpool) 2-1 in the final there. While the Premiership title went to Man U, Chelsea can still count this year's campaign as victorious.

Ironically, the best comment about the FA Cup final came from Everton's top man, David Moyes. He told the BBC, “I look back with a lot of pleasure in getting the team to the final. Chelsea were the better team on the day, I can't argue with that. Lampard is a big player who scored big goals and that's what he's done today. Our team has made progress year on year and we'll try to keep that going." Everton is struggling to make it into the top four in the premiership (which would mean Champions' League play and buckets of extra money), but they finished fifth by nine points. They have a ways to go, but they are within spitting distance of their 1980s glory.

The game itself was one of the better Cup Finals. Louis Saha put the Everton Toffees ahead with a goal in the first 25 seconds – the fastest goal in Cup Final history and a great start for any team in any competition. And for about 20 minutes, that lead held. Then, Florent Malouda crossed the ball to Didier Drogba, and the Ivorian gem stuck his head out and equalized the match.

With about 18 minutes to go and with the game on a knife's edge, Michael Ballack passed to Nicolas Anelka. He passed the ball Frank Lampard. There's no one on the Chelsea squad that a Blues fan would rather have in control at such a juncture, with the possible exception on John Terry. Mr. Lampard cut back onto his left foot, and from about 20 yards, blazed a shot through the fingertips of Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard. Chelsea 2, Everton 1, and that was how it ended.

Chelsea's manager, Guus Hiddink is headed back to lead Team Russia for the 2010 World Cup, and he was always just a caretaker manager. He's managed the team only 104 days, replacing Luiz Felipe Scolari who simply failed to deliver. However, his presence made Chelsea a force rather than an over-paid bunch of prima donnas. Captain John Terry summed it up saying, “Two years without a trophy, it's been too long. We've seen Manchester United and others winning trophies and it's good to get it back. . . . We gave him an engraved watch and a shirt signed by all the lads. He was really touched."

AC Milan's Carlo Ancelotti is likely to take over Chelsea next year, but Mr. Hiddink deserves a round of applause for what he achieved in the last three plus months. Chelsea blew the Premiership with some lame results back in November and December, but he helped keep them focused on what they could achieve elsewhere. He leaves Stamford Bridge with the gratitude of those who remember when Chelsea was a second division team fighting relegation to the third, who remember when the club was bought for a pound, and when Kerry Dixon left to play for Queens Park Rangers. The FA Cup isn't a bad way to leave. Thanks, Guus.

© Copyright 2009 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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