Highlight(s) of the 05/06 Season

[ForeverRed]

With the World Cup approaching, another enticing season of Football is coming to an end, if it hasn't already ended in many leagues. I'm sure there are some standout moments for everyone. Here are my personal highlights of this season:

In no particular order:

1. Liverpool winning the FA Cup in yet again, dramatic fashion...great goals, great saves....an all around fantastic football experience.

2. Lehmann saving Riquelme's penalty in the second leg of the semi final. It was such an important moment for both teams and Lehmann had such a great season up to that point, making that save cemented his fantastic form and really justified Klinsman's decision to make him number 1...despite a blunder in recent memory :D

3. Bayern beating Juventus 2-1 in the group stages in Munchen. Everything looked great at that point in the season and it felt like Bayern actually had a chance of winning the CL...plus, it was a great performance.

4. Liverpool knocking Chelski out of the FA Cup courtesy of a fabulous Luis Garcia goal...especially loved Mourinho's reaction afterwards...

Looking forward to next season already.....

[Excape Goat]

In no particular order:

1. Liverpool winning the FA Cup in yet again, dramatic fashion...great goals, great saves....an all around fantastic football experience.

.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_fUBbijGZQ&search=liverpool%20FA%20cup%20west


2. Lehmann saving Riquelme's penalty in the second leg of the semi final. It was such an important moment for both teams and Lehmann had such a great season up to that point, making that save cemented his fantastic form and really justified Klinsman's decision to make him number 1...despite a blunder in recent memory :D .....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfQmbrX_mLw&search=lehmann


4. Liverpool knocking Chelski out of the FA Cup courtesy of a fabulous Luis Garcia goal...especially loved Mourinho's reaction afterwards...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MZZOfpMnlQ&search=liverpool%20chelsea%20fa%20cup

[GRBomber]

What about Real Madrid getting trashed at Copa del Rey and almost managing to recover? That game was insane.

The second leg of Milan x Lyon was also very good.

[nicephoras]

Scoring 4 goals at Anfield, comprehensively destroying ManUtd to clinch the title, doing the double over Arsenal (I had tickets to the second game but couldn't go :() are the Chelsea ones. Finishing 6th was the major Lazio highlight - I didn't think we would do nearly that well. DiCanio provided some lowlights though. :rolleyes:

Finally, I thought the first leg of the Barca - Chelsea game was as good of a game as I've seen this year. No, it wasn't a good result for us, but two great sides absolutely left everything they had on the pitch.

[kakaboypuf redded]

What about Real Madrid getting trashed at Copa del Rey and almost managing to recover? That game was insane.



Yeah that was also the first thing that came to mind.

Other:
1. Ronaldinho destroying the (supposedly) best organized defense in the world, Chelsea, all by himself.

2. Middlesbrough's home performances in the quarter and semi finals of the Uefacup. And also them being destroyed in the final.

3. Some beautiful goals scored from the halfline by David Villa and Philip Cocu.

4. Not really a highlight, but somewhat surprising: Wenger's decision to let Arsenal play bunkerstyle 4-5-1 in Europe (n also some matches in EPL). Surprising, because AW used to always plead for the beautiful game! But now that he is desperate for succes, we can see how easy his principles are thrown away. I have 0 respect for him as a coach anymore.

5. The rise again of Eastern European football (in the Uefacup). They were running rampant..and if it wasnt for that unlucky draw of the 2 Bucharest clubs, we would surely have one seen of them in the final.

[Duck Manson]

inter Juventus 1-2

[Sempre]

Cool thread. This was a typical pre-WC year, perhaps some
players gave a bit less than usual. Personal highlights though:

1. Roma 3 Inter 2 - one of the best performances I've ever
seen from Totti. 'Un capolavoro' - the chipped goal vs. Cesar.

2. Roma 2 Lazio 0 - the best game of the year for all Romaniste.
Aquilani hit a superb goal and the players all rushed to celebrate
with the injured Totti on the sidelines. I was almost tearful. :o

3. Italy 4 Germany 1 - most 'prestige' friendlies are low-scoring
affairs noted for caution and restraint. Not this one. The tifosi in
Fiorentina came out in droves and the Azzurri totally crushed the
Germans. Toni scored in front of his own fans and did his "can you
wrap your mind around what I've just done?' celebration.

4. USA 1 Poland 0 - I was really proud of this display by the USMNT.
I hope they can play well in Europe this summer.

From a neutral standpoint: the CL matches Barca and Chelsea and
Milan and Bayern. I also thought the final was worthy.

[leg_breaker]

1. An FA cup final that was actually interesting for once.
2. The Champions League being won by an attacking team for the first time in four years.
3. Milan 3 Lyon 1
4. England 3 Argentina 2
5. Madrid 0 Barca 3
6. NI 2 Wales 3
7. Luton 3 Liverpool 5
8. Middlesbrough's comebacks
9. Arsenal's champions league run
10. United finishing bottom of their CL group

[Duck Manson]

10. United finishing bottom of their CL groupid totally forgotten about that. that was sweeeeeeet!

[Jaison]

Not in any particular order:

-Barcelona's 3-0 demolition of Real Madrid at the Bernabeu
-Schalke 7 : Leverkusen 4 (just a surreal experience)
-the 2 legs of the Juve-Werder CL clash

[Suss]

FA Cup final. Gerrard's goal was one of the best I've ever seen.

Ronaldhino tearing up the Madrid defense at the Bernabeu. Barca won 3-0, and even the Madrid fans had to applaud his brilliance. Possibly the best performance by any player and team this season.

[Excape Goat]

Turkey vs Switzerland WCQ: At least, the game generated many threads here in bigsoccer.

[SirManchester]

- Alan Smith's performance against Chelsea in the first half of the season, and in their 1 - 0 win over the Champions. He really wore his heart on his sleeve and showed everyone else around him what it means to be a United player.

- Roma's incredible comeback from a poor start to the season led by Totti.

- England's 3 - 2 win against Argentina, I know it was a friendly on paper, but both teams were taking it seriously and it was the perfect preview for what kind of games we can have in Germany this summer.

- From a neutral perspective, the Schalke 7 - 4 Leverkusen game, absolutely stunning back and forth action, whoever said the Bundesliga was boring? Best game of the season in Europe.

[Bertje]

1. Ajax buying Huntelaar.
2. Ryan Babel saying a Feyenoord-fan should show some sportsmanship when the fan gives Babel the finger after Ryan laughed at him because Ajax beat Feyenoord twice in the play-offs.
3. Firing Danny Blind.

About time for a better season!

[impalemeplz]

tottenham's dreams flushed down the toilet.
arsenals run in the champs league.
henry to put his sig on the dotted line(hopefully v.soon)
switzerland making the WC
henry's goal vs madrid(deserves a line of its own)
west ham and wigan stories
bellamy relaunching his career under mark hughes.
sevilla and boro stories.

thats just some.

[Stud83]

The most memorable ones for me are Boro's ridiculous comebacks in UEFA Cup, scoring goals with seconds left in several games under all kinds of pressure.

MU-Liverpool 1-0 with Rio scoring the winner in 90th minute :D

[GRBomber]

- England's 3 - 2 win against Argentina, I know it was a friendly on paper, but both teams were taking it seriously and it was the perfect preview for what kind of games we can have in Germany this summer.

The problem with that game is that England only won because Pekerman made some subs he would never do in a serious game.
But it was great.

[SirManchester]

The problem with that game is that England only won because Pekerman made some subs he would never do in a serious game.
But it was great.

right, but he certainly didn't make those changes in order to lose.

[Dave216J]

My votes are to:

Madrid - Barcelona, for Ronaldinho being applauded off after a huge performance;

Middlesboro's ludicrous comebacks in two straight UEFA Cup matches;

Ballack's volley to tie the match Bayern-Milan;

Arsenal's defense against Real Madrid and Juventus, and in particular Cesc's deft steps away from Vieira and Emerson in the latter;

various Ukrainian wins in qualifying leading to their being first to qualify out of Europe (I think)

[schafer]

Chelsea 3-0 ManU*, Joe Cole scoring a brilliant individual goal

Pires' messed up PK

From a neutral view, the FA cup final was unbelievable, although hard luck to West Ham

Canada beating Austria 2-0 in a friendly in Austria (I'm surprised this isn't on everyone's list ;))

Toronto FC

England 3-2 Argentina - great entertainment value for a friendly

Australia qualifying for the WC - not usually an Aussie fan, but it's nice to see one of the colonies make it ;)

* also a lowlight, seeing Rooney stretchered off sucked