Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Milan - Manchester (second leg)

What a disappointment--not that Manchester lost, of course, but that they lost in such a whimpering manner. Did they ever play nearly this poorly all season long? (If they did, I don't think I saw it.) They gave up most of their possession, and didn't run for balls, except for a moderate suggestion of determination for a while in the second half (where they looked the more offensive team for a spell, but still not the better one). The United that generally showed up to games in 2006-7 could have salvaged something even after going two goals down, and may or may not have won the tie. But the United that showed up at the San Siro just did nothing, and Milan outclassed them big time, didn't they?

And while Kaka is justifiably everyone's hot footballer of the moment (and perhaps now even eclipsing C. Ronaldo as the frontrunner for Player of the Year), the AC Milan player I've been most consistently impressed by in these two matches has been Seedorf--what great talent: power, elegance, and intelligence. Wow. In my more on-and-off spectator days I mostly knew him as a national name for the Netherlands (but never as visible to me as say Bergkamp) ... what I must have been missing all this time!

I'll be looking forward to the final ...

2 comments:

noel tanti said...

i agree wholeheartedly... it was difficult to keep in mind that man utd were actually the same team that was aspiring for a treble this season...

http://noelother.blogspot.com/2007/05/san-zero.html

Dan Owen said...

Yes - I'm not sure I've ever seen such a disorganised team put together by Ferguson ever before.