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Fantastic Fulham’s Europa Cup heroics

Published by Ian John on March 19, 2010

The fortunes of the two English teams remaining in this season’s Europa cup seemed in doubt last night. Liverpool were viewed as having the best chance to progress but were still trailing a tricky Lille side by one goal to nil from the first leg in France. Fulham, in contrast, trailed 3-1 from their first leg against the mighty Juventus. Roy Hodgson’s men faced a seemingly tall order in securing a 2-0 defeat over the Italian giants and few pundits gave them anything more than an outside chance of defeating one of European football’s superpowers.

That line of thought looked bang on the money after just two minutes of the return leg at Craven Cottage, the home side unable to deal with a ball into the box which David Trezeguet managed to sidefoot low past Schwarzer into the bottom corner of the net. Before the fightback could even start, it was seemingly over. Juventus held a 4-1 advantage and had cancelled out Fulham’s away goal. Against a team ahead by three goals and that boasted several World Cup Winners in it’s starting eleven, it was surely game over for Fulham, who now needed four goals to win the tie, three to push it to extra time, provided they did not concede any more goals. By all accounts, it was surely game over.

Not quite…

Crucially Bobby Zamora brought the home side level on the night just six minutes after Juventus strike. The big striker causing problems in the heart of Juventus defence to control a clever cross from Damien Duff before rifling a shot past the keeper. 1-1 on the night. 4-2 on aggregate. Fulham’s task was still seemingly insurmountable however, they still needed the three goals to win.

The turning point came midway through the second half, Zoltan Gera tried to wrestle clear of the Juventus defence onto a Zamora through ball, only for the Hungarian winger to fall under what looked, at first glance, a seemingly innocuous challenge from Italian world cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro. Referee Bjorn Kuipers however deemed that it had denied Gera a clear goalscoring opportunity and handed the bemused Italian a straight red card. The penalty seemed somewhat harsh, Juventus left back Grosso looked like he was a covering defender, but to deem the sending off as the single turning point would be wrong. By now Fulham were well on top. Zamora’s resulting free kick was turned around the post by Chimenti which then led to an astonishing few minutes as Simon Davies and then Dickson Etuhu both clattered the frame of the goal. Fulham fans fears that this would turn into a night of ‘what if’s’ were lessened however on 39 minutes when a clever Zamora flick put in Davies whose low cutback was hammered into the roof of the net from close range by Gera.

2-1 at the interval had brought the home side back into the tie and it had been a rousing performance. Nothwithstanding the sending off, Fulham had been sensational in getting back into the game and had succeeded in making a very talented Juventus team look ordinary. The second half promised much and it delivered more.

Just four minutes into the second half, the tie was level. Damien Duff hustled his way into the box and tried to cross, his effort was blocked by the flailing arm of Diego. A clear hand ball and a clear penalty, despite Italian protests to the opposite. Gera took responsibility and sent Chimenti the wrong way. 3-1. Extra time, however unlikely that seemed at the beginning of the night after Trezeguet’s goal, was a possibility.

After the goal Juventus were more organised as Fulham, cautious that they perhaps were now back level, took their foot off the gas a little. Extra time was indeed beckoning on 82 minutes when Clint Dempsey intervened.

The American wrote himself a chapter in Fulham legend with a sumptuous strike to win the tie. Turning on the edge of the penalty box, the substitute clipped a quite exquisite chip over Chimenti and into the far corner of the net. Commentators and pundits wondered if the goal was meant, which was a tad unfair on Dempsey as had it been Wayne Rooney, Fernando Torres or Cristiano Ronaldo who had scored the goal, they would have been eulogising the fact tearfully for the next three months. The American’s chip left the keeper stranded and glided right into the top corner of the net. 4-1 to Fulham. Game over. Tie won.

If at the time of Dempsey’s miracle Roy Hodgson had the look of a man who could scarcely believe what he was seeing, then forgive him that. This was, and is, pretty much the same Fulham squad that were almost relegated two seasons ago. Now they were giving Juventus a three goal lead and still beating them and they were in the quarter finals of the Europa Cup at Juve’s expense. Wide eyed in disbelief? I’d have fainted…

It was an incredible and fully deserved night of success for Fulham Football Club. Let’s hope the draw will be kind to them and that they can progress still further in the competition.

Mind you, if you can give Juventus a three goal start and still beat them, you don’t have to be afraid of any team left in the competition and that includes Liverpool, who registered a 3-0 win over Lille at Anfield but as good as the performance was, it paled into significance compared to the drama at the Cottage. This was Fulham’s night.

“Bobby Zamora for England” was often chanted sarcastically by opposing fans when the striker was at his lowest ebb… Now, that chant may well be sung in earnest.

Let’s hope Mr Capello was watching.

Image Courtesy of ***Alex Questing*** at Flickr.com

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