The Championship Promotion Race (06/05/2007)

In what was one of the most exciting promotion races for years in England’s second tier, the three teams that came down from the Premiership last season could return there for the 2007/2008 season.

Just over 1 week ago, Sunderland, Birmingham and Derby were all contenders for automatic promotion, while teams from 4th to 10th could still make the play offs. Birmingham aided their bid to become champions by narrowly beating play-off contenders Sheffield Wednesday, with goals from substitute Cameron Jerome and a late goal from Sebastian Larsson – and all of this was with 10 men after Fabrice Muamba was sent off for a bad challenge on Glenn Whelan. Wednesday were unfortunate but failed to make their chances pay, and the 2-0 defeat to the Blues meant that it was impossible for the Owls to make the play offs.

Wednesday could have been in with a chance, but wins from teams such as Stoke and Wolves meant that the 4 point gap was too big. Surprise package Colchester United were defeated at Stoke and although they could make the play offs, it was still highly unlikely.

Sunday May the 6th was the day of reckoning for the Championship. With several teams still in contention for the play offs, the chances were that the 4 teams that currently occupied the places (Derby, West Brom, Wolves and Southampton) would keep them. Derby had suffered defeat to Crystal Palace last Sunday, so it was impossible for them to go up automatically, but they were guaranteed a play-off spot ahead of their game with bottom of the table and already relegated Leeds United.

But Derby still played at the top of their game, and beat the former Champions League semi-finalists Leeds by 2 goals to 0. Behind them, West Brom had a brilliant game as a Kevin Phillips hat trick gave the Baggies a huge 7-0 win over South Yorkshire side Barnsley. Another high scoring game took place as Wolves beat Leicester City – they came from 1-0 down to win 4-1. The final play off place was undecided until towards the end of the games. Preston were contenders, as a Simon Whaley goal 5 minutes from time handed them 3 points and a 1-0 victory over title-chasing Birmingham. Stoke City threw away their chances of a play off spot after they were held 1-1 by QPR. So, with these results, if Southampton won then they would stay in 6th. Despite Southend taking a shock 1-0 lead, braces from Leon Best and Kenwyne Jones gave the Saints a 4-1 win.

Sheffield Wednesday entertained Norwich and a shocking own goal from Dickson Etuhu, who backpassed to Tony Warner who then missed the ball, handed Wednesday a 3-2 win over the Norfolk side. The match at Deepdale (Preston 1 Birmingham 0) proved vital for Sunderland, who eased to a 5-0 victory over relegated Luton Town. Sunderland were second going into the final game and needed Birmingham to slip up if they were going to win the league. Fortunately for them, Steve Bruce’s side lost, and Sunderland claimed the title emphatically. A brace from Murphy send Sunderland on their way to a 5-0 thrashing.

If West Brom win the play offs, then all 3 of the teams that were relegated last season could bounce back up again.

Holland 1-1 England (15/11/2006)

ALL EVENS AT AMSTERDAM ARENA
Holland hold England to a draw after late equaliser

It could have potentially been a exciting encounter, but it wasn’t to be in the match
that took place in Amsterdam tonight as Holland pinned England to a 1-1 draw. Wayne Rooney
scored his first goal in over a year for England but the Three Lions fell to the sucker punch of Rafael van der Vaart, who scored just 6 minutes from time.

Despite the ball being held for most of the match by the Dutch, England had the better
chances in front of goal. Early on, new Chelsea signing Khalid Bouhlarouz made an awful back
pass, and Steven Gerrard could have so easily put England in front if it wasn’t for 34-year-old
Holland goalkeeper Henk Timmer, earning his third cap. Even though they had the best chance,
England saw little of the ball as the Dutch outnumbered them in possession 63% – 37% in the first
15 minutes. The Dutch saw their first chance after some good play, but van der Vaart messed up
the shot. 2 minutes later, Rooney had a good chance but powered his header at Henk Timmer.
Timmer was filling in for van der Sar, who chose to be withdrawn from the Dutch squad, not very
keen on playing against his Manchester United team mates.

The Dutch were clearly missing Arsenal striker Robin van Persie, who was away as his wife
was giving birth. They lacked the finishing touch in front of goal, and Dirk Kuyt didn’t show
recent good form he displayed at Liverpool. Also, AC Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf made his
first start in the Holland side since their Euro 2004 loss against Portugal. Wesley Sneijder was
injured and Seedorf was the replacement.
England took the lead on 37 minutes, and it was Wayne Rooney who scored his first goal
in over a year for England. He poked the ball in from a brillian Joe Cole cross, much to the delight
of the 5,000 travelling English fans, and much to the dismay of the 40,000 cheering the Dutch on.
The Dutch pressured England for 5 minutes before half time, but failed to put the ball in the
back of the net. One reason for this was the super defending of 18 year old Manchester City right
back Micah Richards. Under the spotlight for being the youngest ever defender in the English
senior squad, he performed brilliantly, especially considering he was having Chelsea winger Arjen
Robben take him on. As the teams went in at half time, the Dutch could consider themselves quite
unfortunate to end up behind.
The teams emerged from the tunnel after the break, and for 10 minutes Holland looked the
much more lively team. Rafeal van der Vaart and Clarence Seedorf came close to equalising, but
both squandered their chances. Kuyt, who had practically been non-existant in the game, was
substituted for Ajax striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. Huntelaar, who had recently won the European
Under-21 Championships with Holland, was regarded as one of the hot prospects in the Dutch
game. Last season, he won the European Golden Boot for his goals for SC Heerenveen and Ajax,
the team who he joined half way through the year. This season he has scored 12 goals in 18 games
for the Amsterdam club.

Huntelaar, though, just like Kuyt, wasn’t involved in the game at all and barely saw the ball,
despite the Dutch eventually having almost 70% of the game’s possession. But despite having all
this possession, the Dutch didn’t do anything with the ball and were still trailing as the game reached
it’s latter stages. Michael Carrick almost made it 2-0 with a scorching shot, but it went just wide.
The Dutch were having all the ball, but kept moving it backwards instead of attacking, and this was the
main reason why they didn’t score goals.

On 75 minutes, Holland had a penalty shout as Chelsea bench-warmer Shaun Wright-Phillips brought
down Holland’s best player Arjen Robben, but no penalty was given. Joe Cole was carrying a knock, and he
was substituted for Kieran Richardson, who has barely featured in Manchester United’s campaign this
season. But the action happened in the last 5 minutes of normal time, when Holland were pushing
forward and England were just trying to defend their small lead. Then, from an Arjen Robben throw in,
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, the Celtic forward who was just brought on, flicked on the ball to Rafael
van der Vaart. The midfielder, who had missed several chances, made up for them by thumping the ball
past Tottenham goalkeeper Paul Robinson.

All in all it was a lacklustre performance from both teams. From the inventors of Total Football came
Total Mediocracy, while England hardly put in the best performance of their history.

‘Ello!

Hey, I’m Will, as it says in the profile, and I like writing about sports, mainly (or wholly, =]) about football. Hopefully someone who’s in charge of some TV channel or news program will come along some day, see my amazing blogs (hehe) and hire me, when I’m older. I’m a bit young at the moment…but hey! Who knows..

Thanks

Will