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We have Germany in International Football, South Africa in Cricket and countless other examples to personify the word ‘choke’ in International Sports. Let us now take a look at the 10 Greatest Chokes in the history of modern football.
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How often do you see a team go on to draw a game after leading it 4-0 inside the first thirty minutes?
Arsenal went back to their dressing room at St. James’ Park very satisfied at the end of the first 45 minutes. No one would have predicted what happened in the next 45. At the 50th minute, Arsenal’s Abou Diaby was sent off. Still, scoring four goals, even against 10 men in forty minutes is not an easy task.
After 75 minutes, Newcastle had scored two goals through a Joey Barton spot kick and a Leon Best header. Then began the most electrifying 15 minutes that the EPL has ever seen. Barton slotted home his second penalty of the day and in the 87th minute, Cheik Tiote ripped a volley from a corner to make it 4-4.
In hindsight, Arsenal were lucky not to lose that game. That game began Arsenal’s choke, as they went from being two points away from Manchester United at the time, to end the season 12 points behind them.
All you need to do is to place the ball inside the net from 12 yards to win the biggest prize in Europe. It was destiny that was calling John Terry.
John Terry slips
Dubbed as “Mr.Chelsea” by the fans, John Terry stepped in to take the final penalty shot for his team against Manchester United in the finals of the 2008 Champions League.
Terry began his run up, kicked the ball and slipped on the wet turf of Moscow. The ball went wide. The rest as they say is history.
We always talk about the teams that were on the happier side of these games.
How will you feel if you lose a game that was already won? How do you explain conceding two goals in the last three extra minutes of the game? How do you explain giving away a 3-0 lead and going to lose the game on penalties?
Bayern players after the loss
These two games will forever be itched in the memories of both Bayern as well as AC Milan’s history. Somethings aren’t just meant to be.
John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen, David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes and the list goes on and on.
Possibly, the greatest set of superstars that England has ever produced. To say that they were not as talented would be a mistake. We see these players display their skill week in, week out in the Premier League. But, when it came to the International stage, they just failed.
The so called “Golden Generation”
In the 2006 World Cup, they crashed out to Portugal in the quarterfinals. For the 2008 Euros, they failed to qualify. They were abysmal in the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 Euros as well. May be now, it is now time for the Golden Generation to be put to rest.
The 1995-96 season was somewhat of a dream to Newcastle faithfuls. Under Kevin Keegan, they had a bright chance to win their first league title since 1927. In January 1996, Newcastle led Manchester United by a dozen points. At the end of February, they were still leading with 8 points and a game at hand.
Kevin Keegan looking exasperated
Things began changing when they lost 1-0 to United at the starting of March. United took the lead but Newcastle were not done yet. They won three straight games in April to keep the title race alive. But it was not enough.
At the last day of the season, Newcastle were trailing United by two points. United won their game but Newcastle could manage only a draw against Tottenham.
Real Madrid entered March 2004 with only 12 matches remaining and with a lead of a sound 12 points over second placed Deportivo La Coruna.
Spanish club Real Madrid players, including Luis Figo (2nd L), Carlos (3rd L) and David Beckham (C) pose with Hong Kong children ahead of their friendly match against a select Hong Kong side at Hong Kong Stadium, 08 August 2003, during their Asian tour. (RICHARD A. BROOKS/AFP/Getty Images)
They then two drew two games in a row and lost one and were still three points ahead of Valencia, who moved to second. With the set of superstars they had, nobody expected what came after that.
Real Madrid astonishingly lost seven of their final eight matches, which included four home defeats on a trot to lose the title. Not only did they lose they title, they were overtaken by Valencia, Deportivo and Barcelona, finishing the season in 4th place.
On 8th April 2012, Manchester United were well poised for their 20th league title, having won 2-0 against QPR. Title chasers Manchester City had lost 1 – 0 to Arsenal on the same day.
They travelled to Wigan Athletic. Wigan had not won a game against Manchester United ever since they were promoted to the first division in 2005. Manchester United had a chance, a very bright one to extend their lead to 11 points. But, the lost the match 0 – 1. The lead was cut down to five points. Business resumed as they defeated Aston Villa 4 – 0. Now, they had to fend off Everton at Old Trafford.
Man United players after hearing City’s score against QPR
Despite leading 3 – 1 and 4 – 2 at one stage, United managed only to draw the game at 4 -4. The lead was cut down to three points. Then came Manchester City in a potential title decider. United lost the game 1 – 0 and the lead was now gone.
On the final day of the season, Manchester United’s game against Sunderland finished 1 – 0 and City were trailing 1 -2 against QPR with just a few minutes to go. Manchester City managed to score two goals in four minutes to win the title and crash United’s dream.
The 1950 World Cup format was quite different. There were four groups and the winners of each would play a round-robin format to decide the final champion.
Uruguay, Brazil, Sweden and Spain qualified from their groups. Brazil destroyed Sweden 7 – 1 and Spain 6 – 1 in the first two games. Uruguay had drawn against Spain and won against Sweden, meaning that they needed a win against Brazil, arguably the greatest team on the planet in their very own backyard to lift the cup.
Brazil took the lead in the final game against Uruguay but the South American team came back strongly to win the game 2 -1. Brazil have won the World Cup five times after that but that defeat at home will always sting.
Not once, not twice, England have been eliminated from major international tournaments through penalty shootouts for a record six times.
In the 1990 World Cup semifinals, it was Staurt Pearce and Chris Waddle; in the 1996 Euro semifinals against Germany, it was Gareth Southgate; in 1998, it was Ince and Batty against Argentina in the quarterfinals.
How many times will history repeat itself?
In 2004, it was a quarterfinal shootout defeat against Portugal after Beckham and Vassell missed. It was the same Portugal in the 2006 World Cup quarters as only Owen Hargreaves managed to convert the penalty shootout for England from four takers.
Then there was the 2012 Euro Quarterfinal shootout against Italy in which Ashley Young and Ashley Cole missed.
Due to the Hillsborough disaster, this match which was supposed to take place during late April was pushed back to until after the FA Cup finals. Liverpool won the FA Cup finals and were three points ahead of Arsenal.
It is not often that the two top placed teams get to play one another on the last game of the season to decide the title. But, it was such a game.
Liverpool had 76 points, Arsenal had 73. A win for Arsenal would place the two teams with same number of points but Arsenal had to win by two goals or more to win the league on goal difference.
Arsenal hadn’t won a game at Anfield for 15 years, Liverpool hadn’t lost a game by two goals or more at Anfield for three years.
The Goal that won the League!
Alan Smith scored a header in the starting minutes of the second half. But a single goal would not be enough. The game went past 90 minutes. One minute of injury time was given but an injury to Kevin Richardson increased it to 3. With less than 30 seconds to go, Michael Thomas won the ball and went on to score.
At the end of the game, both teams were tied on points and on goal difference. But, Arsenal were given the title by having scored more goals than Liverpool throughout the season.
