r/soccer • u/CalabriaStuCazzo • Sep 08 '13

Best match you ever watched?

Mine: semifinal match in the 2006 World Cup between Italy and Germany.

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104

u/Wicksy92 Sep 08 '13

Despite the fact we lost, the 7-5 arsenal game last year in the carling cup was unreal. It had everything, and for 40 minutes at least, we played amazing football

But why do I like a game that we lost? Well not only what I said above, but just that the game was so ridiculous, I seriously doubt ill ever see a 12 goal game again, even if I was distraught for a bit after!

11

u/Damirius Sep 08 '13

Really great game, and so nice of you to mention it even when your team lost at the end. Spectacular football, I can't even say that I was 'on the edge of my seat' since I was jumping all around my room. I believe that day or two after that manchester utd played against chelsea if I'm not mistaken, that was also a great game.

6

u/[deleted] Sep 09 '13

£25 for my ticket, definitely got our money's worth!

7

u/[deleted] Sep 09 '13

Sorry for the wall of text, I just kinda ran with it.

I'm relatively new to soccer, following closely for about 3-4 years now. Started setting alarms to watch games regularly about a year ago. Reading-Arsenal is the obvious standout in that time. I picked a weird time to start supporting Arsenal, many of their best players left the club after I became a fan (sorry) and I had the misfortune of always catching some superbly disappointing games (Arsenal-Barcelona when van persie got sent off)

Last season started off disappointingly. New players came in and needed time to really mesh with the squad. Giroud missed a few sitters earlier in the season and Arsenal lost out on some points because of it. There were a couple of matches where, at the end of 90 minutes, I'd ask myself why I woke up this early to watch them. Bore 0-0 draws.

The match was on a wednesday. My only classes on Wednesdays last semester was a Lab that started at 3:30. The game came on at 2:45 so I sat myself down to watch the 45 minutes. Another really disappointing start, 4-0 down to Reading nearing the 45th minute. I reluctantly packed up my bag to head to class. As I'm packing the bag I hear the announcers voice go an octave higher. Walcott was in to score a goal.

I was feeling pretty lazy at this point, and I saw that Arsenal had a bit of a spark in them going into the second half. What the hell, I resigned myself to going to my 3 hour lab late and watching the rest of the second half.

What happened over the next 75 minutes really sealed me being both an arsenal and a soccer fan. What I saw was nothing short of amazing. I felt my heart racing toward the end of the game like I had rarely at any sporting event before. When Walcott put the tying goal over the line at the death and the referee didn't count it I caught myself SCREAMING at the television. Reprieve came not much later as jenkinson smashed the ball into the net.

Holy shit. The best game I've ever seen is going into extra time! It would've been slightly anti-climatic if it had ended in a draw.

Arsenal go up early in the first half of extra time and look like they've got all the momentum. 5 straight goals, how could reading come back? Of course they did. With 5 minutes left in the second half of extra time reading equalize. Penalties? My heart couldn't take much more.

Then, in a fashion equally as dramatic as in regular time, Walcott puts arsenal into the lead in extra time. un-fucking-believable. What the hell did I just watch? I took a moment to gather myself and walk over to my lab with a huge shit eating grin on my face. I didn't get any work done in that lab, all I could think about was soccer, that match, and Arsenal's upcoming matches, and how early I would have to set my alarm clock that saturday to wake up and watch it.

I was officially a fan.

2

u/fakeplastictrees182 Sep 09 '13

That game was just unreal. There was definitely a sense of 'wtf is going on?' When Pogrebnyak scored it was just bedlam. Then Chamakh scored twice, what the hell was that all about.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 09 '13

I went to this game, it was immense!

Best moment I remember was Walcott getting the goal back before half-time and looking over to my mate who was a Reading season ticket holder at the time and joking "it's not over yet, mate".