Predictably Liverpool lost 2-0 at home to Chelsea earlier this afternoon. Although they started quite well, deep down they didn't want to win, and Chelsea were all over them once the first goal went in, courtesy of a Steven Gerrard backpass (that cynics may think was a deliberate mistake).
The vagaries of scheduling matches make a big difference - Liverpool had a minute chance of getting the fourth Champions League spot, but if they could have played before, or at the same time as, yesterday's Tottenham and Man City-Aston Villa matches, they may have been more committed. Presumably Liverpool playing in the Europa League semi-final on Thursday evening had put paid to that possibility. [Of course Liverpool would have been even more tired if they had been forced to play yesterday.]
The Chelsea victory meant that Manchester United needed to beat Sunderland to stand any realistic chance of winning the Premier League. And it happened, with a 1-0 victory courtesy of a Nani goal.
As I have previously pointed out (search groups.google.com for "Football, fate, Gaia theory and socialism" in which I analysed the importance of John Terry missing what would have been the winning penalty against Man United in the 2008 Champions League final) football results can have a big effect on the morale of millions of football fans around the world - and Chelsea being the richest club in the world (or is that second richest now behind Man City) and playing in Tory blue tend to have right-wing fans, whereas United play in socialist red and anti-racist black and white and tend to have left-wing fans. It isn't fate that United won today or that Paul Scholes scored in the last 20 seconds to beat City, but it is the modelling in the players' minds that out-thought Chelsea in that final and Sunderland this afternoon.
This is a particularly important time politically with the UK general election taking place on Thursday. The Tories would have gained a big boost if Chelsea had won (or virtually won) the title today, at the expense of more left wing parties (and I am supporting socialists, greens and the Liberal Democrats in a newsletter I wrote for the Foundation for Proportional Representation-based Socialism - see http://PRsocialism.org/newsletter8.pdf).
A poor result for the Tories - a hung parliament if a Lib Dem victory is too optimistic - could feed back on the football results next Sunday, increasing the chances of Chelsea slipping up against Wigan, remote as that possibility may seem. But, much as I am a United fan, that election really is far more important...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment