European Silverware day! While not as glamorous as nest week’s Champions League Final between Manchester United and Barcelona, this is guaranteed to be a historic finale. Yes, friends, today we see the last UEFA Cup Final ever. Germany’s Werder Bremen and Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk will put it all on the line to see which team becomes the historical footnote/trivia answer. Or not. That’s the beauty of the game. You can never tell how it will be played until the match is in motion.
Shakhtar and Bremen both benefited from entering the competition at the knockout stage after being dumped from Champions League play. That’s not a bad parachute to have if you can ride it to the final. Inside, we’ll hit on lineups and both teams road through the competition. In case that’s not enough for you, you can go look back at Werder’s entry into The Good, The Bad, The WTF, and know that Shakhtar will get added in after the match. Will they be secondary champions of Europe at the time? Hell for all I know, it will still be in PKs when that post goes live.
Shakhtar Donetsk
Round of 32: Tottenham Hotspur 3-1
Round of 16: CSKA Moscow 2-1
Quarterfinals: Olympique Marseille 4-1
Semifinals: Dynamo Kyiv 3-2
Today’s lineup:
Pyatov, Kucher, Fernandinho, Jadson, Ilsinho, Luiz Adriano, Lewandowksi, William, Rat, Chygrynskiy, Srna.
Subs: Khudzhamov, Duljaj, Gai, Gladkiy, Ischenko, Chyzhov, Moreno.
Werder Bremen
Round of 32: AC Milan 3-3 (away goals)
Round of 16: Saint Etienne 3-2
Quarterfinals: Udinese 6-4
Semifinals: Hamburg 3-3 (away goals)
Today’s lineup:
Wiese, Boenisch, Naldo, Baumann, Fritz, Rosenberg, Ozil, Prodl, Frings, Pizarro, Niemeyer.
Subs: Vander, Pasanen, Tosic, Vranjes, Hunt, Tziolis, Harnik.
No away goals to save the Germans tonight. Let’s hope for lots of action and just a few goals, shall we?
Ukraine! Germany! Be there!
I get the feeling this won’t be the most active open thread.
Bueller?!
You and me, Teeknuts, you and me!
I’m gonna say no Diego=no cup for Bremen.
And me! For the first half at least.
I’m watching this on Al-Jazeera. Considering the names of the players, and the language of the commentator, there is no way in hell I’m gonna know what’s going on.
Frings, doing what he does best. Being an a**hole on the pitch.
Oh wait! It’s now in English!! Mesopotamian Goals, FTW!
Think of it this way, you’re not listening to Tommy Smyth.
Come on Shakhtar. Make your Brazilians finish.
That was some nice stuff up until the bad finish.
Nope, Teek, there’s some Scottish bloke now. Arabic was more understandable.
Shakhtar dominating early play, but Luiz Adriano misses a golden opportunity. He makes Denilson look Brazilian.
Shakhtar are playing a 4-2-3-1. I like this.
2 million Turkish lira spent on renovating the stadium. That’s what? 7 million dollars?
“That’s possibly the worst corner kick in history.”
This guy is growing on me.
What the f**k was that corner?
This commentator is phenomenal! He described the teams kits as comical, as not befitting the beauty of the pitch! Moar!
SD looks like they have 2 goals in them, but Werder are playing the defensive game well and look to strike on the counter.
The Shaktar keeper reminds me of someone, but I can’t put my finger on it
Good tackle by Lewandowski in the box. Good decision by the ref to not award the PK.
@Teek: the ref is playing the advantage very well today, yeah? He’s letting the game flow . . . this can only be a good thing.
Yeah, it’s been a decent match by all parties so far.
So you’re not hearing Bretos then?
Well, on the pitch at least. The commentary is not at that level.
GOAL GOAL GOAL GOAL
Luiz AdriAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAno.
@Umlaut: no, this commentator likes the way the ref is letting the players play, and I can’t help but agree. From everything I’ve seen, advantages have been allowed and that’s good for us the fan. However, both teams don’t look too keen on hard tackles.
LUIZ ADRIANO!!
Shitty defending by Werder, but the throughball was perfectly, delicately played.
Great finish there, Bremen probably could have done better there.
Adriano still needs shooting practice after that.
I wonder if I could have said there a couple more times there.
Is that Eminem on the Shakhtar bench?
There there, teeknuts. There there.
Adriano had Srna making one of his patented runs forward and couldn’t pick him out. But for the lack of vision, Werder would be down two.
I’m sensing a red out of Frings today.
I hope so ü. Enough karmically aweful things cannot happen to that guy, and yes, I’m still bitter about the handball on the line in the 2002 World Cup.
And by ‘aweful’ I mean awful.
Me too. It’s probably just wishful thinking.
Jesus that injury looks f**king terrible.
Maybe broken ribs . . .
That definitely looked like it could be nasty
How do you sell Ukraine to Brazilian players? There must be offerings of women, wine, and song.
Crap save attempt. Great game though.
NALDO!! Mistake by the keeper.
Keeper Fail!
“And it’s all Brazilian here in Istanbul.”
Note: must visit Istanbul soon.
EbullientFatalist: According to a friend of mine who worked in the Ukraine, that is exactly how you sell anyone on it.
Oooh man, that was rough. Poor guy.
I dare say that was NYK worthy, no matter what he says.
Rat is running Round and Round tonight.
SHIRTLESS FAT GERMAN ALERT
Keeper FAIL again. Lucky bastard that Pizarro can’t hit the target.
Yeah, I bet he really lays it down tonight.
PR: It must be. I just can’t imagine Luiz Adriano stepping off a plane into a bleak Kiev winter, looking around, slowly nodding his head, and saying, “Yes. This is home.”
Good gosh, that was a hit by Lewandowski (sp).
I suppose you could say the same thing about Newcastle, in all fairness.
What a shot by the guy who’s name I don’t want to even try to spell.
eh? what did I do now?
Nothing. Go find the Werder goal on 101GG. I can only imagine how you would react to that.
Halfway there, Torsten.
Hahaha. This guy commenting for Al-Jazeera seems to think the Shakhtar keeper is somehow in the bag for Werder.
That is somewhat believable, EF.
Great half. Can’t wait seven or so hours to watch the second. Cheers, fellas.
He literally called for an “inquest” if the keeper makes another stupid decision.
see? this is what happens when teams that actually give a s**t and make some effort (are you watching, Popes O’Rangers circa 2007/08 final?)…
ha! just saw the Naldo goal.
That’s…not so good.
@JT: Yeah, I hope Walter Smith is watching this and taking notes about how to play “football.”
A great open-field block by Rat.
F**k, my stream is dead.
And that’s how you save a free kick
Also, if Platini is so f**king up-in-arms about the proliferation of damn foreigners in the EPL, should he have similar gripes and grumbles about the fact that Shakhtar’s four or five best players are Brazilian?
Srna, that was a very dumb booking
Welp, fellas, it’s been real, but with my stream down and not finding a new one, I’m off to start my day. Be well. And I hope the action is as good as the first half.
Werder’s starting to turn it up a little now.
Shakhtar are looking really tired.
Extra time!
Shitty keeping Yahtzee!
Jadson scores for Shakhtar after nice play from Srna
Shakhtar keeper almost f**ked it all up again.
Apparently, there is one gai in Turkey
Zing!
That was a golden chance to ice it, but the Donetsk player hit it just a bit too hard.
Hot celebrating Ukranian girl >> Frumpy crying German girl