Wasting my time* - Take That

The first FA Cup at the new Wembley!!!!! Everyone was excited! After all, it was between the two best teams in the English Premier League!

To get meself ready, i watched the highlights of Liverpool's FA Cup campaign last season - from their brilliant 5-3 win over Luton to the throroughly entertaining 3-3 finals at the Millenium Stadium where LFC won on penalties - the final dubbed as "Steven Gerrard's final"!

It brought back memories! I was following the game on audio in me room last year!!! Yeah, i din watch it. The SU Bar was packed like crazy. But even then, listening to the game was nerve-wrecking!!!! LFC going behind 2-0, pulling back to 2-2, then conceding again in extra time! And then that moment of brilliance from Stevie G brought the game to penalties!!!! It was then i couldn't take it anymore and ran to the SU Bar. I managed to stand at the door and if i stood on me toes, i could just see a little bit of the screen! It din matter. I was there for the atmosphere - and all of us Reds fan celebrated when Reina saved his 3rd penalty.

I was all hyped up - even if Liverpool were not involved in it this year. And some actually dubbed the FA Cup finals this year as the 3rd-place play-off of the Champions League, since it was between the 2 losing semi-finalists and taking place just a few days before the Champions League Finals!!! LOL!

But wat a disappointment!!!!!! Ho-hum! The first 30 mins was absolutely boring!!!!! Here's wat was reported (here) in BBC News online:-

The first FA Cup final at new Wembley was a mostly dreadful spectacle played out between two teams whose exaggerated respect for each other ruined the hopes of a classic being played out at English football's new £757m home.

In fact, the first 45 minutes was so bad that it had an almost ghoulish fascination as the watching world pondered how players of such quality could be so poor.

Paul Jewell described the first half as "more like a game of chess - and a bad one at that" (see here). It came to a point when i hoped that no one would score so no one can take the glory of scoring in the very first FA Cup finals at the new Wembley (altho it was no surprise that Paul Scholes got the first yellow card).

But the goal did come - i was neither estatic nor was i disappointed. In some ways, i was quite glad that Drogba scored it. There is some justice after all. I hold a grudging respect for that guy - who for most of the game had to feed off scraps and make openings for himself.

Arguably, the only moment of brilliance in the whole game
(pic taken from BBC News Online)

But i wouldn't have missed much if i din watch the game. In fact, i could gotten some well-needed sleep. What a waste of time. But then again, i souldn't have expected it to be as entertaining as Liverpool's win last year!!!!

I hope this Wednesday's finals will not be as bad.

*One of their forgettable track from their unforgettable album, Everything Changes.