Carling Cup: Arsenal’s trophy cabinet still dusty

Photo Courtesy: Football Rascal Blog

Arsenal haven’t won a major trophy in the past six years, and yesterday they had a chance, but nothing changed. After making it to the Carling Cup final, they fell to Brimingham City. They obviously went into the final as favorites and had their head held high after defeating Barcelona 2-1 after going down a goal.

Chris Baird’s First Two in Ten/ Man Utd. Vs Birmingham: Blaming the Refs/ 2010 Closer

I want to address a few things in this post. First of all, a man who has never scored for Fulham, got himself two in the first ten minutes against Stoke City. Yes, I am talking about Chris Baird. The game ended 2-0, leaving Baird the hero who brought home the win. Baird has never been such a key player, but he really proved himself this time. The first goal was a blast from right outside the box after defense failed to clear the ball. Baird ran up and smashed it towards goal. He had hit the inside of the near post to ricochet into the back of the net. After more shots were taken, Fulham won a free kick just outside the box. Baird stepped up to take it, and after curving it past the wall, he could celebrate his second goal of the game and his career at Fulham. These two goals occurred in the first ten minutes of the games and gave Fulham the win.

(December 28, 2010 - Photo By: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images Sport)

The second thing I want to talk about is the goal that gave Birmingham the equalizer against Manchester United on December 28. I’m not going to go into too much detail with this one. Berbatov had the first goal of the game. In the 89th minute the “pass” from Zigic which allowed Bowyer to snatch a late goal was unquestionably a hand ball. Manchester United still jumped to the top of the table with two less games played then their second place rivals Manchester City, but the same amount of points. United is also still undefeated this season, but Ferguson is still not happy with Referee L. Mason for not disallowing the goal. He also said Zigic committed a foul on Rio Ferdinand to get to the ball. Either way, Manchester United is still first and undefeated this season.

(December 27, 2010 - Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images Europe)

The last this I want to talk about in this post is the football world in 2010 as a whole. There has been a bunch of stories that will be remembered for a long time from 2010. Inter Milan won their first Champions League title in over 40 years, Spain won the World Cup for the first time, Two unlikely contestants, Russia and Qatar won the bids for hosting the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, Barcelona beating Real Madrid 5-0, Portugal beating Spain 4-0 after Spain won the WC, Torres ending his goal drought and Liverpool’s victory drought against Chelsea and many more.
Even though there were many great things in 2010, some could argue that there were many embarrassing events throughout the year, the referees. Throughout the EPL and World Cup, there were many mistakes that the refs made and many accused of cheating. Either way, we will remember the greatness of 2010 as we await the New Year in football and hope for the best.

(July 10, 2010 - Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images Europe)

Comment your thoughts of any of the topics in this post and tell me your favorite event from the world of football during 2010.
Happy New Year! - JoeyB