Friday, March 19, 2010
CRAVEN COTTAGE hasn’t been known for its thrilling nights of European football – not until now, that is.
A dramatic, stirring comeback capped by a quite wonderful goal by Clint Dempsey eight minutes from time secured Fulham’s place in the last eight of the Europa League at the expense of Italian giants Juventus and was a performance worthy of any of the continent’s more lauded homes of football.
Trailing 3-1 from the first leg in Turin, Fulham appeared doomed when David Trezeguet extended Juventus’s lead after just two minutes. Needing to score four times against the Serie A side, home hopes, it appeared were gone.
Not so. Fulham’s response was simply superb, rallying quickly to level on the night through Bobby Zamora, and helped on their way by the 27th minute dismissal of Juve defender Fabio Cannavaro, drew level through two goals from Zoltan Gera before Dempsey’s final act.
Jonathan Zebina’s last minute dismissal for kicking out at Damien Duff capped a miserable night for the Italians but was irrelevant. The important business had all gone before and it was no surprise that Roy Hodgson wondered whether he and his players could ever cap this display.
"What you should be is be Rocky Marciano and retire when the goings good because it can’t get much better than this," he reflected.
Hodgson’s words came in response to a question asking him to reflect on his side’s progress in the two and a bit years since he took charge of a side seemingly bound for the Championship. Since then they have become a Premier League, and now European, force but even more pertinent is the fact that Fulham sat 85th in the football league 14 years ago when Juventus were crowned champions of Europe.
"To reach the quarter-final in this competition is good, especially when you think we played our first game in July," Hodgson added. "That’s a nine-month European campaign. That’s much more than when I won the Uefa Cup with Inter."
When Trezeguet profited from Brede Hangeland’s error to extend Juventus’s lead overall, suddenly Fulham owner Mohamed Al Fayed’s scarf- twirling parade across the pitch immediately before kick-off looked painfully premature.
Fulham’s European adventure, however, has been underscored by their resilience, and that quality was again evident when they responded quickly and effectively, drawing level within seven minutes through Zamora.
Fulham’s task was still enormous but so was their appetite for the fight and they received a further boost in the 27th minute when Cannavaro brought down Zoltan Gera when the last man to earn a red card.
The balance of the whole tie suddenly switched and Gera turned home from close range from Simon Davies’s cross to narrow the gap seven minutes before the break.
Damien Duff’s cross three minutes after the break struck Diego’s hand providing Gera with the chance to level the aggregate scores from the penalty spot but then the fightback appeared to run out of steam.
The introduction of Dempsey provided Fulham with new impetus and he completed the turnaround in the 82nd minute with an
Subs for Fulham: Dempsey for Kelly 71, Riise for Gera 85.
Juventus: Del Piero for Grosso 85; De Ceglie for Camoranes, Grygera for Candreva.
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