THE ILIKE TIMES

GRAND FINALES

Admit it. The World Cup is long, maybe too long. The weeks of incessant 'De Ghuma Ke' advertisements, Sidhuisms and ever-changing Mandira Bedi saris which are 'designed by Satya Paul' have finally got on your nerves. You just want the final to be played now; for India to wallop the Aussies in a no contest with Sachin scoring his 50th ODI century for good measure.

 

Then again you might get a New Zealand - West Indies final that has all the excitement of a Manmohan Singh speech in Parliament. So how can you ensure that the final of such a major tournament lives up to all the hype? Well you can’t. (Check out the Spain - Holland final from the last Football World Cup.) All you can do is read our small collection of great finals from the world of sports and hope the one on April 2nd is anywhere as thrilling as one of them.

 

1) THE 1999 UEFA CHAMPIONS' LEAGUE FINAL

 

Pre-match: Manchester United had already been the dominant force in English football in the 90’s but had not won the European Cup for forty years. Bayern were also a team looking to rediscover old glory but the smart money was probably not on them.

The Match: It was the Germans though who had the better start to the match, taking the lead through a free kick inside of 6 minutes and subsequently bossing United out of the game. Entering the second half injury time, so sure were both the Bayern fans and the UEFA organizers of the result that the former had already set off a number of celebratory flares and the latter had secured the Winner's trophy with the German team’s ribbons. Teddy Sheringham had other ideas though as he headed in a Beckham corner in the 91st minute and barely had the Munich players had time to reconcile to the prospect of extra time that Ole Gunner Solskjaer scored off another Beckham corner within a minute to seal the game for the Red Devils. Famously, the referee had to help some of the distraught Bayern players to get up off the ground in order to restart the match. There were no such problems for the Man Utd. players though as they went mental at the final whistle.

 

Aftermath: Bayern would lay the ghost of 1999 to rest by winning the trophy two years later. However, it would be Manchester United who would use this success as a stepping stone on their way to becoming the most famous football club in the world.

 

Thrill Rating: Definitely unsuitable for heart patients.

 

2) THE 2002 NATWEST SERIES FINAL

 

Pre-match: India went into the final against hosts England on the back of having lost their last 11 finals in ODI cricket and having a team comprising of a number of promising but inexperienced youngsters. The English though were no overwhelming favourites and the game was expected to be a close one, no one had any idea just how close.

 

The Match: Though they may not have been favourites at the outset but at the half way point, England were most certainly the safest bet to win having compiled a score of 325/5 with centuries from Marcus Trescothick and captain Nasser Hussain (his only ODI century) That result was seemingly made more secure by a characteristic Indian batting collapse that left them almost 200 runs behind with only 5 wickets in hand. What followed though was a passage of play that no Indian cricket fan is ever likely to forget. Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif, youngsters both, came together and like a scene from Andrew Flintoff's worst nightmare started scoring for fun. So brutal was their assault that by the time that they were separated, India was well on its way to an easy victory. In the end, it was Harbhajan Singh who scored the winning runs of the final over from Andrew Flintoff and send the predominantly Indian crowd at Lord's along with the millions back home into a mad frenzy.

 

Aftermath: Well the world got to see Sourav Ganguly's generously hairy chest on display at the Lord's balcony. But more seriously, this win was the beginning of a golden phase for Team India which would culminate in reaching the 2003 World Cup Final against Australia – the match that shall never be spoken about.

 

Thrill Rating: Ask any Indian, we all know where we were when India won the 2002 NatWest Final. Probably on the TV watching it.

 

3) THE 2008 FEDERER - NADAL WIMBLEDON FINAL

 

Pre-match: The Fedal rivalry was already one of the greatest in Tennis even before this epic. They had had some close matches at previous Majors and even though Nadal had a dominant record over Federer, most of those matches were on clay – his favoured surface. Federer though had already beaten Nadal in the previous 2 Wimbledon Finals.

 

The Match: Federer was bidding to become the first man to win a Grand Slam without losing a set; however that dream soon came undone as Nadal took the first set on a single break of serve. The next set went down the same road with same score leaving Roger’s title defense in tatters. But the maestro came back and showed that he could mix determination with artistry as he won the next two on tie-breaks to force a decider. Adding to the drama were the lengthy delays due to the on-again-off-again rain showers that dogged the contest throughout and caused the contest to end in near darkness. With the prospect of the match being carried over the next day becoming more real with each passing game and with both players coming up with magic shots to thwart the other's attempts at breaking serve, it was finally Rafael Nadal who broke decisively in the 15th game and then held his own serve to take the set 9-7 and with it his maiden Wimbledon title.

 

Aftermath: This match would secure the Federer-Nadal rivalry as not only the biggest in their sport but one of the biggest in any sport. This match also foreshadowed the Spaniard overtaking the Swiss in the ATP Rankings to become World Number 1. Though Federer was to retain his Wimbledon crown the very next year, many still see this as the match when his decline actually began. No credit is sadly ever given to him becoming a daddy.

 

Thrill Rating: Enough to make you shit bricks.