Archive for May 28, 2022
Real Madrid 1 LFC 0
Thibaut Courtois makes unbelievable nine sensational saves against the likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané and the other Liverpool forwards, Vinicius Junior scores for Real in the second half, and David Alaba wins his third Champions League, Carlo Ancelotti his 4th, and Jürgen Klopp still has 1.
Ten Years Ago: My Match of a Lifetime
This Sunday the Championship Play-off Final is played at Wembley. Huddersfield and Nottingham Forest are battling out which Club will follow already promoted Fulham and Bournemouth and play in the Premier League next season. It was ten years ago, on 19 May 2012, when West Ham have won their latest play-off final at Wembley to secure being back to the best football league in the world.
That was my first visit to New Wembley and it is one of the games I have been to which I will never forget – and not just for one reason.
West Ham United vs. Blackpool, New Wembley (2012)
The current season of 2021/22 will without doubt be one to be remembered as a “massive season” by the West Ham faithful. With wins over FC Sevilla and Olympique Lyon, the Hammers have reached a European semifinal only for the third time in their history, and they will qualify for Europe via their Premier League position for the second year running. But as this year also marks the tenth anniversary of the latest final West Ham have played in, the 2012 Championship play-off final at Wembley, I’d like to take a look back at this game: West Ham vs. Blackpool fighting for promotion to the Premier League on 19 May 2012. When it comes to my best West Ham experience, this match is one which stands out of the Hammers games I have been to.
After relegation in 2010/11, West Ham had vowed to fight for immediate promotion to the Premier League. But there was also a different kind of fight around the corner: shortly before West Ham set up the play-off final against Blackpool, my doctor had told me about his concerns and urged me to undergo some tests. However, I would not have thought that my first trip to New Wembley was going to be the last visit to a football ground for some time.
Being a long-time Hammers supporter, it was out of question that I had to try to get a ticket and be present in person when the club played at Wembley, regardless that a “footy trip“ on this date did not quite fit into the current situation and the diet plan I had to stick to. However, when I planned the trip, I didn’t know that my future health condition would keep me from travelling and attending large crowds for some time, and would make it impossible to use the tickets I had got for the Summer Olympics in London 2012.
Then, with a Wembley ticket from West Ham’s allocation in hand, I defied all objections and booked a flight. Different from other trips, I made this one all by myself and cut my stay short. As I had made up my mind on such a short notice, I even hadn’t been able to schedule any meet-up with London based friends before the match. However, with all the pubs close to the stadium being completely overcrowded, we would hardly have found each other there anyway.
Therefore I skipped the pre-match drink, and quite early found myself passing the huge statue of Bobby Moore in front of the stadium. Of course the great man wore a West Ham scarf as did the majority of supporters. Then into the stadium and up to the stands – surprisingly with an escalator, reminding me of my arrival at Heathrow earlier that day!
Before the kick-off, when “God Save the Queen” was played, everyone got up from their seats and here, in the “West Ham End” behind the goal, nobody folded them back down again, cheering on the team in claret and blue every minute of the match.
And we really had something to cheer about in the first half: West Ham took the lead, thanks to Carlton Cole, one of the players who had stayed with the club despite relegation. But then, almost immediately after the break, Blackpool was level. Now it was a typical “cup game“ with a lot of end-to-end stuff and chances for both sides.
In the 80th minute Kevin Nolan tried a spectacular one touch shot, but it only rattled the crossbar in front of the West Ham supporters. However, only three minutes later redemption for the “claret and blue army” was near: again Nolan was involved, with the West Ham skipper receiving the ball on the left of Blackpool’s half and crossing it into the box where Carlton Cole got his boot on the ball. However, he could not direct a shot on goal due to a joint intervention of Blackpool‘s keeper and a defender. But out of this scramble in the five yard box the ball rolled to Ricardo Vaz Te who finally hammered it into the net from close range to make it 2-1. With this result West Ham were back to the Premier League and the cheers almost lifted the roof off Wembley Stadium.
What a joy that was, making me forget all the doubts around the trip and the upcoming medical tests. It was so good to celebrate this victory and to sing with all the Irons around me, regardless of not knowing anyone of them. 
However, watching the play-off trophy being lifted by the players and again and again singing “Bubbles“ and other songs together with all the West Ham faithful, while the squad was celebrating on the pitch, wasn’t the end of this story…
When I got onto the tube on the way back from Wembley I suddenly bumped into my mate Sam. What a coincidence and what a joy to meet one of my oldest friends in London among tens of thousands of fans, without having made any appointment!
However, I believe there’s nothing to happen entirely by chance, God makes everything work together for those who know and love him. Learning about the extent of my illness when I had got home, the things that had happened on that Saturday afternoon at Wembley – having been able to celebrate West Ham’s victory before my personal “match of a lifetime” was about to begin, and meeting up with a special friend, entirely by chance – became a sign for me that I could start my own fight with confidence and optimism.
It was the help of my doctors, the support and love of my family, as well as the lasting joy of this West Ham experience at Wembley, and my faith that God meant well for me, which made another victory possible. Not only West Ham had won its most important match of 2012; by the end of the year, I knew that I had only missed the Olympic Games, and would be able to cheer on the Hammers in London once again.
And that’s what I‘m doing to this day. Come on you Irons!
This post has first been published here ▶️www.westhamtillidie.com/posts/ten-years-ago-match-of-a-lifetime. It was included in the shortlist of the “Up the Writers!” football writing award.
EXTRA TIME 
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