Archive for April 5, 2026

Easter Sunday: FA Cup quarter final West Ham Utd. vs. Leeds Utd.

There was not only a last-minute-goal at the London Stadium, but even two goals in injury time in this FA Cup match! Though with West Ham 0-1 down at halftime, and 0-2 after 75 minutes, I had thought this was “game over” and had left the pub where I was watching the match, “The Tube Station”, after 90 minutes. I had no idea what I would be missing out on!

“The Tube Station”, Vienna, Löwengasse

The unexpected and unlikely happened: Mateus Fernandes in the 93rd and Axel Disasi in the 96th minute equalised for the Irons and took the game to extra time!

However, after an other West Ham goal was disallowed (Taty‘s second “goal” of the afternoon which did not count, and the Argentine had also been unlucky when his header just hit the post!), fortune was hiding again when the tie had to be decided on penalties. West Ham’s skipper Jarrod Bowen and Pablo could not convert their penalties, and the Irons lost the shootout 2-4. Now Leeds will play at Wembley, in their first FA Cup semi-final in 39 years, against Chelsea! The other semifinal is Southampton vs. Manchester City.

West Ham manager Nuno said on the performance of his team: “We prove to ourselves that we can never give up. The game is not done until the referee says so and we have to take that into our future starting on Friday [against Wolves].“

“It will take more time to recover. The legs go when you win and recover quicker. We have the sadness and that will drag into this evening and tomorrow, but we have to react. We have important games [against Wolves, Crystal Palace, Everton, Brentford, Arsenal, Newcastle and Leeds], so we will keep fighting.”

Well, parts of the game were really good; we came back well, and that could give us confidence for the upcoming matches. Unfortunately, we were unlucky with two offside goals and hitting the woodwork twice. 😬

Adama Traore (pictured) played really well today.

Come on you Irons!

April 5, 2026 at 2:09 pm Leave a comment

He’s risen! Happy Easter!

April 5, 2026 at 1:24 pm Leave a comment


EXTRA TIME - VERLÄNGERUNG:
Was nach der 90. Minute kommt, entscheidet über Sieg oder Niederlage.

EXTRA TIME - BESONDERE ZEIT:
"RAPIDHAMMER'S FOOTBALL DIARY" bringt Berichte und Gedanken zum Fußball
und zum Leben an sich.
April 2026
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930