March 18, 2010 – London: Clint Dempsey (Fulham F.C.)

“….Dempsey won the tie with an 82nd-minute goal that, for its immaculate execution and utter audacity, recalled Eric Cantona’s chip for Manchester United against Sunderland in 1996. Without giving the remotest clue as to his intent, the forward swivelled outside the area and “sand-wedged” the ball into the far top corner over Chimenti, who watched it arc over his head as if hypnotised by its beauty” (extract from The Times)



THE BACKGROUND
Fulham have battled for survival in the EPL since the rapid rise from (the old) Division 4. The 2006-7 season saw us narrowly avoid relegation and 2007-8 had us even deeper in trouble. Roy Hodgson was appointed to work a minor miracle and he finished the season with a major miracle to his credit. With four games to go, there was one survival spot remaining and three teams struggling for it, with Fulham being at least 4 points behind the other contenders, having not got an away win in the past 34 attempts. After a rare away win, another away trip to Man City loomed.

Half-time of the third last game saw Man City 2-0 up and cruising against Fulham and fellow relegatees Birmingham 2-0 against Liverpool. At this point, to avoid relegation at least six goals needed to occur… and they did!! Fulham got 3 late goals to beat Man City 3-2, Torres scored 2 late goals to keep the Brummies to a draw and Spurs scrapped a 1-0 win against Reading. Two games later and Danny Murphy puts away a 76th minute header to get a last game 1-0 win and the much coveted 17th spot on the EPL table. The next season Fulham unbelievably qualifies for Europe!!


THE CAMPAIGN and THE MOMENT
In the lead-up to the legendary Europa League Round of 16 final against Juventus, Fulham already had to overcome trips to Lithuania, Russia, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Italy and the Ukraine. The first leg of the final was a 3-1 loss away in Turin. Not a great result, but at least there’s an away goal.

That small glimmer of hope was snuffed in the opening minutes of the second leg when Juventus went 1-0 up (for a 4-1 aggregate lead). In one of the more remarkable comebacks in the recent history of football, Fulham found 3 goals and at the 81st minute, the tie was on a knife-edge with an aggregate score of 4-4
Then…. THE Moment (extract from The Guardian)
“It will be the winning goal that becomes a touchstone for Fulham in years to come, whenever they have to convince themselves that extraordinary feats are feasible...... Juventus were conquered by a goal of almost unfeasible delicacy from the substitute Clint Dempsey. After 82 minutes he cut in from an angle on the right and floated the ball high into the far corner of the net. At the age of 39 the visitors' goalkeeper, Antonio Chimenti, must have been relishing this occasion. Now he must carry its memory into his retirement.”


THE WASH-UP
A win against German Premiers Wolfsburg in the quarters and a nail-biting come from behind win against Hamburg in the Semi saw Fulham into the final against Atletico Madrid. They went in front, we got an equalizer. The game went into extra time before Diego (aaarggh) Forlan scored an 116th minute winner for the Spanish side and left Fulham a bee-stick away from a truly remarkable victory. Never has failure been so glorious.

Hodgson wins Manager of the Year by a landslide and then gets himself stolen by Liverpool who become embroiled in their own early season relegation battle (going to prove that one man’s prosciutto is another man’s prosecco). Fulham after losing to bottom side West Ham on the weekend are deeply mired back in the relegation zone with a bleak future to sit alongside the glories of the year. Spurs look to be writing next year’s tale of wonder, but I’ll leave that to Eastside Steve and Patsy to swoon over :)



Happy New Year to all on the forum. Hope that next year on the punt is a rewarding one - and I hope that big quaddies keep landing for those that deserve them.