its the thread that had to be made: your favourite matches

1 France v Brazil 1
1986 World Cup Quarter Final
France on Penos

The first football match I was ever enthralled by. I remember Platini being amazing. So many chances, end to end stuff. Amazing skill, great drama in sweltering heat. I watched it a few years after and it was just as amazing as I remember it. The Brazilian goal was particularly wonderful too. There was also a great penalty shootout. Platini missed which sickened me, cos he had become an instant hero to me for his performance. Did Zico take a penalty and it went off the woodwork and in iirc? I remember talking about the game with friends the day after all excited. Also calling Stopyra, “STOP YR BRA”.

3 Liverpool v AC Milan 3
2005 Champions League Final

The greatest sporting event I can ever remember. Better than Italia 90 cos (a) this team were given no chance and Liverpools run of matches up to the final was incredible and (b) the game was total Roy of the Rovers stuff. I was watching it in a pub in Limerick and after the first half, I was there to my mate Ricky and I said “lets go”. Liverpool were abysmal, Gerrard in particular. It looked like the dream was over. Of course, the second half was amazing and not just the usual guys like Gerrard and Carrager but Hamann had a superb game also. After Alonso got the rebound after that penalty, Milan were in tatters. In Extra time, Milan started to gain control and then there was THAT save by Dude, which really was just as important a factor in the whole game as any of the goals. Then Dudek wobbling in front of the last penalty, Grobelaar-style, and Serginho ballooning it was just the fucking icing on the cake. This was a team with Le Tallec and Djimi Taore as first teamers!

1 England v West Germany 1 (aet)
World Cup semi final 1990

I'm not going to come up with any new insights into this one, but I revisited it in the winter and have had it on my mind the past few days for some reason, and it and its backstory are as epic as it gets, England were fantastic and have never been as likeable since.

0 Germany v Italy 2 (aet)
World Cup semi final 2006

The actual best game I've seen I think. Certainly the most satisfying denouement. Two teams just absolutely going for it, not in terms of being rash but through executing what they could do the very best they could do it. Non-stop moves, highest of stakes, no fannying around. A privilege to watch.

England were fantastic and have never been as likeable since

Yup.

Too soon for a thread like this? I should have left this for the summer lull; we are still in post-season blabber mode.

Not too soon at all imo. Got to get people thinking early before "rolling transfers" becomes the all-encompassing behemoth thread it was born to be.

They say the other semi in 1990 was every bit as good, but other than Maradona on the wind-up and me being heartbroken at the end, I don't remember it at all. One for when we communally as-liveblog old footy during the dark summer months, maybe?

iirc it was a French penalty in 86 that went post-keeper's-back-and-in, not Zico. I watched that one with my grandfather and it was completely overwhelming to nine-year-old me.

and that's the tournament they gave to qatar

best match of the 1990 world cup was the second round spitting contest between west germany and holland

Independence day not being on the cards in Basel, I watched this in a hotel bar (the first world cup I watched). I remember it as being a very exciting game. It was weird to me, too. that all the Swiss-Germans were rooting for England or at least against Germany.

Istanbul obviously my favourite by miles and miles. I watch the YouTube videos of it regularly enough, sometimes am still moved to tears, as stupid as it may sound. Weirdly I got chronic illness about a month after that match which messed up my life for a few years but May 2005 was a really happy time, gf at the time was still living in Dublin, before a few years of long distance, was healthy, DJing regularly at a great club.

My thesis was due the day after the game and I'd decided to watch it at home with my dad as a result, but at half-time one of my best friends, a big Liverpool fan, texted to try and persuade me to come out for a consolation pint. He eventually won me over when he texted as a joke: "If you don't come down you'll miss the greatest comeback of all time."

So I went to the pub and it was still rammed, lots of friends there. When the first goal went in there was a lot of defiant cheering and clenched fists, and then thet got the second and it became like a sort of fever where you knew a madness had descended on the pitch as well. I can remember feeling like we were just baying for that third goal, it felt inevitable.

It's very unusual for football to have a volley of scores like that, it actually felt a bit like rugby or GAA where momentum swings and suddenly a huge lead is eradicated.

After they got back to 3-3 it was sort of dreamlike, anything could have happened by then, it was hard to know what to expect. I suppose by extra-time you knew penalties was the only way Liverpool would win. Though there was a Gerrard free-kick at the end which would have prob made it an even more legendary win.

For the penalties I can remember being stood beside a few really close friends who are Liverpool fans and then lots of people I knew from primary school, it was the local pub where I grew up, I guess the shootout just flowed towards Liverpool from the off, I still worried when Riise missed but it mostly felt good.

Then when they won I remember what felt like the entire pub singing You'll Never Walk Alone. Lots of tears of joy, it was just so amazing. It still sort of astonishes me. I remember the whole pub had this wild atmosphere, you'd look at someone and start talking to them about how crazy it was, the only thing I could compare it to was a festival or some occasion where everyone was on drugs, except the weird game was the drug.

Afterwards I got home and my mum and dad had stayed up to talk to me about it, I guess it was that kind of game where even if you didn't care about football it could have got to you. My dad often rings me after big CL games (when Liverpool were in the CL!) or if they have a good win and I think it's sort of based on me ranting away for 30 mins that night at 2am.

Thesis took a fucking long time to do with no voice the next day!

(I have lots of other favourite games too, sorry to go for the obvious...)

best match of the 1990 world cup was the second round spitting contest between west germany and holland

they did a slow mo replay of the spit on rte and dunphy circled it with one of those white graphic on the camera pen things they used to use back then!

mexico argentina at world cup 2006 stands out for me as a major favourite game too. that amazing maxi goal but just a really swashbuckling attacking game overall.

0 Germany v Italy 2 (aet)
World Cup semi final 2006

The actual best game I've seen I think. Certainly the most satisfying denouement. Two teams just absolutely going for it, not in terms of being rash but through executing what they could do the very best they could do it. Non-stop moves, highest of stakes, no fannying around. A privilege to watch.

― Ismael Klata, Monday, May 23, 2011 6:23 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

I think the earth-shattering suckerpunch to take a two goal lead and settle the game is my favourite thing in football, and this one was just fucking amazing

(good thread)

really did love that germany italy semi-final - prior to the two late goals i'd already decided it was the best goal-less deadlock i'd ever seen, certainly between two international sides. shame in a way that the germany argentina quarter-final beforehand is kinda overshadowed by it (plus you had a nice bonus punch-up at the end).

would like to say a game i've actually been a spectator at but of the mere 30 or so games i've been to none stand out as being particularly good.

sure i've listed other favourites on another thread so no need to mention boringly predictable choices re england and canon world cup games (romania-argentina 94 and so on)

30 seems ridic low actually, could be a whopping 50 or so

far as england goes i will always hold the fondest remembrance for argentina 2-3 england, which was the weird 5 o clock k.o friendly in switzerland before wc 2006. both sides were really going for it and they'd totally forgotten why; in fact everything about the game seemed - seems even more so in retrospect - like some strange happy daydream of how you want international football to always be like but never is. (even right down to england and lil mickey nicking it with two cheeky goals at the death). sigh.

^ that was a great, great game.

england 1 argentina 0 in ?2002? was another i remember being absolutely epic, though i've been told on ilx since that it was an average performance- at the time i thought (and still remember it as) the best, most complete and most professional performance england has put in against a big team in a big tournament

enough about england games.

ireland-

drawing 1-1 with germany in 2002 was everything an ireland football match should be. battered by a fairly mediocre german outfit for the entire game, somehow we kept it to 1-0 and on comes quinny. thump, flick, bang, route one is as good as any stepover when done as well as that.

we were watching it in my uncle's house, he was in the kitchen watching it on network 2. with the game over i was heading out that way from the sitting room, furiously delighted/gutted that everything i'd been saying about those useless cunts had been proven right, when he starts screaming, just losin it completely- i made the sitting room just in time to see quinny's magic forehead do it one last time, cos the sky picture was delayed by about ten seconds.

spurs- probably everything clicking, just once, like i knew it always could, when we hammered chelsea 5-1 in the league cup semi final in 2001. with 5 great goals (including forsell's) and one of the worst i've ever seen from iversen, i think

as a neutral- utd's run to the european cup final in 1999 was magical, great football and great entertainment, but that game against arsenal at villa park was as good as it gets imo, though all records of the winning goal have been wiped for some reason?

lol no wait rtc, i thought you were repping for the england 2 argentina 2 in 1998, amazing game.

Thread is a little heavy on international games so far. I nominate Chelsea 4-2 Barcelona (2005 CL round of 16, second leg) as a classic.

it would be very much in fledgling character if you posted only the stats

There's video?

j/k

i do not get yr jk tbh

I was pretending to be under the mistaken impression that the match I had called a classic was made up only of "corners taken", "shots on goal" etc. rather than being a spectacle that could be witnessed live or on television. A Chelsea fan could probably write something to rival LG's Istanbul post, but I could not.

pfft hardly, chelsea fans do not have souls

that chelsea v barcelona game was spectacular

as far as Ireland games go the match where we beat the Dutch 1-0 in Lansdowne to get through to the World Cup was fantastic. lets not mention the fact that we were getting absolutely pummelled throughout that game. just remember the Houghton goal against England in 88 but noting else tbh.

paul mcgrath vs the italians in giants stadium, obv

ireland draw against england in wembley was a cracker too (91 euro qualifier)

USA 2 - 1 Mexico, 2007 Gold Cup final in Chicago, IL

Hot, hot, HOT day, Soldier Field absolutely packed, people standing in the aisles, at least a 75% pro-Mexico crowd. The teams seemed to match up very well on paper but it didn't seem that way at first with Mexico attacking in numbers and Guardado giving them the lead just before the half. There were dudes throwing beers and fights breaking out at the half, the Mexico fans were sure they would win because their team looked a lot better. Donovan put in a penalty in the second half and Benny Feilhaber scored an amazing golazo volley to put the US up 2-1 and that's how it ended. Pandemonium among USA fans, more flying beer and occasional fights on the way out. Such a hot day, I remember being just totally amazed the players could keep it up when simply spectating was exhausting enough. Still the biggest game I've ever witnessed in person.

The Barca-Inter semi-final 2nd leg last season was one of the most fascinating matches I've ever seen. I think Barca had a corner in the last minute of stoppage time, and you're screaming at them to GET IT INTO THE BOX YOU IDIOTS, and they played it short and messed around with it all the way back to the centre circle or something. I'd love to watch it again to see if it's as engrossing as I remember it.

That Germany -Italy semi final is the best game in terms of technical excellence I've watched since I've had some basic idea of tactics, technique, space etc. But discounting LFC games the one that really saw me going from really liking and enjoying football to outright loving it was the Brazil - Italy game from the 84 World Cup.

Even at a young age couldn't give a fuck about the England national team. It was Brazil I loved. All these players I'd never seen before or even heard about if I'm honest. Think their first group match of that Finals was a demolition of New Zealand, or was it Scotland? Anyway Eder, Falcoa, Junior, Socrates! A footballer named Socrates!! It seemed so exotic and cosmopolitan to the 12 year old me. Wanted them to win so badly and the sense of injustice when they succumbed to a Rossi hat trick (Goalhanger!)was incredible. Still think Brazil were easily the best team in that tournament but a Italy win did give me the indelible image of Marco Tardelli rapturously celebrating his goal in the Final. The 12 year old me would soon have his sense of injustice injured yet more severely after the Germany-France semi final of that year but that's another story.

82 World Cup that should be not 84 FFS. So I was 10 not 12. Memory not what it was!

well you are old tbf

Totally agree re: that Brazil 82 team (and I was 9 fwiw)

Anyone seen that '91 Crvena Zvezda-Bayern Munich match as written up in the Blizzard? I'm looking forward to see if it can live up to a great piece of writing.

It's a great article isn't it?! I'd never heard it mentioned before, and I half-suspect it wasn't even filmed and Jonathan Wilson's writing from memory.

I've got the DVD on the way so we'll see I guess.

91 EC final was one of the worst matches ive had to sit through

was that sampdoria barca?

no that was a good game iirc. it was red star and marseille 0-0 draw

oh yeah i remember watching that too.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2001/5716115454_5a1a85106d_z.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2010/5715576399_bbe4cedb6d_z.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2287/5716483286_afac85b82c_z.jpg

Trinidad & Tobago 0 - Sweden 0 at the 2006 World Cup was a special one for me.

T&T's the smallest country ever to have competed at a World Cup with a squad mostly cobbled together from the semi-professional domestic league, the MLS, the English lower divisions and Scotland. Reaching the finals, albeit via a uninspiring victory over Bahrain, was a huge source of national pride, however there was really no expectation that that they'd manage to pick up a point in a tough group. Going in to the Sweden match, i was hoping that they'd keep the score to a respectable three or four nil, perhaps pinching a consolation goal as a bonus.

I think first-choice keeper Kelvin Jack was injured in the warm-up so T&T had to deploy a creaking Shaka Hislop in goal, behind Gillingham's Brent Sancho and Wrexham's Dennis Lawrence. Facing them were Henke Larsson and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Brilliantly, improbably, they repelled wave after wave of Swedish attacks. Stern John threatened occasionally at the other end.

I thought it was pretty much all over when T&T defender Avery John got sent off with 45 minutes left to play but Leo Beenhakker pulled a masterstroke in refusing to park the bus - sending on an extra striker to take the pressure off the back three. The finish was horribly tense, Sweden racking up shot after shot, but they managed to hold on.

^^^a couple of good friends of mine were at this match, said it was incredible and the T&T fans were going crazy

quite possibly the worst game i've ever seen^^

The one I remember most was Barcelona 0 - 0 Celtic in the knockout stages of the UEFA Cup in 2004. We weren't exactly confident with Rab Douglas suspended due to a red card in the home leg, so I watched it in a pub, full of hope rather than expectation, with a few neutral-ish (but broadly sympathetic) friends and the insane amount of last-ditch tackles (mostly on an on-fire Ronaldinho from John Kennedy - a great loss to the game, imo) and OMG-HOW-DID-HE-DO-THAT saves from stand-in teenage keeper David Marshall was just incredible - I kept waiting for the inspiration to dry up, but it never did. The relief at the full-time whistle was incredible, even neutrals just in the pub not watching the game ended up glued to the screen, giving it loads of "WTF? OMG!" every time some other bit of Barcelona amazingness was snuffed out. I think the entire pub hugged me that night - I could barely even breathe by the end of the game, and I think watching me had become secondary entertainment.

I slightly worry that my favourite game was a goal-less draw in which we had about one half-chance the entire game, but the sheer effort it took to cling on was magnificent - Barcelona were taking us apart at will and couldn't get past Varga or Kennedy or Marshall when they got any of their chances (and there were a lot of them). After the crashing disappointment of the previous season's defeat in the final, it proved we weren't a one-off. Of course, we went on to be comfortably knocked out by an emergent Villarreal team in the next round :-/

I really enjoyed Liverpool's night in Istanbul, and that mad Chelsea-Barca game mentioned already. I'll have a wee think about some more, but they are mostly humpings of Rangers.

couple of the european nights under o'neill must rate besides

Yes,but hard to beat the derby.

Think 1-0 with sutton scoring with a lob at the death to complete the green and whitewash,we won every game against rangers that season, is a favourite.

Both legs against Blackburn in 2003, I actually enjoyed. The rest of that run, I was too nervous to actually even concentrate on the matches. Boavista in particular was terrible. I tend to enjoy results more than games.

Weirdly, the game I've enjoyed most this season was the 2-2 draw at Ibrox. Losing our goalie early on, going behind, then coming back to draw with a cracker of a Dioufy-baiting goal...that was overall enjoyable and cracking entertainment, but I wouldn't have said that early on when we were a goal down after three minutes :/

I want to say the 6-2 game, but that is boringly predictable, so I won't. It was fun though.

1999 cup semi-final replay. Even as a United fan I remember thinking that whole season that Arsenal were the better side, it could easily have been a double season for them... keane gets sent off, Arsenal have a pen in the last minute, it's all over... then schmeichel saves, into extra time, the giggs goal totally against the run of play... amazing game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl-axF4M3TY

I have been thinking about my favourite games recently.

Chelsea 4 Liverpool 2 in the FA Cup in 1997 would probably be among them.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2331211/fa_cup_26_01_1997_chelsea_fc_4_2_liverpool/

Liverpool were 2-0 up at half-time but were completely destroyed in the second half. Mark Hughes came off the bench to score and Liverpool never recovered. This was a very good Liverpool team - Fowler, McManaman etc - think they were top of the table, but a brilliant Chelsea one and that midfield of Wise, Di Matteo, Poyet and Petrescu remains among the best I've ever seen for balance and movement and technique.

The ground became a bearpit, almost hysterical, relentless, and Liverpool wilted. Mark Wright's bewildered expression as we madeit 4-2 said everything. I've never seen or heard anything quite like it because this was something Chelsea never did. We had no history of heroic comebacks, and certainly not in the FA Cup - we hadn't won a trophy since 1971. So there was no collective memory to fall back on, it was like we were suddenly transformed into a completely different club, one that looked like it was capable of winning stuff and didn't capsize at the first sight of success.

Stamford Bridge had a terrific atmosphere in those days but I think so much built-up energy was released during that Cup run, it's never quite been the same (except, funnily enough, when we beat Liverpool 3-2 in the European Cup semi in 2008: the ground was shaking with the din).

After the game, I went to the Cadogan Arms on the Kings Road, had about eight pints but still couldn't get drunk.

I remember that game vividly, Pete. Even though there must have been worse results it is probably one of my standout lowest points as a Liverpool fan. I've never seen them capitulate so badly. Hughes was immense when he came on. We should have been about 5 up at half time as I recall too, seem to remember some showboating in 1 on 1 situations.

I ripped all my Liverpool posters off the wall in fury after the fourth goal.

There was a crucial miss by McManaman just before half-time when he was one-on-one with De Goey and toed it straight at him. We missed a few chances in the first half, but Liverpool should have had that third.

Think that is when the last lingering traces of the Liverpool aura that was still just about hanging over from the 1980s finally dissipated. It felt like a landmark occasion, not just for Chelsea, and I've seen lots of other games that I've enjoyed as much or perhaps even more (usually wins over Spurs), but none that felt quite as important.

My top five would prob be:
Chelsea 4 Liverpool 2, 97
Chelsea 4 Barcelona 2, 05 (though I watched in a bar in LA and missed the first three goals)
Chelsea 1 Man Utd 0 (2007 Cup final)
Tottenham 0 Chelsea 3, 91
Tottenham 1 Chelsea 3, 91

Don't have the chops (or indeed a sufficiently specific memory) to wax lyrical but: the 2002 Scottish Cup Final.

god, the 2007 cup final was a terrible match. glory to the winners and everything, but really? your favourite game?

Pete's been resolutely making this claim in the face of wall-to-wall disbelief and sanity questioning for a while now. He sees it as a tactical masterpiece.

I don't even know where to begin for this thread. 'Favourite' game makes it sound like a 'favourite film' that you watch over and over again and I don't do that with any match: probably 99% of them I'll have seen once and never again. My favourite three minutes is undoubtedly injury time in the 1999 European Cup final, but I can't say I thought much of the match before that.

In terms of one-sided displays of near perfection, off the top of my head my two (fairly) recent Man Utd ones are the seven-goal stuffing of Roma in 2007 and the six-goal blizzard against Newcastle in the run-in to the 2003 title. By other teams, I'd say Barcelona thrashing Madrid earlier this season was probably the best performance I've ever seen, and I remember watching Argentina thrashing Serbia (or were they still called Yugoslavia?) at the 2006 World Cup.

In terms of more equal encounters, give me a high-scoring error-strewn thriller over a cagey defensive tactical battle any day. The two that spring to mind immediately are the United 4 City 3 league game settled by Michael Owen last season and the legendary Liverpool 4 Newcastle 3 game in 1996. But there have been plenty of classics in the last few years, the Spurs 4 Chelsea 4 and Liverpool 4 Arshavin 4 matches, for example.

The Guardian's early liveblog for the 1999 Arsenal-Utd semi is pretty funny in its understatedness. That were a good game. It wouldn't've been like that at Wembley.

the last north london derby was great, actually

dunno where is l-jag is these days but in his honour:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwbiaTz7Yvs

iirc i listened to this one on the radio - capital gold as it was then but i can't be sure if it was jonathan pearce in his pomp commentating, though most probably - and it was just awesome.

(of course the main benefit of hearing it on radio was, as i later discovered, not having to see sunderland in what i still strongly believe to be the vilest kit of all time.)

richard rufus scoring the equaliser with his first goal in a million appearances as well!

The 2007 FA Cup final is unjustly maligned. I don't think I've ever seen a game in this country where the players showed such technical and tactical awareness, and it wasn't a bad game at all after the first 30 minutes (which were over-cautious). It wasn't great for 'neutrals', but I've seen far far worse FA Cup finals (Chelsea-Villa in 2000 may actually be one of the worst games I've seen ever).

But it was also a big game for me for other reasons. Chelsea and United had had a pretty epic title race all season. Chelsea came unstuck over Christmas but played some great football to keep going at United, who were astonishingly good that year, much better than the following season when they only just beat Avram Grant's self-managed team in the league and CL.

Going into the FA Cup final, United had the mental advantage (we'd lost the title and been knocked out of the CL semis on pens) and possibly the physical advantage (they had a bigger squad than Chelsea and suffered fewer injuries - we were playing Essien at centre back in the final; Ashley Cole and Arjen Robben were both playing on one leg) so should have been able to steam straight through us to take the Double. I was expecting the worst, especially as penalties loomed - Chelsea never win on penalties.

But it didn't happen, and it was a sign of what Mourinho had done that Chelsea didn't stop trying for 120 minutes. Ferguson had conceded the draw - right at the end he took off Carrick and brought on a forward for penalties - and Mourinho responded immediately. Mikel stepped up, Lampard suddenly had a bit of space to work with, and those two combined to set up Drogba.

It was relief, it was resilience and it demonstrated an epic iron will. It was a lovely goal as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6Y0kqrtUBc

I'm not going to claim this was a classic example of footballing excellence (because it was far from it), but this six minutes of despair turning to ecstasy was the one bright patch in an otherwise shit season and is definitely one of my favourite memories:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upbQNvJy2MI

http://youtu.be/q0sVo0Wz_Bk
The crunch period of the three-way battle between Villa, Man Utd and Norwich in the spring of 93, culminating in *that* Steve Bruce winner against Sheffield Wednesday, but my one of my all time favourites is the opening of Norwich v United. Villa were in first spot, two points ahead of Norwich and four points ahead of United who had just gone four games without a win. A Norwich win would have probably left it between them and Villa for the title with United crumbling away just like they had the year before. Instead United ripped into them with fantastic one-touch lightning fast breaks and got three goals in eight first-half minutes.

Meh. Slightly wrong like. This one should start at the relevant point:
http://youtu.be/q0sVo0Wz_Bk?t=41s