Legendary

I was cruising the Crystal Palace FC supporter’s website this morning (www.holmesdale.net) and I came across a posting from someone with the user name “Beastie.”  He/she posted, and I quote, “I’d happily contribute.  It would be legendary.”  “Beastie,” whoever you are, you have just scored major Mess points for using the word “legendary” during the course of your everyday life.  Well played, sir.  Well played.

The Mighty Eagles Keep Soaring High

Everyone knows that the Yankees are my #1 sports team.  My #2 team is the mighty Crystal Palace FC.  It works out quite well because the European football season (in general) runs from August to May… during the baseball off-season.

Before I get to today’s game, perhaps some background.  Crystal Palace Football Club is based in South London, in the borough of Croydon.  Growing up I never had a favorite football team.  I became a Palace supporter in the fall of 2005 while I was studying abroad in London.  I headed down to Selhurst Park and saw my first ever European football game in person when Palace lost to Sheffield United 3-2.  Since then I’ve been a die-hard Eagles supporter.  I listen to pretty much every game on online radio, and on the few (maybe 3-4) times a year they are on TV in the United States I head down to the pub in full regalia.  Football in England is sort of like baseball in America in terms of structure.  There are four “league” levels.  The Premier League is the top (like the Majors), the Championship is next (like AAA), League 1 is next (like AA) and League 2 is the bottom (like A).  The only difference is that every team is independent.  Every year the three worst teams are relegated to the league below, and the three best are promoted to the league above.  There are several more leagues below League 2, but they are not part of the official “Football League.”  Teams can, however, be promoted from non-league leagues into the Football League.  Crystal Palace currently plays in the Championship, the second division of football in England.

Palace got my Saturday off to a flying start by squeaking out a hard fought win against Doncaster today.  We fell behind early, but quickly responded with a penalty when one of their players was sent off.  The Fantastic Finn, Shefki Kuqi, put home the penalty.  The conditions in London were terrible today, from what I saw on the TV later, and Palace just couldn’t break down 10-man Doncaster until the 89th minute, when Alan Lee finished slotted home the winning goal.  Palace dominated the game though, we just couldn’t find the back of the net.  Lee is just back from being injured, so it was great to have him get on the scoresheet.  Sometimes you have to win ugly, and that’s what Palace did today.  The grit and determination they showed is a good sign moving forward.  17-year old Nathaniel Clyne got man of the match.  He’s an exciting prospect and appears to have cemented a spot in the starting 11 despite his young age.

What wasn’t a good sign was the massive amount of injuries that happened today.  Paddy McCarthy was stretchered off with what looked like a baddd injury, according to the announcers, Jose Fonte appeared to be limping, and 17-year old Sean Scannell limped off the field.  Kuqi went off with an apparent hamstring injury.  Ben Watson didn’t play with an injury… neither did Carl Fletcher or Victor Moses.  Let’s hope these injuries aren’t too bad.  We have a relatively light schedule until Christmas, and we’re currently riding a nice winning streak that has us up to 8th in the league.  That is just 2 places (and one point!!!) off the promotion playoffs!  Hoo hoo!  Up the Palace!

Football Prediction Results

Record for Week: 4-7

Record for 08-09: 4-7

All time record: 11-23

 

I’m not off to a great start this season.  A few surprise results threw me off.  It’s going to take a few solid weeks if I’m going to get my overall record back to .500 .

Palace continues to struggle, and to this point are the only team in the league not to score a goal.  I trust NW will bring in the striker (or maybe two??) that we desperately need.  It’s early and the season is long.  The ship will be righted!

Bristol City 2 – Crystal Palce 1 (AET)

Our season came to an end last night, but I couldn’t be prouder of our boys.  They went on the road to Bristol, to an incredibly hostile atmosphere, down a goal and needing to win.  After 90 minutes, we were up 1-0.  That’s a great result… a road win at Bristol!  They did all we could have asked from them.  The penalty miss was unfortunate, but that’s football.  It happens.  Unfortunately that meant that we were level 2-2 on aggregate, so we had to go into extra time.  They had a couple of superb finishes to give them the 4-2 aggregate victory.  There was really nothing we could do about either goal.  Moments of individual brilliance… just have to tip your cap.  Our boys gave it their all and fell just short.  Bristol had 120 minutes at their place, and we only had90 minutes at Selhurst.  They earned it by finishing higher than us in the table, so nothing we can really do about that either.  I bet, though, that if extra time was at Selhurst the result would have been different.  Given the fact that I thought we would be battling just to avoid relegation, finishing 5th in the league is a fantastic achievement.  I remember calling my dad twice and telling him that our playoff hopes had ended… but we ended up making it!  Neil Warnock has instilled a winning attitude not only in the team, but in the supporters as well.  Our season may have just ended, but I’m already excited for what next season might hold.  Let’s hope we can hold on to most of our exciting young lads.  The future of the Eagles is bright!

Up the Palace!

First Playoff Leg: Palace 1 – City 2

Sometimes in sports you just have to tip your hat to your opponent because they produce a moment of brilliance that you couldn’t do anything about.  Today, Palace just have to tip their hats.  Stunning strike by City in extra time.  Nothing Palace can do about that.  If he took that shot 100 times he’d probably miss 90 of them.  But what’s done is done.  We can only look ahead to Tuesday.  I’m fully confident that our boys can get it done. 

Up the Palace!

Palace to the Playoffs!

Palace needed to beat Burnley on Sunday to seal their spot in the Coca Cola Championship playoffs, and they got the job done… and then some.  They passed Burnley off the pitch and when all was said and done they had achieved a 5-0 victory.  It was truly a great day.  Listened to the game on the radio and have seen pictures and video of Selhurst, and the atmosphere was incredible.  Great job to all who were there.  Now we’re just three games from being promoted to the Premiership!  Next up: the two-legged semi-final against Bristol City.  It won’t be easy, but we’ve been on quite a roll lately.  Let’s hope the lads keep it up!

C’mon you Eagles!