Leinster’s Jonathan Sexton tames Stade Fran ais to secure Amlin Cup
Jonathan Sexton kicked four conversions and two penalties during Leinster’s Amlin Challenge Cup final victory over Stade Fran ais.
Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Any good news for Leinster is suddenly good news for the Lions and there were plenty of happy faces in Dublin on Friday night.
A fly-half masterclass from Jonathan Sexton did much to ensure his province hoisted the Amlin Challenge Cup aloft, although his fellow Lions tourist Sean O’Brien did limp away prematurely with an apparent lower leg strain.
Warren Gatland, the Lions head coach, can only cross his fingers and wait.
Even the absence of the injured Brian O’Driscoll and the quality of Stade’s captain, Sergio Parisse, could not derail Leinster, who had the game virtually won inside the first half with three tries, all of them converted by an assured Sexton, who finished with 14 points.
The 27-year-old is leaving for Racing M tro this summer but, like all his team-mates, was visibly determined to secure one last piece of European silverware for Joe Schmidt, who is about to take charge of Ireland.
Leinster are also contesting the RaboDirect Pro12 final next weekend and looked from the outset like a team determined to seize every conceivable opportunity going.
Only three minutes had elapsed when a clever move from a lineout worked Isa Nacewa through a sizeable hole and Sexton skilfully put the supporting Ian Madigan over for a converted try.
On a beautiful, sunny evening it was clearly Leinster’s intention to give the visitors a serious runaround and both Rob Kearney and Sexton looked in the mood to give Gatland a timely glimpse of their attacking prowess.
Their fellow Lions tourist Mike Ross, however, required a lengthy period of treatment to his left shoulder, an obvious concern for coaches and close relatives alike.
The brilliance of Parisse was also enough to cause the home supporters a flutter of temporary alarm, with the outstanding Italian No8 seemingly playing in at least three positions at once.
Only some determined Leinster defence kept the visitors at bay and, soon enough, Stade were back standing beneath their own posts again.
Andrew Conway leaped high to gather Isaac Boss’s well-judged kick and offloaded to the lurking Sean Cronin, who scurried over unopposed to make it 14-0 inside 20 minutes.
They had a third before the half-hour mark, another inch-perfect crossfield punt by Sexton being gathered by Nacewa and deftly slipped to Kearney, who dived flamboyantly into the left corner.
Sexton’s soaring conversion from the touchline further underlined Leinster’s growing confidence and encouraged more cries of “easy, easy” from the stands.
In this sort of mood there are few more effective attacking sides in Europe and it will be fascinating to see the effect Schmidt has on Ireland’s backline fluency when he takes over as the national head coach.
The Lions would love Sexton to have a similarly galvanising effect and the fly-half’s familiarity with Kearney and O’Driscoll, augmented by a bit of Welsh power and pace, will be among the key weapons at Gatland’s disposal in the forthcoming Test series against the Wallabies.
The second half was simply a matter of keeping Stade at arm’s length, a task made easier when Julien Dupuy was forced off and Paul Warwick, better known as a 10 or a 15, had to deputise at scrum-half.
Leinster did finally concede a try after 65 minutes when J r my Sinzelle located a rare gap in the home defence but two penalties from Sexton ensured disappointment for Parisse and his side, who have now lost all four of the European finals they have contested.
Leinster, who added a late Cian Healy try, have now won four European titles in five years and, even without O’Driscoll’s steely input, show few signs of easing up.
Stade Fran ais Porical (Vuidravuwalu, 55); Sinzelle, Doumayrou, Williams, Bonneval; Plisson, Dupuy (Warwick, h-t); De Malmanche, Sempere (Bonfils, 56), Slimani, LaValla (Van Zyl, 67), Mostert, Lyons, Rabadan, Parisse (capt).
Tries Sinzelle.
Con Porical.
Pens Porical 2.
Leinster R Kearney; Conway, McFadden (Goodman, 67), Madigan, Nacewa; Sexton, Boss; McGrath (Healy, 51), Cronin (Strauss, 51), Ross (Hagan, 59), Roux (Cullen, 59), Toner, Ruddock, O’Brien (Jennings, 57), Heaslip (capt).
Tries Madigan, Cronin, R Kearney, Healy.
Cons Sexton 4.
Pens Sexton 2.
Referee N Owens (Wales).
Attendance 20,396.
Arsenal announce Galatasaray as Emirates Cup opponents
Concerns have been raised among some Arsenal fans after the club announced they were welcoming Galatasaray to the Emirates this summer after violent scenes marred the previous occasion the two teams met.
After two days of intermittent violence in Copenhagen in the run up to the UEFA Cup final in 2000, 54 fans were arrested as four people were stabbed and 11 injured after Galatasaray claimed the trophy on penalties.
Sections of both sets of supporters were involved in the vicious clashes that left pubs and the square in the city centre in ruins, and the Turkish champions are scheduled to play at the Emirates Cup in north London on Saturday August 3 and Sunday August 4.
Vicious: An Arsenal fan bleeds from the head after violent clashes in Copenhagen before the 2000 UEFA Cup final Flare up: A riot officer steps between two fans as the pair argue in the city centre Shocking: Galatasaray fans kick an Arsenal supporter as he lies on the floor attempting to protect himself The two sides have not met since the game in 2000, and Galatasaray have been announced alongside Portuguese giants Porto and Serie A outfit Napoli to take part in the tournament.
Last season, Arsenal’s annual curtain raiser was cancelled due to the Olympic Games and this time stars such as Didier Drogba, Wesley Sneijder, Burak Yilmaz and former Gunner Emmanuel Eboue will hope to light up Arsenal’s home ground.
But fears have spread among some fans, who believe a repeat of events more than a decade prior could occur.
Although Arsenal face Napoli on the Saturday, they take on Galatasaray on the Sunday at 4.20pm.
David O’Leary of Arsenal fans group the Black Scarf Movement said: ‘Today Arsenal Football Club confirmed Galatasaray have been invited to the Emirates Cup.
When the Black Scarf Movement met with the club earlier this year we reiterated our concern with their appointment given the level of bad blood that still exists between the clubs since the 2000 UEFA Cup final and violence that ensued.
‘The semi-final versus Leeds was also subject to serious violence with two Leeds fans tragically losing their lives.
Our concern being that tickets are generally not segregated in the ground for this event.
In full force: Danish riot police in central Copenhagen, where the fighting broke Assistance: One supporter is taken away on a stretcher after the clashes Skirmish: One Arsenal fan clashes with a pair of Galatasaray fans as violence erupts in the background ‘ Coupled with hot weather and alcohol, it could be a lethal mix.
The club we believe have been advised by the authorities that no trouble is anticipated but sadly we see this as sponsorship ruling supporters safety.
‘ A number of Black Scarf Movement members have voiced dismay at their inclusions and we have passed these comments to the club.
Sadly it appears these have been ignored.
We hope for all concerned the event passes off incident free.’ On the club’s website, Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis said of the announcement: ‘We are delighted to be welcoming the Emirates Cup back to north London this summer after last year’s break.
‘We are welcoming three high-quality sides to this year’s competition again and I m sure we ll see some great football played over the two days.
‘Emirates has been the proud sponsor of the tournament since the inaugural competition in 2007 and we are very pleased to be working closely with them again on the Emirates Cup 2013.’ Weapons: Some supporters carried objects into the fights with opposing supporters Shove: An Arsenal supporter aims a push at a Galatasaray fan during the violent scenes Arrest: Two fans lie on the floor as police take them into custody after the clashes Out of control: One fan tries to throw a chair as two others come to blows Ouch: One supporter receives treatment for an ugly facial injury Bloodied: An Arsenal fan is photographed after he gets a nasty cut on his head Wounded: Gunners’ travelling fans try to help one fan who lies injured on the ground Vicious: An Arsenal supporter hurls a chair at Galatasaray supporters during the violence Carrying it on: The violence continued inside the ground as Arsenal fell to a penalty defeat Return: Didier Drogba left Shanghai Shenhua for Galatasaray in the January transfer window
Ambaka in world rugby dream team
Kenya National Sevens team player William Ambaka in action at a past match. PHOTO/FILE NATION By AYUMBA AYODI newsdesk@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Monday, May 13 2013 at 20:58
The pacy Kenya Sevens winger William Lomu Ambaka is literarily living his dream.
When the burly player earned his first international cap in March 2011 for the Hong Kong and Adelaide Sevens, he promised to light up the International Rugby Board World Sevens Series.
And what a breakthrough and a way to end the 2012/2013 World Series season for a player who has just turned 22.
Kenya finished fifth in the Series with 99 points behind winners New Zealand 173, South Africa 132, Fiji 121 and Samoa 104.
Finishing ahead of giants England, Australia, World champions Wales, Argentina and France is a big achievement for Ambaka s side that wound 12th last season.
Besides being at the centre of the national team s good performances that saw the Mike Friday side post its best ever finish in the World Series, the player earned yet another prestigious accolade.
For the first time the World Series Dream Team was unveiled for the 2012/13 season, highlighting the impact and achievements across the season of seven special players.
Ambaka, who emerged as the highest try scorer this season on the Kenyan side, having crossed the line 24 times, was among the seven finest players short-listed in the side. They were selected by the regular television broadcast commentators who, between them, poured over every minute of the action across the nine rounds of the Series.
The very first Dream Team features players from six different nations and three continents with two New Zealanders, a Samoan, a South African, a Fijian, a Kenyan and an Englishman. Besides Ambaka, there is Tim Mikkelson and Gillies Kaka from New Zealand, Samoan Afa Aiono, Frankie Horne of South Africa and Fijian Joji Ragamate.
Having drawn his nickname from All Blacks legendary winger Jonah Lomu, Ambaka, who was handed his first international capping by Benjamin Ayimba in 2011, easily caught the eyes of the subsequent coaches Mitch Ocholla and Friday.
Friday s decision to move the gentle giant into the centre and wing positions has proved inspired.
His was the telling performance when Kenya reached the Cup final in Wellington, beating New Zealand in the semis 19-14 in extra time before losing to England in the final 19-24 also in sudden death.
Kenya had edged out South Africa 21-20 in a match Ambaka scored a brace of tries. He had in the preliminaries made three try-saving as Kenya beat Canada 19-7 to reach the Cup final at Wellington, their second ever appearance at the stage since 2009.
He was also a big factor in the other three semi-finals they reached this season in Gold Coast, Dubai and London. It s at the London Sevens where Kenya beat Fiji for the first time in the Series 20-7 with Ambaka making one try.
All these achievements are through God and the hard work we have been putting in the past one season as a team.
It feels good because doing hard work and you get no results can be a nightmare, said Ambaka, who says the best is yet to come from him.
How did it feel beating South Africa and New Zealand for the first time since 2009 in Wellington and Fiji in the Series in London?
I can t explain the feeling but it s something I can t wait to feel again, said Ambaka with a telling laughter.
Ambaka s move to ditch soccer for rugby while in Form Two at Mombasa s Dr Aggrey High School in 2006 seems to have paid off after his maiden tour with Kenya A in November 2010 for the Carlton Sevens in Sri Lanka.
Ambaka, a third year Business Administration student at Kenya Methodist University (KEMU), noted that even though peer pressure swayed him to rugby, it s finally paying off.
Sevens coach Mike Friday sacked
National Seven-aside Rugby team head coach Mike Friday. Mr Friday and his strength and conditioning counterpart Chris Brown have been sacked. NATION
Kenya Sevens national team coach Mike Friday and his strength and conditioning counterpart Chris Brown have been sacked, the Kenya Rugby Union Elite Squads and Development director Philip Jalang o said.
In an email sent to newsrooms, Jalang o explained that Friday and his team failed to exemplify the Vision, Mission and Core Values of KRU at certain points of the season.
He said that the decision to fire the duo was arrived at by the KRU board after evaluation of the team s performance.
Jalango said that KRU has, with immediate effect, appointed Assistant Coach Felix Totti Ochieng as interim head coach and will be assisted by Western Province s (South Africa) Bronson Weir.
Felix has been with the program 10 years, and the board has great confidence in Felix’s ability, and Bronson Weir to guide the team to the world cup. The KRU board is not giving up on our long term goals for the Kenya 7 s program. He said in the statement.
Jalang o has been attracting controversy in his administrative career in rugby starting with his sacking and subsequent expulsion as the chairman of the Ngong Road-based Kenya Harlequins RFC.
He was later to be elected as a KRU director and controversy has stalked him since then.
He has been blamed for singlehandedly restructuring the 11 year old Bamburi Rugby Super Series.
Time to bring in a new crop of leaders to Athletics Kenya
I always underestimated the value of our world-beating sportsmen and women until one day when I was stuck in a queue manned by an extremely hostile immigration official in New Delhi.
India had just suffered a major terrorist attack in which militants detonated explosives outside the Delhi High Court killing a dozen people and injuring 76.
The visa officer seemed to be taking out his rage on the incoming visitors. He would take a casual look at the face of the person at the head of the queue, glance through their passport, and with a snarl worthy of an Indian jungle tiger, declare that they were not welcome in the country.
My turn came after a long wait when I presented my passport. Suddenly, the gentleman broke into a wide smile.
You are from Kenya!
he said. Maurice Odumbe! Steve Tikolo!
Those guys were absolutely great. They beat West Indies at the World Cup!
Needless to say the guy, who like many Indians was a cricket fanatic, stamped my passport and ushered me into the country.
Kenya is famous for many things these days. Barack Obama s roots probably trump everything else in the international imagination.
But one of the most consistent sources of its renown has been its athletes. Every four years, more than a billion people around the world have to listen to the national anthem after our athletes bag yet more gold.
But as we saw in the poor performance at the Olympics, the sportsmen and women excel in spite of, not because of, the officials in charge of athletics.
The standoff between Athletics Kenya and the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) and the extremely poor state of training facilities the athletes found in the UK was the kind of stuff that would see such officials shuttled off to detention without trial in a dictatorship.
Kenyans have legendarily short memories. There was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth while the games were on.
Soon after the camera lights were switched off, wananchi accepted things and moved on.
At the moment Athletics Kenya is holding its national elections. Nobody is paying any attention.
Without doubt, the old war horses Isaiah Kiplagat, David Okeyo and Joseph Kinyua will find their way back.
Hardly anyone challenges the incumbents in sports federations in Kenya because it is perceived wisdom that it is impossible to oust them and only the hand of God will ever eject them.
This is an unacceptable state of affairs. Sports has great potential to be a major employer in a country where mass youth unemployment is a big problem.
It can also elevate the country s profile and keep young people away from more damaging pursuits.
But this can only be possible with imaginative and energetic leadership at the top.
The Kiplagat generation (and not just in athletics but all sports federations) needs to make way for the likes of Moses Tanui, Paul Tergat and Catherine Ndereba to bring new ideas at the national level.
It won t happen this time.
But one must hope that Kiplagat (who has declared he is running for the last time in at least three elections), will call it quits after his term and hand the baton to a younger, more vibrant leadership.
Let's all be adults and shut up about MMA vs boxing already …
Brent Brookhouse offers a plea for fans and media to finally move past the tired and pointless boxing vs. MMA debate.
Were Jon Jones1 a boxer he would compete at heavyweight. That would seem to be a pretty minor statement, except that, for some reason, people feel the need to ask this man who cuts weight to make 205 if he would go to boxing and fight Floyd Mayweather “for like, the biggest payout.”
Around 6:10 of this video:
For those who don’t want to watch the video, here’s the exchange:
Host 1: Would you ever do anything crazy like get into boxing and fight Floyd Mayweather for like the biggest payout?
Jones: To be honest with you, if it was all hands, it would probably be a pretty competitive match.
But that’s not fighting, either. You can’t be at the bar and be like, alright, no kicking, no taking me down, don’t stretch my shirt out. It’s not like that.
What I do, I consider it to be the true art of fighting. To do everything. Fighting Floyd Mayweather wouldn’t even be right.
Nobody would want to see that.
Host 2: Some boxers have tried to make that transition into MMA…
Jones: James Toney2 did it about two years ago. He lost in the first round. Do not mess with an MMA fighter.
You don’t want to do that. It’s a bad look.
Floyd Mayweather fights at 147 pounds. He has gone up as high as 154 for a few fights n his career.
To put that in context, flip it and think about asking a heavyweight in boxing (or even a cruiserweight) if he would fight Jose Aldo3 or Ben Henderson4.
This was letter-for-letter the dumbest question I’ve heard a fighter asked in at least five years.
But Jones’ answer also spoke to this dopey thing that MMA fans still cling to. While the fires of MMA vs. Boxing have died down since the bad ol’ days, there’s still this “in a real fight” defense of one as superior.
And let’s all stop doing that.
The point of MMA is not to be a representation of a street fight or a bar fight.
It’s a sport. While Jones was slyly pointing out things you can’t do in boxing that you can in a bar, he left out things like: having your eyes poked, having your balls grabbed and twisted, hair pulling, being punched in the back of the head, worrying about friends jumping in, the use of weapons..etc. I don’t remember watching a bar fight where an observer stood nearby repeatedly yelling “DON’T GRAB THE CHAIR!
YOU CAN PUT YOUR HAND ON IT, BUT DON’T GRAB IT!”
Neither sport is “better,” nor is neither sport a representation of “true fighting.” Yes, MMA involves more aspects of “fighting” but unless you’re willing to accept that the next logical step of the argument is that the UFC had better rules in the first few “no-rules” shows because they were — and there’s no way to argue against this — more like a real fight, then you have to drop the “that’s not how fighting is on the streets” argument to denigrate the sport of boxing.
Similary, Tyson Fury’s ignorant and nonsensical challenges to Cain Velasquez5 and shots at MMA in general can still whip up a segment of the boxing fanbase into lame cries of how Fury can prove some point that nobody actually cares about.
And both sides have segments of their fanbase that won’t forget That One Time. Be it when James Toney showed up as out of shape as he’s ever been to fight Randy Couture6 or that time Ray Mercer knocked out Tim Sylvia7. Of course, neither fight proved anything beyond that watching old, fat (except Randy, he showed up in shape) former champions fight to try and have money to go buy some dinner is just sad.
Personal preference is all well and good.
If you simply enjoy MMA more because it’s more in line with what you enjoy watching, that’s great. The same goes the other way with boxing.
If I were to name my ten best fights in MMA and boxing of the last two years, I’m pretty sure that the list would be 100% boxing. Personally, there’s nothing in MMA that can hold a candle to something like the two Rios vs.
Alvarado fights or Bradley vs. Provodnikov or Pacquiao vs. Marquez..etc.
Similarly, there’s no boxing event that holds a candle in top-to-bottom action like a show like this last UFC on Fox provided.
Even a good undercard with legitimate and well-matched fights such as given on the Mayweather vs. Guerrero PPV comes anywhere close to what the UFC can provide for a “full night’s entertainment.”
But media have to stop feeding into this garbage. Sure, the guys who asked Jon Jones if he’d fight Floyd Mayweather despite a sixty pound weight advantage weren’t “MMA media” but it says something about the quality of questions asked by a large segment of MMA media that it’s entirely too easy to imagine that question coming at a UFC press conference or media call.
That doesn’t mean that when Fury tweets out his stuff about beating up Cain that media should pretend it doesn’t exist.
The traffic that it pulls means that there is public interest in Fury showing his ass. Similarly, the needle moved quite a bit when Fury’s twitter account blasted David Price and Tony Bellew, calling them “gay lovers” and subsequent tweets (which Fury claims were posted by his cousins) saying all gays should be shot.
The media doesn’t need to ignore these kinds of outbursts, especially if indicators prove that there is reader interest in them. But fans and media shouldn’t bite on selling them the way the fighters and promoters want.
When someone like Fury calls out Cain, feel free to call it idiotic.
Because it is. He’s not a mixed martial artist and he would almost certainly lose badly. Similarly, Fury would beat the breaks off Velasquez in a boxing match.
You can cover Tyson Fury being a fool without also selling his product.
When someone like Jones feeds into the “this is real fighting, like in the streets” mentality. Feel free to call it idiotic. Because it is.
The goal of neither sport is to be a street fight.
When a fan does the “x is better than y, fact” thing. Blow it off as idiotic. Because it is.
Personal preference doesn’t make a sport “better.” I can’t stand watching soccer, I find it ungodly boring. But that hardly makes it “worse” than football (no I won’t call it “American football”), which I could watch until my eyes bleed. But don’t take that as meaning that you shouldn’t engage in a spirited debate about the merits of either sport.
If you can help open eyes to the good of one of the two sports, that’s a good thing.
But one sport’s success doesn’t have to be seen as entwined with the failure of the other.
And, for the love of god, if you’re in the media…don’t feed it by asking these unbelievable waste of time questions of “would you go to the other sport and fight their champion?” Be better than that.
And if you can’t be better than that, find another job.
References
- ^ Jon Jones (www.sbnation.com)
- ^ James Toney (www.sbnation.com)
- ^ Jose Aldo (www.sbnation.com)
- ^ Ben Henderson (www.sbnation.com)
- ^ Cain Velasquez (www.sbnation.com)
- ^ Randy Couture (www.sbnation.com)
- ^ Tim Sylvia (www.sbnation.com)
Cupcakes, Cookies and Guns: High School Rugby Team Raffle …
The Snow Canyon Lady Warriors rugby team from St. George, Utah, wanted to raise funds for a national tournament in Wisconsin. In a parent-organized event last weekend, the girls were selling cookies, cupcakes and raffle tickets.
The baked treats were all well and good but some took issue with the raffle, which ended up being for a shotgun and a rifle, the Salt Lake City Tribune reported1.
(Photo: Dorothy Engelman via ST.
George News)
The raffle for the firearm, like a couple others TheBlaze has reported on in recent months2, drew criticism in the town from residents and school officials who didn t believe it was an appropriate item.
This is a highly inappropriate way for a team to raise money, no matter how desperately it s needed, Dorothy Engelman told the Tribune3, saying she also notified the school after seeing it. Having our young people hawk raffle tickets for guns seems very insensitive at the least, given recent mass shootings and the high rate of youth suicides in Utah. Is this what we want to teach our children?
Snow Canyon Lady Warriors, a team club composed of high school and middle school student.s (Photo: Home Teams Online4)
Unlike official teams of the school, the rugby team is considered a club sport and doesn t receive any funding outside of what the girls bring together themselves.
The rugby team has had a great season and has done such great things for our community, Snow Canyon Principal Warren Brooks said.
We love the rugby team. We love the program. But we can t condone this.
We don t want foolish things to mar their good name.
Brooks told the Tribune that the school promptly shut down the raffle for the gun when it heard about what was going on. The raffle in general, regardless of the gun, was against school fund raising policies. An administrator said the club was only granted permission for a bake and rummage sale.
Head coach of the USA Rugby governed team, Cathy Hasfurther, who volunteers in the position, said she was not aware of the fundraiser but not that gun would be raffled off.
St.
George News reported Brooks saying the club5 would face some sort of punishment for the raffle, but he wouldn t elaborate further. The publication then reported the rules of Utah Youth Rugby, the state-level of the league, whose president said it didn t violate any league codes.
Unless it involves drugs, alcohol, or pornography, we do not prohibit what the teams do, Michael Cressler, president of the state league, told St. George News.
Another club team in the state earlier this year, the Uintah Utes hockey team, raffled an AR-15 to raise money to attend the national tournament.
This Uintah High School team s raffle was protested by a graduate but was allowed to carry on none the less and raised $5,000.
Engleman told St. George News she doesn t second guess her decision to alert the school about the controversial raffle, but the chairwoman of the Washington County Democratic Party noted to the St. George Daily Spectrum6 that she has been threatened by others for her involvement.
I m not against the Second Amendment.
All I did was exercise my First Amendment rights, she said.
The amount of flak I ve taken on this has been just incredible.
Related:
References
- ^ Salt Lake City Tribune reported (www.sltrib.com)
- ^ reported on in recent months (www.theblaze.com)
- ^ told the Tribune (www.sltrib.com)
- ^ Home Teams Online (www.hometeamsonline.com)
- ^ reported Brooks saying the club (www.stgeorgeutah.com)
- ^ noted to the St.
George Daily Spectrum
(www.thespectrum.com)
Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund won’t throw caution to the wind
Bayern’s Jupp Heynckes, left, and Dortmund’s J rgen Klopp have been more cautious in recent games between the clubs.
Photograph: Sebastian Kahnert/Kevin Kurek/EPA Since Borussia Dortmund emerged as Bayern Munich’s main challengers in 2010, the matches between the two have always been won by the dominant side at the time.
During 2010-11 and 2011-12, two seasons when Dortmund won the Bundesliga, they recorded five consecutive victories over Bayern, running up an aggregate score of 12-3.
This campaign, with Bayern running away with the title, the tables have been turned the three matches this season, across three competitions, have produced two Bayern wins and a draw Jupp Heynckes’ side were entirely happy with, as it helped to preserve their considerable points advantage over Dortmund in the league.
The contests have been so fascinating because of the obvious difference in style.
Bayern favour proactive possession football and boast the second-best ball retention statistics in Europe, behind the Barcelona side they unceremoniously thrashed 7-0 in the semi-finals.
On the other hand, Dortmund are about quick transitions, transferring the ball into attack immediately to break at a disorganised opposition defence.
The most memorable meeting between the two clubs remains last season’s DFB-Pokal final, when Dortmund ran out 5-2 winners.
“5-2.
Five-two.
FIVE-two.
No matter how many times those two numbers echoed through the minds of millions, they just didn’t make sense,” wrote Raphael Honigstein.
But as impressive as the result was the pure style of Dortmund’s performance.
They enacted J rgen Klopp’s strategy beautifully soaking up pressure close to their own box, before breaking with outstanding pace.
The one-touch interplay was tremendous, the way Shinji Kagawa, Kevin Grosskreutz and Jakub Blaszczykowski tracked their opponent in the defensive phase of play, before springing in behind when Dortmund won the ball, underlined the modern coaching obsession with transitions between two phases of play.
As Dortmund’s fifth victory in a row over Bayern, it seemed their natural approach perfectly suited the challenge.
Another seven-goal thriller at Wembley is unlikely in their meetings this season both sides have become more cautious.
Bayern continue to dominate possession but are reluctant to throw so many players forward into attack at once, for fear of leaving large gaps for Dortmund to break into.
On the other hand, Klopp seems less confident his side can outplay Bayern, and has switched from his usual 4-2-3-1 to a more cautious 4-3-3 system.
Either Blaszczykowski or Grosskreutz has been used as an additional deep central midfielder, while Mario G tze and Marco Reus have been used on either flank usually one starts as a No10 and they combine on the break.
Klopp has essentially decided that Bayern’s possession play has become so dangerous that he needs another player in the centre to disrupt it and has sacrificed some counter-attacking potential as a result.
Dortmund are more fearful of Bayern this season, with good reason.
The joker in the pack, however, is the fact Bayern might not return to their possession-based approach against Dortmund.
Heynckes’ side shocked Europe with their astonishing level of dominance over Barcelona, but what was strategically so impressive was that they altered their normal game to become highly physical and reactive.
There were spells of good possession, certainly, but Bayern didn’t concentrate on outplaying Barcelona at their own game, instead exposing their traditional weaknesses a lack of strength, a lack of height at set pieces, and a vulnerability on the counterattack, particularly in full-back positions.
It’s not uncommon for elite teams to have a “European” approach that is distinctly separate from their strategy in the league.
When Jos Mourinho’s Inter won the European Cup in 2010, their highly defensive performances against Chelsea and Bayern were significantly different from the approach used to wrap up the Serie A title.
It’s not unreasonable to think Bayern will continue their reactive approach in the final, mixing possession play with quick breaks down the flanks.
Arjen Robben and Franck Rib ry were their key attacking weapons at the Camp Nou on Wednesday night and, although they won’t enjoy such space against a disciplined, compact Dortmund side, it would be a shame to waste their talents.
Robben settled the German Cup meeting between these sides in February with a typical left-footed curled effort into the far corner.
While Bayern’s possession dominance against Dortmund has been effective this season, a major part of their gameplan has been Toni Kroos.
He was the dominant player in the 1-1 draw earlier this season by roaming between the lines, from where he opened the scoring.
His probable absence from the final leaves Heynckes without anyone who can play that advanced midfield role Thomas M ller is a different type of player, and his strengths encourage Bayern to attack more directly.
At the start of the campaign, this Saturday’s league meeting between the two appeared a likely title decider, by January it already appeared an irrelevance as Bayern had taken a commanding league lead, but now it’s a dry run for the biggest game of the season.
Bayern and Dortmund hardly need a dress rehearsal the European Cup final at Wembley will be the 10th meeting between the sides in the last three seasons and the players know each other perfectly well.
Strategically it’s up to the coaches to provide a surprise in the final.
Michael Cox is the editor of tactics website zonalmarking.net
Recent Comments