Three Cup Finals And Lashings Of Beer

I don’t subscribe to sport on TV. I don’t think it’s worth it as there are only so many events that I am interested in and I really can’t justify the monthly subscription just to watch the one or two games that I really want to see. Ultimately, if I was really that desperate to watch something there is always the pub. However, I do enjoy watching a game of football and yesterday offered me the unique chance of watching three cup finals in succession as the football cup finals for Scotland, England and Germany were being shown at 3, 5 and 7 o’clock respectively.

First up was the Scottish  cup final between Dundee United and St Johnstone which was being played at Celtic Park as the usual venue of Hampden Park is currently converted to an athletics stadium for the Commonwealth Games. On paper these two teams were well matched having finished 4th and 6th in the league. It seemed to be the case as possession and shots were shared out for most of the first half until Saints grabbed a goal just before the break. To their credit, United kept badgering away right through the second half but somehow seemed to lack a clinical final touch and were undone 5 minutes from time when St Johnstone scored a second. Overall a highly entertaining game and a huge day for St Johnstone who picked up their first major trophy.

Next up was the FA Cup final from Wembley with a much fancied Arsenal against plucky underdogs Hull City. Fortunately, for a neutral, nobody had told Hull this and they raced to a 2-0 lead in under 8 minutes. It wasn’t until 15 minutes in that Arsenal realised that the match had started and they began the task of clawing back the game with a neatly taken free kick. Having the underdog leading makes for great viewing and it becomes a case of whether they can defend a narrow lead for the remainder of the game. They gave it a good shot but it wasn’t to be with Arsenal persevering and clinching a 3-2 victory in extra time. It was well deserved but the extra time also knocked my timings, causing me to miss the first 28 minutes of the German cup final.

As it was, I didn’t miss much. The German cup final doesn’t quite have the romance that surrounds the FA Cup but Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund seemed to simply cancel each other out. I’ve enjoyed watching Bayern over the years but I had hoped that Dortmund would take them down a peg or two as they have been dominating the German league too much – draining the talent of the less wealthy clubs. However, they aren’t even that fantastic to watch these days as Pep Guardiola has fashioned them into a sort of Germanic Barcelona with lots of possession and short passes but without the barnstorming counter attacks of old. Bayern have barely lost a game domestically all season so it is obviously effective but on this occasion Dortmund were robbed as Dante cleared a Mats Hummels header from behind the goal line – the “goal” was not awarded and Bayern went on to win 2-0 in extra time. The funny thing is, as British audiences seem to have picked up on the joys of German football it appears to have lost some of its sparkle.

Through all of this couch potato football spectating I did manage to keep myself refreshed and managed to find suitable beers from each nation. At least I though I did. The main Scottish beer on offer at the local supermarket was Tennent’s Lager which is a mostly tasteless concoction that always reminds me of a piece of graffiti I one saw over the urinal in a Glasgow pub: an arrow pointing downwards with the words “Tennent’s brewery this way”. I ended up getting something called “Burns Ale” with a picture of The Bard on the front. It was nice stuff but turns out to be brewed in Kent. For the English game I went for Hobgoblin: a ruby ale from Oxfordshire with a somewhat overbearing flavour although one I would go for again. I was going to try and find some quality German lager for the last game but Asda did Holstein or Becks (which are possibly not even brewed in Germany any more.) I nipped into Lidl and went for their  Grafenwalder stuff which is actually German, decent enough for the price and by the time Bayern were lifting their trophy I didn’t care that much anyway. So that was 3 matches in 6 and a bit hours – now bring on the World Cup!