Monthly Archives: May 2025

Sports

A plea for an entertaining Champions League Final

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Herman Edwards said it best almost 23 years ago: “This is what the greatest things about sports is: you play to win the game! HELLO?!?! YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME! You don’t play to just play it….”

While Edwards was referring to American football specifically, the phrase can be applied to all sports. There is a very fine line between playing to win and playing to not lose.

And in the case of the UEFA Champions League Final – the European equivalent of the Super Bowl – the examples of playing to not lose have become alarmingly more common in recent years.

2018 was the last year a Champions League Final saw both teams score in the biggest annual club game on the planet. Since then, all subsequent matches have finished 1-0 or 2-0, although one match in that group doesn’t deserve to be labeled as dull or boring. In 2022, Liverpool created multiple chances only to be bested by Thibaut Courtois. Goalkeepers can have moments of glory in these matches, too, and Courtois was clearly the star of the night in Paris.

But the majority of recent finals tend to see cautious play, with one team eventually taking a lead and the other trying desperately to find an equalizer before time runs out. So can Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain make it a night that fans will remember for the right reasons?

There is reason to think that it will be a proactive game from both teams. Inter was able to overcome tough matchups in the knockout rounds with goals aplenty, including two goals in each of their quarterfinal legs with Bayern Munich and seven over 210 minutes of their epic semifinal with Barcelona. For PSG – in search of its first European Cup triumph – they had to work to oust Liverpool on penalties in the Round of 16, but had greater success finding the net against Aston Villa and Arsenal in later rounds.

Another factor in the entertainment level would be when the opening goal is scored Saturday. Each of the last three finals saw a scoreless scoreline at halftime, with teams happy to play more cautious as the second half progresses. Should either PSG or Inter find the net in the opening 45 – and odds are one team will – that will open the match up for more chances. And don’t count out those who are classified as defenders; Denzel Dumfries & Achraf Hakimi, for instance, have shown a willingness to become impromptu forwards.

It’s been a while since a Champions League Final was regarded as an instant classic. If 2025 is to break that drought, fans can hope it’s due to solid play and a proactive approach; it would make for an appropriate end to an eventful season.

Sports

A Fitting End to a Woeful Season

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Was I being overly optimistic, or just plain naive?

Back in January, I wrote about how Manchester United may have finally turned a corner to head in a positive direction. They’d held eventual Premier League champions Liverpool to a draw at Anfield, and held firm to take an FA Cup match with Arsenal to penalties, where they ousted the Gunners. It seemed as if momentum could be heading back for good to Old Trafford.

Well, a kind of momentum did arrive in the red half of Manchester for the remainder of the season. The other kind.

United’s Europa League Final loss to Tottenham was just the latest setback in a campaign that will be remembered as the worst in a generation. In a matchup of the fifth- and fourth-worst teams in the Premier League, it seems appropriate that the only goal came from a moment of chaos, rather than a moment of brilliance. Brennan Johnson will be the name in lights for Spurs fans to remember, though it could’ve been given as an own goal against Luke Shaw, and the defender wouldn’t have had much room to argue.

But away from the disappointment of just Wednesday’s result in Bilbao, it’s been clear for some time that this Manchester United are incapable of putting together consistent results. They have not won a Premier League game since mid-March, dropping five of their last six in that competition; only a stoppage-time goal from Rasmus Hojlund at Bournemouth keeps that statistic from being six straight losses. With Sunday’s finale against an Aston Villa side that are in contention for a top-five finish, there’s little reason to think United can play spoiler.

So how did one of the iconic brands of the sport get here? A lot of it starts with the back-and-forth of whether to bring back Erik ten Hag for the start of the season. Despite winning the FA Cup in May 2024 over rivals Manchester City, it seemed apparent that the Dutchman’s approach wasn’t working, and a change was needed over the summer. Instead, the club directors stuck with ten Hag for the start of 2024/25, only to part ways in October and give Ruben Amorim a “now-or-never” ultimatum about joining as new manager. Amorim has continually urged patience, and stated after Wednesday’s match that he remains the best man for the job, but the question is whether even he has realized the true scope of the rebuilding that needs to be done.

With no European competition to fall back on next season, United will have no choice but to improve in domestic competitions, and a strong start is paramount to that. The only reason they weren’t in serious danger of relegation this season was because Ipswich, Leicester, and Southampton were all considerably worse. Is it a guarantee that Leeds, Burnley, or other clubs will be equally as bad next year? Or will the players finally realize they need to be proactive and play to the potential that prompted the club to make an investment in them?

Those are questions that will require hard decisions and answers over the next few months. But for now, the fact is that in just over a decade, Manchester United has gone from the dominant brand in English football to a “has-been” punch line, truly the Premier League’s equivalent to the Dallas Cowboys.

There is no joy in the red half of Manchester. Even the eternally optimistic have noticed.