must have sucked to be lineker on sunday.
tbf fair a lot of neutrals would have thought job done, game over at 0-3. ofc we all hoped, but when fernandes scored most of us were probably wanting a consolation goal- a little bit of cheer for the day. the come back did not look on at the time. however, as we know, that's the beauty of football, every once in a while the foregone conclusion narrative gets torn up and we start to dream again. and this one was one fucking massive fever dream.
i didnt realise it during the match but after the O'Hare goal my phone was getting hammered from different mates and people i havent seen in ages up and down the country telling me it was on and we can do it. for the pen appeal they were shouting for the cov. when the penno was scored they were jumping up and down and at 4-3 they were going proper mental. they shared in the grief too, obvs not to the same extent as us but they were with us. i've been told and read in comments of articles of football fans who'd never cheered so hard for a team that wasn't theirs etc.
we were in the stadium it was electric, cov fans watching on tv were also at full voice, living every agonising second. even randoms watching on TV were drawn into the comeback in a way that only happens to neutrals a few times in a whole lifetime. you can go multiple seasons watching football, hoping for a match like that.
so lineker missed one of the great football dramas. game of the season. everyone who saw it play out will remember it. but he didnt get drawn in. he turned over and watched a shit prem match. like i say, must have sucked to be him on Sunday.
it had to be real-time and with the jepardy of not knowing. letting the drama wash over you. minute by minute, second by second, toenail by toenail. on the guardian podcast they said looking at the cov crowd during the match was like a scene from braveheart. it sort of felt like that too. the wall of noise blasting the eardrums, reverberating the whole body.
i was by the press box, when they arrived it was another day in the office. when we live and die started they were all getting their phones out capturing it, blown away by the noise but cov bringing the noise to wembo was just the start for them. the manchester journos aside when the drama unfolded everone was on their feet, taken in, unable to fully comprehend what they were seeing and hearing. some of them had been at wembley the day before for the other semi final- empty seats and all. but this time it was different. they were seeing what happens when the FA Cup means something to people.
for drama, for pride, we showed the watching world that football can be so much better than the souless, corporate and commercial offering that the prem has become and lineker is the face of. once again must have sucked to be him on sunday.
