FA Cup Final Frustrations

I tried listening to the FA Cup Final via the internet today, but didn’t have too much luck. First BBC Five Live had the pre-match build up but they broke in with their “We’re sorry, but due to contractual obligations, we’re unable to bring today’s event to you” message. Damn!

I switched to the BBC World Service over the internet and managed to listen to the first ten minutes of the match before they switched mid-sentence to a boring radio documentary.

So I resorted to enduring the BBC text commentary from their web site, which is an agonizing way to follow the match but better than nothing indeed.

During the second half, I decided to listen to the BBC Scotland radio commentary and watch the BBC text commentary at the same time. BBC Scotland were broadcasting the Scottish Cup final live between Hearts and Gretna, which was equally as exciting as the Liverpool match. And the Scots broke in a couple of times with the scoreline from the Liverpool and West Ham final.

When the FA Cup Final went to penalty kicks, I went back to BBC Five Live and decided to try my luck. Thankfully the live broadcast was on and I was able to hear Jose Reina saving the Anton Ferdinand penalty kick which clinched the Cup final win for the Reds!

Commiserations to both West Ham and Gretna who both came so close to stunning the world and almost beating the favorites. Both finals seemed to be full of excitement.

Looking ahead, if Arsenal can beat Barcelona, this’ll mean that the top four teams in England will have each won a trophy (Chelsea: Premiership trophy; Man United: Carling Cup; Liverpool, FA Cup; and Arsenal: Possible Champions League trophy winners).