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Must-See Finish: Watford beats Leicester City

WatfordDeeney (Getty)

By IVES GALARCEP

There are crazy endings, and then there are endings like the one seen in England today between Watford and Leicester City.

Anthony Knockaert stood at the penalty spot, prepared to take a penalty kick that would send his Leicester City through to the English League Championship promotion final at Wembley. Make it, and Leicester City is a step closer to the English Premier League. Miss it, and the teams would likely be headed to extra time.

Things didn’t quite work out that way.

Manuel Almunia saved Knockaert’s penalty (which was awarded on a questionable call), and also saved the rebound attempt. This set off a furious charge forward by Watford that culminated in a winning goal from Troy Deeney in the seventh minute of stoppage time.

In case you missed the wild ending, here it is:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf0B9iqgefE]

Comments

  1. This just happened a week or two ago, in an almost identical situation (missed penalty, run up the field and score) in England. I cannot remember the team’s, and am too lazy to look them up.

    Reply
      • Clearly the World Cup should be held in a league format with one table of 209 teams, each playing home and away for a total of 416 matches. We could start the World Cup league now and finish it ups sometime around when Neymar retires.

    • Are you kidding? Having had my team (West Ham United) play in the playoff final last year, I can st unequivocally that it was the most exciting, nerve wracking game I’ve ever watched. And I am Cardinals fan and sat watching game Six in 2011 and I wasn’t that nervous.

      Reply
    • I was being facetious, with all the Euro-snobs who tell us that MLS playoffs are wrong, then no doubt think this was a great game even though they’re artificially manufactured playoffs when they could just simply award the 3rd promotion spot like they do the first two.

      Reply
      • The MLS playoffs are wrong because that’s where the emphasis is, instead of how the team did throughout the season. It should be that the season winner gets the most accolades, followed by the tournament, than the Open Cup.

        That and the Championship playoffs pit four teams against themselves, not half the league.

      • Give it a rest….and MLS playoffs rock too.

        Mike in Missouri wins with the sarcastic remark of the day.

      • I agree with Josh.
        As with most American leagues too many teams make the playoffs (ie: hockey (which I like) they play 80 games for HALF the teams to get into the playoffs, some of whom are not even necessarily above .500% and it negates any value to the whole season except to accumulate statistics.

  2. Out of context, I’m not sure I understand why it was a big deal that he missed the PK and then Watford got the goal? Wouldn’t the result have been the same with just the missed PK?

    Just wondering the context better. Thanks for any replies.

    Reply
    • Um no, it was 2-2 on aggregate, not sure if away goals have any weight or not though. Someone can touch on the rules that know them better for this particular competition, I believe they were headed for extra time though

      Reply
      • Correct, they were going to extra time. They do not use away goals in the lower division playoffs.

    • They were tied on aggregate; with the miss, the game was most likely going to extra time. Watford’s goal sent them through – 3-2 on aggregate!

      Reply
  3. Lol that is where Almunia is now? That double save was better than anything he did in his entire time at Arsenal

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      • They still have a final to play so this could be for nothing. Kind of like the USWNT’s comeback in the semifinals or quarterfinals or whatever it was in the last WWC just to lose to Japan in the final.

        Now if they win it will be a lot like that stupid shot they always show every March from the prettyboy from Duke who should have been tossed for stomping a Kentucky player earlier in the game.

        (Also note, I’m from Kentucky and this is the first time in 21 years that I’ve been able to talk about it without cussing!)

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