Fulham on Wednesday were competing for their first European Cup in their history. The fixture was in Germany against Atletico Madrid. Fulham have had a dream run on their way to Hamburg as they have dispatched giants such as Hamburg and Juventus.
Roy Hodgson has become a colt figure at Craven Cottage and this was one of his greatest achievements yet as he took his mid table Premiership side all the way to Germany.
The night got under way with a huge travelling contingent from both Spain and England. The atmosphere was electric as both teams knew what was on the line. Atletico have always been behind their big brother in Real Madrid and they wanted a repeat of the Glory days.
Atletico got off to a great start with Diego Forlan scoring to send the Spaniards into raptures in the stands, only for Fulham to equalise soon after from a superb Davies volley. At half time the coaches were both happy with their respective clubs but knew something special was needed to win the famous Cup.
As full time neared both teams made substitutions and when extra time arrived, Diego Forlan popped up with 115 minutes on the clock to finish Fulham off and snare a remarkable Cup double to give Atletico Madrid the goal to help them lift the Cup.
Fulham looked dejected after the match but certainly were the surprise pack and deserve huge praises as they have gone a long way in a very long season for the relatively small club.
Meanwhile Australia has formally applied to host a World Cup with the official Bid Book handed over at FIFA headquarters in Zurich. Australia has a strong record in hosting major international sporting events (such as the Sydney Olympics). One practical guarantee in the Australian proposal are three new stadiums.
"Christians in Sport UK" has a column on their web site titled 'Team Talk' and this week's topic is 'Disappointment", something for which we can all associate from time to time.
http://www.christiansinsport.org.uk/main/resources/talks-interviews/blog/team-talk--disappointment