Feelfootball blog

The view from the middle

Thu May 15 10:55AM

In England this weekend, all eyes will be on two of the league's less elevated teams. Indeed one of them isn't even based in England. Cardiff City meet Portsmouth in the FA Cup final. The encounter is a throwback to another era altogether. Portsmouth have not won the oldest competition in world football since 1939, while Cardiff have not featured at all in the running since 1927. You almost expect the two teams to run out on to the freshly laid Wembley turf wearing shorts so voluminous you could parachute in them. For the fans it is a remarkable moment. After years of watching the big four teams carve up the FA Cup in the way they have the Premiership, none of them can seriously expected to have been in this position at the end of the season. But what about the neutral? Are you glad to see someone different trotting out to complete the domestic season? Or does the lack of the big names mean you will be spending Saturday afternoon down the DIY centre? What do you think?

Earleir this week I spoke with Feel Football Champion Anders Frisk and asked him for his referee's take on the season's final. Last week, Ruud Gullit said he felt that whoever won the English Premier League title race will win the Champions League too. Momentum will push Manchester United over the finish line ahead of Chelsea. Frisk, however, did not agree.
 
"I think that Chelsea will have so much determination to show against Manchester United, they will not want to hand them two victories, so they will do whatever it takes to win the UEFA Champions League Final," he says. "There is lots of feeling in that team. And I think it will be a fantastic Final, because the build up to it has been excellent - the Premier League title race, the talks before matches, everything has been good, and now we look forward to the two top teams in England taking each other on in Moscow. It is one for not only the fans, but for all supporters of football."

It is a game he would love to be officiating. Though he would have preferred to have seen it played elsewhere.
 
"It would be great," he agrees. "When I stopped in March 2005, with two months to go before the Champions League final, I was one of the three referees that could have been picked - but I had stopped by the time the Final happened. But for this one, it would be really amazing, really special. Although the one thing I would say is that to have a big final like this, with two massive teams, Moscow is not so fantastic - it would be amazing if it was in the Bernabau or the Nou Camp. But, that said, I am sure they will put on a good show and when I am sitting in the stadium I am sure it will be a fantastic atmosphere."

From a referee's point of view, is it more difficult to officiate in a game between two sides from the same country, sides who know each other's games so intimately?

"It depends if you have a home or away team. It is best in the World Cup, where you have two big crowds from two big teams, supporters from both sides, in a big stadium it makes a fantastic atmosphere. In this situation, the Champions League final may be a very difficult match to referee, on paper, but it has often been a situation where a match is built up as a war and then is actually a very good match. I have been in situations like that before, like refereeing a Germany versus Netherlands match, or Portugal versus Spain, they are built up to be aggressive matches, a battle, but they were fine. Barcelona versus Real Madrid was too. You just can never tell, and you just have to be prepared and keep your eyes open."

As for the strange paradox that sees two English sides in the Champions League final, but the England national side not participating in Euro 2008, Frisk cannot find a simple answer.
 
"You have Manchester United with lots of English players and Chelsea have some too, but you have the best league in the world with the Premier League and all the good players want to come and are picked if they are good," he says. "There are lots of foreign players and that is good for domestic football. The problem is the England players have a completely different attitude when they are playing for the National team. If you look at the players playing for their clubs they have a passion, they are hungry, determined, offensive. John Terry, for instance, in a national team is not the same person. He seems to have more heart for his club. Jamie Carragher, for example, for Liverpool he is fantastic, he has heart and passion, but this fades away when he puts on the National shirt. It is as if everyone thinks someone else will take the responsibility."

That's the view of the man who used to blow the whistle. What's yours?

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