A 90 minute borefest decided by a cheap shot...

  ...welcome to soccer in the year 2007.

I know I bang on about the death of soccer alot but last nights Uefa Champions League 'game' (and I use the term loosely) between Manchester United and Lille was a brilliant example.

Is anybody talking about what the score was or who won today? The answer is no. Is anybody describing in painfully acute detail the winning goal? No again. In fact, the only thing that gets a mention from last nights game (and it only gets mentioned by those with absolutely nothing else whatsoever to talk about, like err... me...) is something that nearly happened. The Lille players nearly walked off the pitch after Ryan Giggs 'scored' from a free kick.

I may be going against the grain of popular thought out there, but isn't having the most important matches of the soccer calender decided by a cheap shot taken when the other team isn't ready, just a little bit... well... sad?  (and by sad I mean 'loser' sad and not cry me a river, boohoo sad...)

The game itself was awful. Neither team ever looked like they particularly wanted the win (which is pretty much par for the course in top flight European Soccer these days), a lucky cheap shot was the deciding factor and at the end of the game, both sides claimed that Uefa should do something about the state of play in the sport (which Uefa will completely ignore of-course, as they do every week).

I only wish that this kind of game hadn't become the type of stereotypical match we have come to expect week in and week out. Screw it, I'm off to watch lawn bowls...