Pennant Fever

We don't have pennant races in America any more, and that's a real shame, because nothing in sports is so dramatic as a good pennant race. This season, Manchester United -- who have dominated English football since the early 1990's -- has been in a tremendous dogfight with Manchester City, United's long-time doormat whose fans hate United in much same way Red Sox fans hate the Yankees.

In the early part of the year, City was fantastic -- they crushed United 6-1 at Old Trafford and led the league for months. But City are famous for choking -- they call it Cityitis -- and sure enough they started to fade down the stretch. In soccer you get three points for a win and one point for a draw, and United had an eight-point lead with only six games left. Personally, I thought the race was over at that point. But then United, which has long been the gold standard for consistency, suffered a stunning collapse. On April 11, they lost 1-0 at the tiny club of Wigan Athletic. They returned home to pound Aston Villa 4-0 on April 15, but then were tied 4-4 by Everton at home -- the only game all season where Everton scored four goals. Meanwhile, City won three games in a row to draw within three points of their hated rivals. And when City beat United 1-0 in a huge showdown, the long-suffering Sky Blues took the lead on goal difference.

Now City only had to win their last two games in order to take the title for the first time since 1967-68. Their next game was a very tricky away match at Newcastle, who had been almost unbeatable at home. But City beat Newcastle 2-0, and came home needing a win against Queens Park Rangers to win the crown.

City was heavily favored, but QPR was highly motivated for a victory. QPR was trapped in a serious relegation battle, and they needed a win to be sure of staying in the Premier League next season. The result was a pulsating game that will be talked about for decades to come.

United jumped out to an early 1-0 lead at Sunderland, and kept that lead for the rest of the game. So they were going to finish with 89 points. City could get to 89 points -- and win the title on goal difference -- only if they beat QPR. They appeared to be on their way at halftime, as they led QPR 1-0. But three minutes into the second half, QPR stunned the fans at City of Manchester Stadium by scoring an equalizing goal. Seven minutes later, City fans got some good news -- a QPR player was thrown out of the game for violent play, meaning that QPR was down to only ten men. Unfortunately, Cityitis struck again -- in the 66th minute, QPR's 10 men scored a goal to take the lead 2-1. Suddenly, City needed two goals in less than 30 minutes to win the match.

Americans think that no one scores in soccer, but that's in large part because soccer teams aren't usually trying to score. They like to play defense, because attacking teams tend to give up goals -- as City did to make the score 2-1. But now City had no chance: they poured forward, sending wave after wave of attacks toward QPR's goal. City had 90 league goals going into this game -- United was the only other team with more than 80 league goals -- so they have a very strong offense. However, QPR's 10 men were playing inspired soccer, and they fended off one attack after another.

70 minutes gone: Manchester City 1 - 2 Queens Park Rangers
75 minutes gone: Manchester City 1 - 2 Queens Park Rangers
80 minutes gone: Manchester City 1 - 2 Queens Park Rangers
85 minutes gone: Manchester City 1 - 2 Queens Park Rangers

By this point, the TV cameras were picking out despairing City fans, who were in tears all over the stadium.

When the regulation 90 minutes had ended, City still trailed by 2-1. But soccer has a concept called "stoppage time." Whenever there is a stoppage in play, the clock keeps running -- but the referee keeps track of how much time was lost. Then the referee tacks that time on at the end of the half. For this game, City was given five extra minutes to save their season. Meanwhile, United was wrapping up their 1-0 victory over Sunderland. Unless QPR gave up two goals in stoppage time, United would capture yet another title.

By this point, City's relentless pressure was generating one corner kick after another. (They finished with 19 corner kicks to 0 for QPR). Two minutes into injury time, this paid off with a goal TO TIE THE GAME AT TWO! Of course, this was not enough -- a draw for City would leave them with only 87 points, two behind United. So they returned to the attack.

In 1989, Arsenal famously scored a goal in stoppage time to beat Liverpool 2-0, thereby capturing their first title since 1970-71. No season has ended in similar fashion since -- great pennant races are rare. But with less than a minute left in the 2011-12 season, Sergio Aguero (an Argentinean striker who is the son-in-law of the legendary Diego Maradona) pounced on a ball that was bouncing around eight yards from goal AND BLASTED IT INTO GOAL TO WIN THE GAME, AND THE TITLE, FOR CITY!!!!! At long last, City's 44 years of suffering were at an end. Their fans flooded the pitch as soon as the final whistle blew. And who can blame them? All those years of losing. All those years of living with United fans. All those years of being mocked. And now they are the champions. Good for them. We have already taken down the United scarf from the traditional place of honor in our rec room, and replaced it with Man City's scarf.

Sir Alex Ferguson, the Bobby Knight of soccer, responded to United's defeat with his usual graciousness. That will make City fans even happier.

There was also good news for QPR, which managed to stay up despite their heart-breaking loss. Based on today's performance, they deserved it.

Meanwhile, Arsenal and Spurs both won to clinch third and fourth place respectively. Arsenal will be in next year's Champions League, and Spurs will be there too -- unless Chelsea captures a spot by winning the Champions League final over Bayern Munich.

The three relegated teams are Bolton Wanderers (who have been in the top flight since 2001-02), Blackburn Rovers (who have also been up since 2001-02), and Wolverhampton Wanderers (last promoted in 2009-10).

FINAL STANDINGS (teams in bold have clinched a spot in next season's Champions' League; teams in italics have been relegated):

1. Manchester City: 28-5-5 (89 points) (goal difference of 64)
2. Manchester Utd: 28-5-5 (89 points) (goal difference of 56)
3. Arsenal: 21-10-7 (70 points)
4. Tottenham Hotspur: 20-9-9 (69 points)
5. Newcastle United: 19-11-8 (65 points)
6. Chelsea: 18-10-10 (64 points)
7. Everton: 15-12-11 (56 points)
8. Liverpool: 14-14-10 (52 points) (goal difference of 7)
9. Fulham: 14-14-10 (52 points) (goal difference of minus 3)
10. West Bromwich Albion: 13-17-8 (47 points) (goal difference of minus 7) (45 goals scored)
11. Swansea City: 12-15-11 (47 points) (goal difference of minus 7) (44 goals scored)
12. Norwich City: 12-15-11 (47 points) (goal difference of minus 14)
13. Sunderland: 11-15-12 (45 points) (goal difference of minus 1)
14. Stoke City: 11-15-12 (45 points) (goal difference of minus 17)
15. Wigan Athletic: 11-17-10 (43 points)
16. Aston Villa: 7-14-17 (38 points)
17. Queens Park Rangers: 10-21-7 (37 points)
18. Bolton Wanderers: 10-22-6 (36 points)
19. Blackburn Rovers: 8-23-7 (31 points)
20. Wolverhampton Wanderers: 5-23-10 (25 points)