4 hours ago
6
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23 min Poor Joe Rodon is in the wars. He was caught earlier by Brobbey and now Simon Adingra has taken him out with a late challenge. It looked clumsy rather than malicious but Rodon is in a lot of pain.
20 min Perri is quickly off his line to beat Brobbey to a through ball. Good goalkeeping because Brobbey had forced his way between two defenders.
19 min “The great thing about FA Cup finals in the 1970s,” says Andrew Goudie, “was that there were three winners from outside the top division (Sunderland, Southampton and West Ham). There hasn’t been one since.”
I think West Ham are a top-flight side when they won it in 1975. Though not in 1980s, so your point stands. Hard to see it ever happening again.
16 min The ball rolls invitingly towards Geertruida 25 yards from goal. It’s crying out for a first-time shot but he instead tries a disguised pass into the area and get it wrong.
14 min A long free-kick from the left leads to a game of head tennis in the Sunderland area. Eventually Struijk touches the ball off to Okafor, whose close-range shot deflects over off Mukiele. That’s a vital block.
13 min So far Leeds have been the more relaxed team in possession. Early days I know but this 3-3-2-2 system suits them so well.
10 min A crisp one-touch move from Leeds ends with Stach shooting straight at the keeper from 20 yards. That’s their first shot on target.
9 min Rodon is limping heavily after a late challenge from Brobbey, who accidentally stood on his foot. Leeds will hope it’s something he can off rather than, say, a broken metatarsal.
8 min Bridges has already made three or four interesting observations about the tactical detail of the game. This is what a co-commentator should do.
7 min It’s been a frantic start, plenty of challenges going in. Leeds are having a fair amount of the ball, as they did in their previous away game at Brentford.
6 min “Thank you Justin Kavanagh,” sarcasms Richard Hirst. “I was enjoying my day after three away wins in a row for Fulham until you reminded me of the 1975 FA Cup Final. Although, in truth, there was not much pain in losing: I was just so overwhelmed to see my team walk out at Wembley, something I never dreamed would happen (and, yes, there may have been tears), that losing was a minor matter.”
5 min Leeds break promisingly until Okafor is tripped by Hume, who is a bit fortunate to escape a yellow card.
4 min Nice to hear Michael Bridges, who played for both these clubs and is a bit of a forgotten lost talent, doing co-commentary on Sky Sports. He was sensational in his first season at Leeds until injuries started to ruined his career.
2 min A long throw from Mukiele – drink! – leads to a shot from Adingra that is deflected behind for the first corner. Le Fee swings it in and Struijk (I think) heads clear.
1 min Leeds, in their blue change strip, kick off from left to right as we watch.
There’s a minute’s silence for Patrick Treuer, a non-executive director of the club who has died aged just 52.
“Not sure there’ll be any fighting on the pitch, but did you have to go 15 rounds with Barry to get this gig?” asks Jeremy Boyce. “I can’t believe he’s not on today, especially as his boys will be expecting to maximum this afternoon despite Leeds’ recent perkiness.
“Sixty-eight years old and Leeds til I die as I am, I remember very clearly that grim day in 73, Montgomery’s double save, Porterfield’s goal, my inner ‘Noooooooo....’ as the final whistle went, Stokoe... If we can scratch a point today all the better, better still do some proper damage to Sunderland’s flying start back in the big time.”
Baz is off today, though I’m flattered you think I would have been chosen for a game he wanted to cover. The only Guardian Sports Desk Top Trumps category in which I beat Baz is baldness. Oh, and encyclopaedic knowledge of the 1988-89 Division One season, but they left that off the latest edition. I had a rating of 100 as well.
A reminder of the teams
Sunderland (possible 4-2-3-1) Roefs; Hume, Mukiele, Alderete, Cirkin; Xhaka, Geertruida; Rigg, Le Fee, Adingra; Brobbey.
Subs: Patterson, Tutierov, J Jones, Hjelde, H Jones, Neil, Mundle, Mayenda.
Leeds (3-3-2-2) Perri; Rodon, Bijol, Struijk; Bogle, Ampadu, Gudmundsson; Aaronson, Stach; Calvert-Lewin, Okafor.
Subs: Darlow, Justin, Bornaut, Harrison, Tanaka, Gruev, Gnonto, Piroe, Nmecha.
Referee Tony Harrington.
“Oh, to read the mind of Thomas Tuchel about Dominic Calvert-Lewin,” writes Eric Peterson. “I have a theory that DCL’s resurgence might actually work against him for an England recall. As tactically flexible as Tuchel has been with England (three or four at the back, attacking/holding mids versus a flat midfield), his formations all seem to feature that trademark Harry Kane central striker role, and DCL’s surge might be seen by Tuchel as relying on Daniel Farke’s shift to an attacking pair along with Noah Okafor.”
Would his selection not be to give England a different option from the bench, in which case all tactical bets are off? I do think England’s World Cup chances could depend on the variety of options they have on the bench. For example, if they’re 2-1 down to France with 10 minutes ago, there’s a decent case for bringing on Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
The Joy of Six: Great saves
This piece from the archive starts with one of the most astonishing saves in football history. Not sure I can think of another save so improbable that two commentators have called ‘goal’.
Johan Cruyff on the Sunderland/Leeds FA Cup final of 1973
“Sunderland v Leeds today, following West Ham v Fulham yesterday,” notes Justin Kavanagh. “The Prem has served us up two mid-70s FA Cup Finals this weekend. In appreciation, I’ve dug out my brown suit with the flared pants, wide-collared yellow polyester shirt, and short paisley tie in eye-popping lime green and purple; I’ve also fired up the fondue fountain and the Bass Ale and Blue Nun are on ice. And they say nostalgia is crack cocaine for old people!”
I’m ’avin ’oops.
Team news
Dennis Cirkin replaces the injured Dan Ballard in the only change from Sunderland’s 0-0 draw at Brighton. It’s Cirkin’s Premier League debut.
Leeds – surprise, surprise – stick with the XI that hammered Crystal Palace 4-1 on Saturday.
Sunderland (possible 4-2-3-1) Roefs; Hume, Mukiele, Alderete, Cirkin; Xhaka, Geertruida; Rigg, Le Fee, Adingra; Brobbey.
Subs: Patterson, Tutierov, J Jones, Hjelde, H Jones, Neil, Mundle, Mayenda.
Leeds (3-3-2-2) Perri; Rodon, Bijol, Struijk; Bogle, Ampadu, Gudmundsson; Aaronson, Stach; Calvert-Lewin, Okafor.
Subs: Darlow, Justin, Bornaut, Harrison, Tanaka, Gruev, Gnonto, Piroe, Nmecha.
Referee Tony Harrington.
Preamble
Hello, merry betwixtmas (sic) and welcome to live, minute-by-minute coverage of Sunderland v Leeds at the Stadium of Light. Nothing sleepy about these giants, who have given the kiss of life to the concept of promotion from the Championship to the Premier League.
Sunderland are arguably the team of the season so far and will go fifth – fifth! – if they win today. Leeds may be in a relegation battle but they are full of the joys after a superb recent run of eight points in four games. Three of those games were at home, albeit to very good opposition, so Leeds’ challenge is to prove they can do it on a wet, windy day somewhere other than Elland Road.
If they do that over the next couple of months, survival will be a doddle.
Kick off 2pm.
