Europe's Ryder Cup
comeback brings back memories of other great golfing moments, notably
the USA's identical feat in 1999. It also brings back memories from
other sports. Here are five
classic non-golfing comebacks:
The greatest rugby
match of all time? The All Blacks were favourites for the tournament,
whilst France had been largely unimpressive, reaching the semi-final
despite not playing any of the other big guns, but looked pumped-up
from the start, belting out the Marseillaise and scoring an early
try. However New Zealand exerted their control, and France's
inability to tackle Jonah Lomu left them 24-10 down. Then Christophe
Lamaison kicked two drop goals, and the French sparked into life,
seizing the momentum as only they can. Time and time again they flew
forward, scoring three tries and 33 unanswered points, while the
shell-shocked New Zealanders never regained their composure, only
scoring again when it was too late. Unpredictable as ever, one week
later, an emotionally spent French team was unable to conjure up the
same magic, losing the final to Australia.
For all their domestic
dominance in the nineties, Manchester United had failed in Europe.
Finally reaching the Champions League final, they looked poor without
the suspended Paul Scholes and Roy Keane, and trailed Bayern 1-0 as
the match entered injury time. The German bench was already
celebrating, when a United corner caused chaos in the Bayern penalty
area. The United players looked as panicked as Bayern's but Ryan
Giggs' scuffed shot found its way to Teddy Sheringham, who equalised.
Munich were stunned, and seemed unable to react when, moments later,
another corner was flicked on by Sheringham for Ole Gunnar Solskjær
to score the winner. With 90 minutes up, the game seemed lost, yet
United were champions, combining with the league title and FA Cup
wins to complete a treble. Alex Ferguson's post-match comments said
it all: “football, bloody hell.”
Carrying the weight of
86 years of failure, the 2004 Red Sox went 3-0 down to their bitter
rivals. No team in major league history had come from 3-0 down
in the playoffs to take it to a seventh game, let alone won the
series. Entering the final inning of game four, the Red Sox were
losing, and an 87th year of hurt seemed inevitable. Then
Dave Roberts stole a base, and scored the tying run. It took until a
twelfth inning in the early hours of the morning for David Ortiz to
hit the winner. Boston then went on a run of dramatic wins, each an epic in its own right. The highlight was Curt Schilling, pitching in
game six despite the blood oozing out of his surgically repaired
ankle and through his sock. Completing a 4-3 series victory in Yankee
Stadium seemed to exorcise 86 years of demons, and a week later the
Red Sox won the World Series, lifting the curse of the Bambino.
After a dismal start to
the series led to Ian Botham's resignation as captain, England found
themselves in trouble against their old enemies. Asked to follow on
227 runs behind, bookmakers famously offered odds of 500/1 on an
England victory, but carefree batting from Botham and inspired
bowling from Bob Willis secured a historic win, the first by a team
following on since the 1894. In 2001, India pulled off the same
feat, again versus Australia, no less remarkable, and to date, only
the third such win.
Milan had won the
tournament two years prior, and finished second in Serie A, whilst
Liverpool had struggled through a difficult season, finishing outside
the top four. Three-nil up at half time, Milan were already
celebrating in the dressing room. Rafael Benitez changed his
formation, adding an extra man in midfield, and Liverpool responded
with three goals in the first fifteen minutes of the half. The
Italian side still had chances, but were too flustered to take them,
whilst Jerzy Dudek was having the game of his life in the Liverpool
goal. Despite experience of winning a shoot-out in the 2003 final,
Milan crumbled when it went to penalties this time, scoring only two.
Dudek's save from Shevchenko secured Liverpool's fifth title and
first since 1984.
Honourable mentions:
Down 105-99 with 18.7
seconds remaining, Indiana's Reggie Miller scored eight points in 8.9
seconds, and the Pacers held on.
Humiliated in the first test, and losing at half time in the second, Australia's rugby minds
took control, whilst their more abrasive characters put the Lions off
their game. Many argue the series turned on Nathan Grey's cynical
elbow to Richard Hill's face, which removed the Lions' best player.
City secured the title
in dramatic last minute fashion thanks to Edin Dzeko's 92nd
minute equaliser and Sergio Aguero's 94th minute winner.
Feel free to add your
favourite comebacks in the comments.
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