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Last Minute Goal From Kuyt Puts Liverpool in Champions League
Liverpool may be one of the eight teams in the top pool for tomorrow’s Champions League group stage draw, but they were the closest of the thirty-two teams to being out of the tournament after the final round of qualifying finished today.
The Reds were the only team that needed extra time to advance. Even with an extra thirty minutes, they only secured their spot in the tournament in the 118th minute of the match. Dirk Kuyt, the team’s leading scorer in last season’s Champions League, stepped up once again, scoring the winning goal, saving the squad from a penalty shoot-out and potential relegation to the UEFA Cup.
After playing their opponents even for 208 minutes over two matches, Standard Liège (Belgium) were left gutted. Only ninety of those minutes were played in Belgium, but when Ryan Babel’s cross from the left found Kuyt at the far post, the only detail that mattered was the score. At least, that will be the Liverpool company line in the wake of what is ultimately an embarrassing result. While the teams from the other top leagues advanced with ease (Schalke 04 and their match-up with Atletico Madrid being a notable exception), Liverpool has given detractors arguments as to why they should have been eliminated. Had Liverpool not started the tie on the road, the extra thirty minutes of football would not have been at Anfield.
It was Liverpool’s third miraculous result in four matches. There was Fernando Torres’s lightning bolt against Sunderland. There was this weekend’s unbelievable comeback against Middlesbrough. And now there’s Kuyt’s goal, the kind of isolated stab at goal that has come to characterize a Liverpool season in which they have been unable to generate a meaningful attack. Still they are undefeated, the only match in which they did not get an out-of-nowhere goal being their 0-0 draw two weeks ago at Liège.
It is a resumé of contradictions for a club who, come tomorrow, will be treated by UEFA as one of the top eight in the world.
But if Standard Liège can make a claim to being the 33rd team in a 32 club competition, Liverpool would have to be the 32nd club. On a day in which Arsenal beat an Eredivisie club (FC Twente) 4-0 and Atletico Madrid beat a strong Schalke side by the same score, Liverpool’s result is beguiling. If only Standard Liège had converted the penalty kick they were awarded in the first leg, the Belgians must be thinking. Pepe Reina, the Reds’ goaltender, made a number of tie-saving saves in the first leg. He certainly deserves to move into the group stage.
No other team from Europe’s three big leagues came as close to being knocked out. Only Serie A’s Fiorentina failed to win their tie by at least three goals, though they won by two and held a strong Slavia Prague club scoreless over their 180 minutes (playing the last leg without Adrian Mutu). Amongst the big clubs competing at this stage of the competition, Liverpool ignominiously singled itself out.
There are various potential causes for the problem, most of which have cures. After the match it was revealed Steven Gerrard needs groin surgery. He will be out 10-15 days and miss England’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers. Gerrard played through pain during Wednesday’s match, knowing he needed surgery. How different the Liverpool attack would be with a healthy Gerrard is a debate we won’t have to have come late September. Liverpool and their captain are solving the problem.
Then there’s the absence of Javier Mascherano, who spent the last month in Beijing. The return on one of the Premiership’s best deep-sitting midfielders will be a boost, though he is unlikely to revitalize the attack. Mascherano is good at distributing out of the back, but with Liverpool getting relatively little quality up-front from anybody but Fernando Torres, it’s unclear how much Mascherano will help. He needs other people to distribute to, as he is not typically the player creating Torres’s chances. He role is as ball-winner, and goal prevention has not been Liverpool’s problem.
Liverpool needs Robbie Keane to start producing as expected. That would be a sure-fire cure, but he is not fitting in at all. Whether the problem is Keane or those around him is something for Benitez to determine. My guess is its both. Keane has not being provided the ball in places he can be dangerous (he’s barely been provided the ball at all), but he is also not creating any opportunities for himself. Liverpool has had four competitive matches with Keane, none of which has been against another elite team. Their big summer purchase has yet to generate a decent scoring opportunity. Without a second goal scoring threat, Liverpool is Everton, an comparison which goes a long way to explaining their last two weeks’ results.
Liverpool is lucky to be suffering these problems while still winning matches, but those wins might fool them into thinking the problems do not exist. If Rafa Benitez proceeds under that assumption, tonight’s Standard Liège result will prove to be a best-case scenario. Liverpool has survived into Champions League, but unless they can find a way to score goals, that survival will be short lived.
This article will also be distributed on American Soccer Reader.
Links
Liverpool 1 Standard Liege 0 (aet. Li. win 1-0 on agg): Gerrard injury overshadows Liverpool’s extra-time escape
Liverpool 1-0 Standard Liege: Hero Kuyt
Kuyt strikes late to save limp and lucky Liverpool
Average Liverpool sneak through
Last-gasp Kuyt puts Reds through
Kuyt steals it for Liverpool
Kuyt’s late winner saves Liverpool from embarrassment
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