2002 FA Community Shield

The 2002 FA Community Shield (also known as The FA Community Shield in partnership with McDonald's for sponsorship reasons) was the 80th FA Community Shield, an annual English football match played between the winners of the previous season's Premier League and FA Cup. It was the first edition since the competition's rename from FA Charity Shield. The match was contested by Arsenal, who won a league and FA Cup double the previous season, and Liverpool, who finished runners-up in the league. It was held at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, on 11 August 2002. Arsenal won the match by one goal to nil, watched by a crowd of 67,337.

2002 FA Community Shield
The match programme cover
Arsenal Liverpool
1 0
Date11 August 2002
VenueMillennium Stadium, Cardiff
Man of the MatchMartin Keown (Arsenal)[1]
RefereeAlan Wiley (Staffordshire)
Attendance67,337
WeatherMostly cloudy
Light rain showers
16 °C (61 °F)[2]

This was Arsenal's 16th Shield appearance and Liverpool's 20th. Arsenal was without several of their first choice players in midfield, who were absent through injury; this prompted a shuffle in the team which saw striker Sylvain Wiltord positioned on the left wing. For Liverpool, defender Markus Babbel was named as a substitute after a lengthy period out of the side through illness. New signing El Hadji Diouf started in a creative role, behind strikers Michael Owen and Emile Heskey to begin with.

The only goal of the match came in the second half; Arsenal substitute Gilberto Silva on his debut collected a pass from Dennis Bergkamp and struck the ball through goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek's legs. Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger praised the match-winner in his post-match interview, while opposing manager Gérard Houllier felt the result showed that his team needed more game time and attention to passing, in order to improve. The result meant Arsenal was the first team to win the Shield outright 11 times, while it marked Liverpool's first defeat at the Millennium Stadium.

Background

Founded in 1908 as a successor to the Sheriff of London Charity Shield,[3] the FA Charity Shield began as a contest between the respective champions of the Football League and Southern League, although in 1913, it was played between an Amateurs XI and a Professionals XI.[4] In 1921, it was played by the league champions of the top division and FA Cup winners for the first time.[5][lower-alpha 1] Wembley Stadium acted as the host of the Shield from 1974.[7] Cardiff's Millennium Stadium was hosting the Shield for the second time; it took over as the venue for the event while Wembley Stadium underwent a six-year renovation between 2001 and 2006.[7]

In February 2002, the trophy was renamed the FA Community Shield. The then-FA marketing director Paul Barber noted this was in order to reward the work of those contributing to the game, who go unnoticed: "The most important thing is that the many good causes that have benefited from the shield in the past will continue to benefit from the Community Shield in the future."[8] The FA also intended to prevent any interference made by the Charity Commission into where money raised by the game should go.[9] In April 2002, McDonald's was announced as the main sponsor of the Community Shield, in a four-year, £28 million contract.[10] The deal included the company making an "invest[ment] in 8,000 new community-based coaches for young players".[11]

Arsenal qualified for the 2002 FA Community Shield as the holders of the FA Cup, beating Chelsea 2–0 in the 2002 FA Cup Final. The team later won the 2001–02 FA Premier League and completed the domestic double.[12] The other Community Shield place went to league runners-up Liverpool, who secured second place on the final day of the season.[12][13] The game marked Arsenal's 16th Charity Shield appearance and first since 1999, where they beat Manchester United by two goals to one.[14][15] By contrast this was Liverpool's 20th, who incidentally played United and won by exactly the same scoreline to become holders of the trophy.[16] The last meeting between the two teams was in the FA Cup; a goal by Dennis Bergkamp ensured Arsenal progressed into the fifth round of the competition.[17][18]

Pre-match

In spite of the game's traditional friendly feel, Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier highlighted in pre-match press conference the importance of winning the Shield: "It is very important to me. This match is more than a friendly. It represents the start of the season. The Community Shield is like a final. There is a trophy at stake and we are the holders."[19] Arsène Wenger wanted to use the match as "the final preparation game for the championship" and commented that Liverpool, amongst four other teams (Manchester United, Newcastle United, Chelsea and Leeds United) would challenge Arsenal in the league.[20]

Match

Arsenal was without injured trio Robert Pires, Freddie Ljungberg and Giovanni van Bronckhorst and lined up in their traditional 4–4–2 formation; striker Sylvain Wiltord was accommodated to the left wing, with Bergkamp playing off main striker Thierry Henry.[1][21] After a lengthy illness, Liverpool defender Markus Babbel returned to the squad and was named as a substitute. Houllier deployed a 4–3–1–2 formation with Steven Gerrard, John Arne Riise and Dietmar Hamann as a midfield three and new signing, El Hadji Diouf positioned in a free role to begin with and as the game went on, moved to the right wing to stretch Arsenal's defence.[1]

Summary
Arsenal midfielder Gilberto Silva scored the only goal of the game, on his debut.

Arsenal won the toss and kicked off.[22] Within the first three minutes they fashioned their first opening: Wiltord found space outside the Liverpool box, yet failed to give the ball to Henry, as the through ball was cleared.[22] Gerrard was booked for a tackle on Vieira in the sixth minute, which left the Frenchman seeking medical attention and moments after, he caught Henry late with a similar lunge; Gerrard was given the benefit of the doubt by the referee.[22] Bergkamp volleyed the ball "from close range" which was blocked by defender Abel Xavier and two of his efforts were saved in quick succession by Jerzy Dudek after the 20-minute mark.[22] Liverpool managed their first shot on target before the half-hour: a shot from Emile Heskey which hit goalkeeper David Seaman's chest.[23] After a quiet period towards the end of the first half, Ray Parlour went close to giving Arsenal the lead, through a long-range shot that missed the post by fractions.[22] A move from Arsenal soon after concluded with Wiltord firing the ball straight at Dudek, having been under pressure by Djimi Traoré.[22]

Midfielder Gilberto Silva made his debut in the second half, coming on in place of fellow Brazilian Edu. In the 47th minute, Henry went close to scoring his first goal at the Millennium Stadium; he collected a pass from Bergkamp and used his pace to get past the Liverpool defence.[22] His shot caught Dudek and rebounded off the post.[1] Henry created further chances in the 51st and 54th minutes, forcing more saves from the Liverpool goalkeeper.[22] Owen was unable to reach the ball from a corner and Liverpool continued to pressure Arsenal, with Gerrard regaining control of the midfield and making a substitution which saw Danny Murphy come on for Hamann.[22] In spite of this, it was Arsenal who scored the opening goal, in the 68th minute. A move by Liverpool, which had broken down, allowed Gilberto to pass the ball out to Ashley Cole, who in turn fed Bergkamp.[23] His cut-back met the Brazilian's left foot "with a shot that squeezed through Dudek's legs."[23] Diouf went down in the penalty box four minutes after, which provoked a reaction by Vieira, who believed he had dived. Both managers made numerous changes in the final 15 minutes, which included Milan Baroš replacing Heskey and midfielder Kolo Touré on for Bergkamp.[22] The final notable chance went to Liverpool a minute before additional time: Sol Campbell was caught out of position in Arsenal's half, but Diouf's shot went over the goal bar.[22]

Details
Arsenal1–0Liverpool
Gilberto  69' Report
[24]
Attendance: 67,337
Arsenal
Liverpool
GK1 David Seaman
RB12 Lauren
CB5 Martin Keown
CB23 Sol Campbell
LB3 Ashley Cole
RM15 Ray Parlour
CM4 Patrick Vieira (c)
CM17 Edu 45'
LM11 Sylvain Wiltord 24'
CF10 Dennis Bergkamp 85'
CF14 Thierry Henry 44'
Substitutes:
GK13 Stuart Taylor
DF18 Pascal Cygan
DF20 Matthew Upson
DF22 Oleg Luzhny
MF28 Kolo Touré 85'
MF19 Gilberto Silva 45'
FW30 Jérémie Aliadière
Manager:
Arsène Wenger
GK1 Jerzy Dudek
RB3 Abel Xavier 78'
CB2 Stéphane Henchoz
CB4 Sami Hyypiä (c)
LB30 Djimi Traoré 88'
RM17 Steven Gerrard 6'
CM16 Dietmar Hamann 67'
LM18 John Arne Riise
AM9 El Hadji Diouf
CF10 Michael Owen 85'
CF8 Emile Heskey 74'
Substitutes:
GK22 Chris Kirkland
DF6 Markus Babbel 78'
DF23 Jamie Carragher
MF28 Bruno Cheyrou 88'
MF7 Vladimír Šmicer 85'
MF13 Danny Murphy 67' 82'
FW5 Milan Baroš 74'
Manager:
Gérard Houllier

Man of the match

Match officials

Match rules[26]

  • 90 minutes
  • Penalty shoot-out if scores level after 90 minutes
  • Seven named substitutes, of which up to six may be used

Statistics
Statistic[23] Arsenal Liverpool
Goals scored 1 0
Possession 56% 44%
Shots on target 9 1
Shots off target 3 6
Corner kicks 5 7
Offsides 3 1
Yellow cards 4 2
Red cards 0 0

Post-match
He's an intelligent boy, makes things simple and gets into the box at the right time.

Arsène Wenger on Gilberto Silva[27]

The result marked the first time that Liverpool had lost at the Millennium Stadium. Wenger used his post-match news interview to praise goalscorer Gilberto Silva and asserted that the Brazilian would be a "very strong player" for the team, in the incoming future.[27] He noted that Dudek had "kept [Liverpool] in the game for a long time" and was critical of Gerrard, who he felt was fortunate not to have been sent off for a "reckless and dangerous" challenge on Vieira.[28][29] Wenger believed Arsenal's experience put the team in good stead for the upcoming season: "There are two attitudes to being champions. One is to get respect, another is to get kicked more and to face more aggression as people want to beat you more. We are quite used to that though as we have had some big fights in the past four or five years."[27]

Houllier argued that his team paid Arsenal "too much respect" in the match and blamed his full-backs Xavier and Traoré for not providing width, adding: "We need to have more flow in our game, more safety in our passing construction".[29][30] Gerrard was unrepentant for tackling Vieira and stated he was trying to "stamp [his] authority" on the match.[31] He accepted defeat and was optimistic Liverpool had the means to win the Premier League: "We'd rather they beat us in this game and then we go on to pick up the title. That's what we're really looking at. Even though they got the better of us yesterday, it doesn't mean they'll do better than us over the whole season."[31] Diouf insisted he should have earned a penalty in the second half, given he felt there was "definite contact" from a challenge in the penalty box: "It was a penalty, definitely, but the referee is the master on the pitch and he didn't give it. I know the Arsenal players think I dived, but I didn't."[32]

gollark: Technically my thing doesn't respect crawl delay in that, and it would be hard to make it do so.
gollark: The internet is also quite large.
gollark: I do respect that, yes.
gollark: Some of the internet may be annoyed if I did this.
gollark: I may need slightly more than thirty pages to search for this to work, hm.

See also

Notes
  1. The Premier League replaced the Football League First Division at the top of the English football pyramid after its inception in 1992.[6]

References
  1. Dickinson, Matt (12 August 2002). "Arsenal add to silvaware". The Times. London. p. B12.
  2. "History for Cardiff-Wales, United Kingdom". Weather Underground. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  3. "Abandonment of the Sheriff Shield". The Observer. London. 19 April 1908. p. 11.
  4. "The F.A. Charity Shield". The Times. London. 7 October 1913. p. 10.
  5. Ferguson, Peter (4 August 2011). "The FA Community Shield history". mcfc.co.uk. Manchester City FC. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  6. Fynn, Alex (2 December 2001). "Continental or the full English?". The Observer. London. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  7. "The FA Community Shield history". The Football Association. Archived from the original on 6 July 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  8. "Football Association rename Charity Shield". Associated Press Worldstream. 9 February 2002. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. (subscription required)
  9. "Football: A revamp for Shield". The Mirror. London. 9 February 2002. p. 59.
  10. Bond, David; Dyer, Ken (11 April 2002). "Football: Double deal joy for FA". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  11. "McDonalds sign up for community initiative". Derby Evening Telegraph. 11 April 2002. p. 20.
  12. "New shield for new season". BBC Sport. 8 August 2002. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  13. "Rampant Reds sink Ipswich". BBC Sport. 11 May 2002. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  14. Ross, James (15 August 2013). "List of FA Charity/Community Shield Matches". Rec. Sport. Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF). Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  15. Lacey, David (2 August 1999). "Arsenal play their troubles away". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  16. "Liverpool edge out Man Utd". BBC Sport. 12 August 2001. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
  17. "Arsenal v Liverpool head-to-head record". LFC Online. Digital Sports Group. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  18. "Sweet revenge for Arsenal". BBC Sport. 27 January 2002. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  19. Barclay, Bill (10 August 2002). "Houllier holds no charity". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney. p. 88.
  20. "Community Shield: Wenger's winning way with words". The Daily Telegraph. London. 10 August 2002. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
  21. Dickinson, Matt (10 August 2002). "Confident Vieira puts his money on Arsenal". The Times. London. p. 29.
  22. "Clockwatch: Arsenal 1–0 Liverpool". BBC Sport. 11 August 2002. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
  23. Williams, Richard (12 August 2002). "Arsenal show undimmed taste for titles as Silva shines". The Guardian. London. p. A2. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  24. "Slick Arsenal win Shield". BBC Sport. 11 August 2002. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  25. "Community Shield match details". The Football Association. 29 July 2002. Archived from the original on 15 June 2004. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  26. "Rules of the Football Association Community Shield" (PDF). The Football Association. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  27. "Wenger delighted with win". BBC Sport. 12 August 2002. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  28. Winter, Henry (11 August 2002). "Silva adds to Arsenal's riches". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  29. "Football: Wenger sees red at 'reckless' Gerrard as Gunners triumph". Birmingham Post. 12 August 2002. p. 18.
  30. Hytner, David (12 August 2002). "Wenger fury over 'reckless' Gerrard". Daily Express. London. p. 80.
  31. Bascombe, Chris (12 August 2002). "Football: We want revenge". Liverpool Echo. pp. 39–40.
  32. Higham, Paul (12 August 2002). "Wenger: Gerrard should have gone". Sky Sports. Retrieved 25 January 2013.

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