72nd minute: Arsenal's Swedish midfielder Fredrik Ljungberg runs onto an incisive feed, slices
through the box past stranded Liverpool goalkeeper Sander Westerveld, and deposits the ball in the net.
Arsenal 1, Liverpool 0, with only eighteen minutes left to play. Spirts are suddenly very high. Arsenal are going
to win the Cup. Breakable objects are flung in the air, much aimless running-about is done. Arsenal are the
greatest football team on the planet.
For eleven minutes.
83rd minute: Arsenal are a split second late to clear a ball out of their penalty box, and
21-year-old Liverpool forward Michael Owen, skidding sideways through a crowd of defenders, smashes it into the goal
before anybody can react. Arsenal 1, Liverpool 1. Spirits waver, but the Arsenal faithful bravely attempt to keep
their hopes up. The game cannot end in a draw, so there's no time pressure. They just need one goal. Arsenal are going
to win the Cup.
88th minute: Liverpool substitute midfielder Patrik Berger blasts an aimless-looking long pass upfield, and as
soon as it leaves his foot I know the game is over. There are only four players on the field who have any
chance of reaching the ball. Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman comes off his line. Defenders Lee Dixon and Tony Adams close
in from either side. The fourth player is Owen. Dixon and Adams have several steps on him. And then they
don't. Owen gets to the ball one step before Dixon, taps it past Adams and fires it just beyond Seaman's outstretched
fingertips into the far corner of the goal with no more than an inch or two to spare in any direction. Liverpool 2,
Arsenal 1. The remaining minutes drain away quickly. The game is over. Arsenal are not going to win the Cup.