==============================================
by Philipina A. Marcelo
It's Easter Sunday!
God is Love... and He's alive! And the Christian world rejoices once again, celebrating the fulfillment of a promise, the promise of resurrection from death - the death from sin! A New Hope has risen... New Life, New Beginning. And we thank Him - the One who is almighty, all glorious and all loving for this gift of New Life filled with marvelous beauty.
Happy Easter to all!
***
And he did it... resurrected to a "new life"!
After 732 minutes of goal-less run since he changed jersey colors from Red to Blue and a total of 903 minutes including his run with Spain's National team, Fernando "El Niño" Torres has finally done it! He valiantly broke through the death of a depressed striker's goal drought to give Chelsea their second goal in their 3-0 win against West Ham at Stamford Bridge!
"From today, a new life," was what Carlo Ancelotti - Chelsea's coach - said about Torres's accomplishment, and Chelsea's chances for a title as the present season approaches its end. Torres's first goal for The Blues
couldn't have come at a most opportune time. The win brought Chelsea to second place in the Barclays Premier League Table after ambling in the third place for sometime. Now, they are only six points below the leaders Manchester United FC and three points above third placer Arsenal FC. The Blues badly needed the win to get ahead of former second place, Arsenal, and keep their target of capturing the Premier League title within reach after being knocked out by Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals recently.El Niño was thankful to his team-mates who never lost their faith in him, and supported him all throughout the time when he was struggling to break his scoring duck. I have seen many of their matches when Fernando Torres started playing with them... their enthusiasm in playing with him, and the trust as the playmakers passed the ball to him for a strike was unwavering - even when most of the chances they made were wasted as Torres missed one chance after another. Some of it may have even caused them their bid for the UEFA Champions League title. Pity.
Torres himself never stopped trying, even amidst criticisms from pundits and doubters asking if he was really worth £50m. When he wasn't trying to
score, he was working to give a crucial assist to his team-mates, until Ancelotti finally set his foot under the pressure of Chelsea owners to win: while he sympathized with Torres, "Chelsea comes first."And so, for the past couple of games or so, Torres sat as substitute for fellow striker Didier Drogba, no longer a part of the first 11. But he kept his cool and patience - always playing his part in the team when he comes on to play for the last 10 to 20 minutes of playtime, trying to make opportunities to score for himself and his team-mates. He behaved in the same way in their match with West Ham. When he came on for Drogba in the second half, he quietly got to work, providing a wonderful assist to Nicolas Anelka, which unfortunately didn't finish to a goal.
El Niño tried again, this time for a goal... it failed. When an opportunity presented itself in the rainsoaked Stamford Bridge, he raced to the goal with two West Ham defenders hounding him. The Stamford Bridge crowd were up on their feet and roared.
Could this be the day?
The field, which was soaked in the pouring rain, grabbed the ball away from Torres's feet as he sped towards the center of the goal. Realizing that he lost the ball, he slowed down to a screech and turned
around for it, enabling a third defender to catch up with him, the other two defenders getting in front of him, and the goalkeeper had time to position himself for a save. The crowd let out another one of those now-familiar sighs of disappointment as they expected another foiled Torres attempt for a goal. But none of those seemed to deter El Niño from breaking through the curse of goal-less runs. He kept his composure... he reached for the ball with one foot, regained his balance, twisted his body quickly for a different angle other than what the three defenders and the goalkeeper were anticipating, and fired a
passionate kick to the corner of the goal! Stamford Bridge gasped....He made it!
And there was no one in Stamford Bridge who was not on his feet and cheering, admiring the determination of a very much criticized football warrior to turn fate's cruel curse around to his favor - and his team's favor, making all Chelsea fans ecstatic with absolute delight! I myself almost showered myself with my coffee as I shot up on my feet to cheer - from thousands of miles away! The next scene is well familiar - a whole team jumping to form a blue human pyramid on top of Torres amidst the pouring rain, and their supporters celebrating in frenzied cheers. A truly lovely moment! :)
Aaaah, the beauty of football - so unbelievable, nothing like it! :)
And here, the gift of Easter to El Niño and to Chelsea - "a new life"!
***
Photo credits: All photos were grabbed from Zimbio - thanks.
