Jamie Carragher’s testimonial match; Liverpool XI defeat Everton XI - Part 2
Michael Owen, the 30 year old striker from the Red Devils used to play for the Reds, in fact he started his career from the Reds. After making 207 appearances for Liverpool and scoring 158 goals the player went on to Real Madrid in 2004. There he stayed for just a season making 43 caps and scoring 16 goals. Newcastle United got their hands on him in the following season and he played for them till 2009 and during that time he scored 30 goals in 79 appearances.
After his stint with Newcastle, Old Trafford called upon his services and the player joined the arch rivals of his childhood club. This was the reason why a chorus of boos was emanated every single time Owen got the ball but still the overall atmosphere presented by the 35,631 people in the stands was joyful. Owen also took advantage of this and joked around when he could.
He played pretty well and used his character to influence the referee for a penalty as Jose Baxter’s arm came between his shot in the 44th minute. The Red men got the penalty in the end and though Owen mischievously faked to take it, Carragher was the person who took it in the end and he made no mistake as he shot the ball past Iain Turner.
The match referee Mark Halsey also seemed to be enjoying himself. At one moment he slapped around the head of Lee Carsley as he noted the People’s Club midfielder for striking the ball from the game overdramatically.
The goal by Luis Garcia reminded everyone of the Golden era of Liverpool. It was orchestrated by Heskey and Cole as they made a run and afterwards dribbled the ball to the right flank, passed it into the penalty area and what happened next had no warning.
In the match there came many chances to score for instance when Owen wasted his efforts with his shot just far off the goal posts. Another chance came when Luis Garcia side footed had a shot on a pass from Cole but Garcia was a bit wide.
The 32 year old Emile Heskey was a disappointment as usual as he missed a chance to score just as he had been doing for the most of career. Murphy had managed to handle a difficult pass and delivered it but Heskey was too rusty to finish it. Both Heskey and Murphy played for Liverpool till 2004 and are considered among their major players.
Heskey has appeared in 222 fixtures for Liverpool and scored 60 times in them. Murphy on the other hand has capped 225 times and scored 44 goals. Murphy was a midfielding legend for the Reds. Nowadays he plays for Fulham while Heskey plays for Aston Villa.
The 2nd half started and Cole was on fire. He immediately scored his first goal at Anfield as he volleyed the ball past the goal keeper. Cole had a chance to score his first official goal for Liverpool in the Europa League qualification matches when he was gifted a penalty while playing against Rabotnicki but Cole failed to score. The proceeding went on with Ryan Babel crossing the ball and the reserve team’s striker Nathan Eccleston shot the ball in the back of the net.
Carragher played his typical game and that included his foul on James Vaughan who was about to shoot. The Everton player had a clear chance to score against Brad Jones but Carragher proved too good for him again as he deflected the ball to safety. This was his first appearance near a Liverpool shirt since he left for Middlesbrough. The signing took place just last month.
After the match Carragher confirmed that the 1 million pounds he got as result of the match were going to be used in his 23 Foundations. In the meanwhile Carragher has invited everyone to dinner and to be part of local charities and groups.
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