Late on Saturday night, barely 300km apart, two of the greatest sporting contests of 2013 took place at almost exactly the same time. In Liverpool in England’s north, the English Premier League’s Merseyside derby took place with Liverpool and Everton playing out a memorable 3-3 draw. A clash that had just about everything including plenty of controversy and drama also had the crowd on the edge of their seats. The Reds led 1-0 and then 2-1 midway through the second half but two goals to Everton’s Romelu Lukaku saw the home side take the lead with less than 10 minutes remaining. Yet just when it looked like they had stolen victory, Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge headed home from a Steven Gerrard corner to put the icing on a memorable clash.
Romelu Lukaku scored twice in a thrilling Merseyside derby
At the same time in London, England and New Zealand were embroiled in one of the great games of rugby league in their World Cup semi-final. The Brits led 8-0 early before New Zealand fought back to lead 14-8 thanks to a double to premiership-winning winger Roger Tuivasa-Sheck. England then stole back the momentum with Kallum Watkins closing the gap to two and a powerful Sam Burgess run giving them an 18-14 lead with just over 10 minutes remaining. That looked to be enough when New Zealand found themselves needing to go 100 metres with the last set of the game, but a penalty for a blatant high tackle gave them field position and with 20 seconds remaining mercurial halfback Shaun Johnson stepped his way past three players to score. Johnson then calmly slotted the conversion after the siren to secure a 20-18 win and propel them into next week’s final against Australia, who thrashed Fiji 62-0 in their semi-final.
It proved to be a huge weekend for Australian sporting sides – none moreso than their cricketers who landed a huge blow in the Ashes by downing England by a whopping 381 runs in the First Test. Having been completely dominated by the Poms in recent years, Australia showed this Ashes series is going to be much tougher for the tourists with rejuvenated fast bowler Mitchell Johnson terrorizing them with a barrage of short balls.
Mitchell Johnson terrorized England in the Ashes opener
In Brazil, Sebastian Vettel became just the second driver after Alberto Ascari to win nine Formula 1 races in a row – equalling Michael Schumacher’s record of 13 wins in a season – as he finished his latest world championship season in style. Vettel cruised to victory ahead of retiring Red Bull teammate Mark Webber and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
All in all it was a great weekend for those of you who followed our tips here at wgm8.com. New Zealand winning in the rugby league, the Aussies winning the cricket and Fernando Alonso securing a podium finish were all recommended tips from us late last week.
