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Fulham believe
Marc Fox
Basking Fulham fans will be making the most of a wonderful Friday feeling – and a handful of them might just be joining match-winner Clint Dempsey in believing they can win the Europa League after sending Juve packing in thrilling fashion.
It was Demspey's delicately chipped fourth goal that sealed a remarkable 5-4 aggregate victory for Fulham to not only book the small west London side a quarter-final place but provide the cause for celebration usually reserved for their nouveau riche rivals from the Kings Road.
If rebounding from a first leg deficit and then conceding a second minute goal to David Trezeguet in the return fixture wasn't enough to set hearts racing, the realisation that Fulham had trumped Chelsea in reaching the last eight of a European competition surely was.
Last night's was the sweetest victory for many of the current generation of Fulham fans, not least because it has arrived in the same week that the Blues were bounced out of the Champions League by Inter.
Sure, the Milanese under the guidance of Jose Mourinho are current Serie A champions and league leaders (Juve are 14 points adrift in fifth) and, yes, it was the Champions League rather than its younger and less heralded upstart.
But this morning little old Fulham are the pride of west London - and Cottagers fans haven't been able to boast that since their sole FA Cup final appearance almost 35 years ago (does the club's Intertoto Cup triumph, when they beat another Italian side Bologna in the 2002 final thanks to a Junichi Inamoto hat-trick, count?).
Manager Roy Hodgson in the aftermath admitted the result must come close to being the greatest night in the club's 130-year history, and the man tipped in some quarters to replace Fabio Capello when the time comes has degree of perspective on success, including leading Inter to the Uefa Cup final in 1997.
After stints with the Nerazzurri and, briefly, Udinese, the 62-year-old Englishman is no stranger to the aura surrounding Juventus.
They are the most successful club in Italian domestic history and the third most successful continentally. They might have feared losing to Fulham at their tiny Craven Cottage ground, but never expected to, especially given the ease in which they glided to a two-goal first leg advantage at the Delle Alpi.
Fabio Cannavaro's dismissal midway through the first-half changed the emphasis of the tie with Bobby Zamora and Zoltan Gera (twice) scoring before Dempsey's late heroics.
Zamora's inclusion in England's World Cup squad has been tentatively forwarded this season after scoring his 16th goal in all competitions last night, although the often maligned frontman has admitted to having already booked a summer break to Las Vagas after failing to get a call-up for the friendly win over Egypt earlier this month.
However, Dempsey will be heading to South Africa with the United States after returning sooner than expected from a cruciate ligament injury which threatened his World Cup participation before Christmas.
The American attacking midfielder has himself scored eight times now this campaign despite spending two months on the sidelines and is another benefiting from Fulham's renaissance.
Asked if the Cottagers could go on and win the Europa League, Dempsey told BBC Radio Five Live: "You never know, why not? If you work hard and you believe there is always a chance. And I believe."
© Marc Fox & Soccerphile.com
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