LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. — It was billed as “Survival Sunday” and boy did it live up to its name.

The final day of the English Barclay’s Premier League season was Sunday, with Manchester City and Manchester United tied for first place coming into the day with 86 points each. City faced Queens Park Rangers, while United took on Sunderland. The only thing separating the two Manchester clubs was goal differential, which was in City’s favor.

For those unfamiliar with soccer outside of the United States, clubs play for more than just winning their league. The top three teams in the Premier League would have a chance to play in the Champions League next season. The fourth place finisher would play in the Champions League qualifying stage, while the fifth place team plays in the Europa League.

Now, if you are unlucky enough to finish in the last three spots in the league, well then, you are relegated to the Championship Division. That would be like a Major League team having to drop down to AAA ball. Then the top two teams in the Championship League move up to the Premier League, while third, fourth, fifth and sixth place battle it out in promotion playoff. Just like in the Premier League, the bottom three teams drop to the next level, League One. There’s also a League Two, the lowest level in English League soccer. The last two teams in that league drop completely out of the Football League into Conference.

Confused? It’s really not that hard once you understand it.

Coming into Sunday, City was a 16-1 favorite to beat QPR, as the Rangers were battling to save their Premier League lives, hovering just outside of the relegation zone.

Both City and United took 1-0 leads on their opponents. City on a goal by Pablo Zabaleta in the 38th minute, United on a Wayne Rooney strike in the 19th minute.

Then things got interesting.

A defensive miscue by City allowed QPR’s Djibril Cisse to score in the 47th minute, tying the match at 1-1. So now United was in the driver’s seat. A win gives you three points, a tie, one. So now United was up, 89-87.

In the 54th minute, QPR’s Joey Barton was red carded, and his team was now down to 10 men. But to the surprise of many, Jamie Mackie scored in the 66th minute to give QPR a 2-1 lead. City fans were now in tears, while United fans rejoiced.

The United game ended first, a 1-0 win for the Red Devils. Now all they could do was wait for the final whistle in the City-QPR match.

Five extra minutes were added to the end of that match. And in those five minutes, City scored twice on goals by Edin Dzeko (92nd) and Sergio Aguero (94th) to snatch victory from defeat and lift City to its first title since 1968, and the first in the Premier League era.

United fans were crushed. Now they know how I and thousands of Bayern Munich fans felt in 1999, when United scored twice in extra time to defeat Bayern for the Champions League title.

Even though they lost, QPR will remain in the Premier League, while Bolton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers drop to the Championship League. Reading and Southampton will be promoted to the Premier League, with West Ham United, Birmingham, Blackpool and Cardiff City playing for the remaining promotion spot.

It’s funny how teams can fall so quickly. In 2007, Portsmouth finished in eighth place in the Premier League and qualified for the UEFA Cup. Now, they finished in 22nd place in the Championship League and are being demoted to League One as any hopes of making its way back to the Premier League continue to fade.

Yes it was in fact Survival Sunday, and one of the most exciting days I can remember.



sports@sentinel-echo.com