Mizohican

What a weekend! What an absolutely freaking awesome weekend!!!!!! Arsenal - FA Cup winners 2014. Dubbed as the world’s oldest Football competition, this 143 years old football tournament ended Arsenal’s drought of a much needed trophy.

It was the sweetest victory indeed!

(Ps. All Arsenal photos and videos below are either mine or from our Arsenal Mumbai Supporters Club Facebook page, unless stated.)

It was the sweetest victory because now nobody can mock Arsenal fans of being trophy-less. Rest in Peace, Trophy jokes.

Previously:

Currently:

It was the sweetest victory because the counter at Since Arsenal last won a trophy was finally reset back to zero.

Felt especially good when you see the timers of other football clubs since they last won a trophy – Liverpool (2 years 82 days), Chelsea (1 year 4 days), Tottenham (6 years 2 months) and Manchester United (9 months 8 days, even though people usually don’t consider a Community Shield to be a Trophy :P ).

It was the sweetest victory because the road to the FA Cup finals for Arsenal was not easy at all. Other than a League One team Coventry City, Arsenal defeated Tottenham (EPL 6th), Everton (EPL 5th) and Liverpool (EPL 2nd) to reach the semi-final. And in the semis, Arsenal defeated Wigan Athletic who were the winners of FA Cup last year, beating Manchester City (who were second in the EPL last season). This year, Manchester City defeated Chelsea (EPL 3rd) but Wigan again defeated Manchester City (EPL 1st). So yeah, it was a truly deserving victory. Nobody can say Arsenal had an easy run, except of course my dear friends who are fans of Manchester United who accused us of facing only “easy teams” when they are EPL 7th and were knocked out from the FA Cup by Swansea (EPL 9th) :D

It was the sweetest victory because we were initially down 2-0 in just 10 minutes, with an almost third goal which was headed away by Gibbs. Everybody was like, “WTFFFF IS GOING ON!!!???”

[image source: Sabotage Times]

But then we continued with our faith in Wenger and the team, while praying to the Football Gods for poetic justice.

It was the sweetest victory because we had THREE clear penalty appeals turned down!

[image source: Mirror UK]

It was the sweetest victory because during the entire frustrating time while we were down 2-0, my Facebook and WhatsApp were filled with mocking messages from friends who’re fans of Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea.

But then of course after the final score, I had the last laugh :)

It was the sweetest victory because of Jose Mourinho.

We all hate that egomaniac who once called our boss a “Specialist in Failure”

In case you missed it, his interactive twitter session called #AskJose was hijacked by Arsenal and Liverpool fans, making it a brutal socialmedia PR disaster for him :)

How have you managed to take Chelsea from 3rd to 3rd after only spending 110 million pounds? #AskJose

— VA10 (@AFC_L) May 16, 2014

It was the sweetest victory because we’re the only London club to win a Trophy this season!

Also, to all those haters from other London clubs making fun of Arsenal’s long run of a Trophy-less season:

It was the sweetest victory because back in Mizoram, a local newspaper called “Vanglaini” infamous for writing scathing (so called) news articles about Arsenal (with trollish agenda) kept making fun of Arsenal fans just because all the (so called) sports writers of that newspaper are ManUtd fans (its fine to be biased and write about satire or mock people on a personal level but not as a professional newspaper. Where’s the journalism etiquette?), much to the point of infuriating every Arsenal fan and leading to many people unsubscribing from the newspaper…

After the victory, Arsenal fans from all over the city gathered in front of the newspaper’s head office to party and mock the newspaper and its sports columnists :) (pics source: Mizo Gooner’s Inn)

It was the sweetest victory because here in Mumbai, I attended the live screening organized by Arsenal Mumbai Supporters Club, an officially recognized Arsenal fan club, where more than 550 gooners came together to watch the match.

I went all out in all my Arsenal attire, including my recently purchased Arsenal wallet!

The queue to get inside the venue was long even though my friend Nirav and I arrived two hours ahead of kick-off time.

There were so many fans that only the first 400 or so early birds were allowed inside the main screening hall (1 giant screen projector and 10 large flat screens).

The rest had to watch it in the large open air balcony above where there was another giant screen projector (but no AC).

It was the sweetest victory because all those who came for the historic LIVE screening got one of these -

It is an official Wembly FA Cup final badge distributed by AMSC to all those who attended the screening, a part of history I will cherish forever, to show that I was there when we finally won our first trophy after 8 years.

Apart from that, various contests and trivia were conducted before the match began, and lucky winners won special exclusive Arsenal memorabilia.

It was the sweetest victory because during the nervewracking half-time break and the extra time breaks, all of us taking a ciggarette break outside were nervous and in the same frame of mind…

It was the sweetest victory because nothing was more fun than cheering with hundreds of fellow gooners and hugging each other for every goal scored or cursing together for every goal opportunity missed, even though we didn’t know each other.

It was the sweetest victory because we celebrated like never before. We painted the town red. Hundreds of Gooners took to the streets shouting and rejoicing and bursting crackers and stopping traffic, something Mumbai don’t usually witness for a foreign tournament except during the Football World Cup.