Worldnet 99, Leicester:
Fourth time lucky for Cybury

It's very easy to chart the progress of Cybury Gooners since our birth in 1995. We crashed out in the Euronet group stages in 1996; we failed to reach the second day of Worldnet 1997; a miraculous Villa goal put us out of the semis in 1998... and with a string of solid results at the end of the 1999 season, we surely gave fair warning of what was to come. A fine fourth place finish in the PSINet League handed Cybury a seeding for the annual Worldnet tournament, and hopes were high when the draw placed us with a number of lower-ranking sides - and yes, we include Man Utd in that!

With most of the squad spending the night in the Midlands, the 9:30 start was not particularly problematic, and Cybury began well with a 1-0 victory over a Coventry team who went on to distinguish themselves with a couple of rampant performances. Everton came next, and fell victim to the same scoreline; a 2-0 win over Huddersfield was enough to guarantee our qualification. But we hadn't finished yet - how could we, when the final group game was against Man Utd. A year of frustration was duly avenged against the Red Devils, as the Gooners recorded another 1-0 victory, finishing day one with a 100% record, top of the group and no goals conceded.

As ever, with the wheat and chaff having been separated, day two proved much harder. Cybury began the knockout stages against Crewe, whom they'd beaten in a warmup tournament a few weeks earlier. Crewe's showing was much stronger second time round, and indeed they managed to ruin the Arsenal run of clean sheets - but the Gooners were too strong, and came through 2-1. The quarter finals paired us with former winners Middlesbrough, and again it was tight, with a single goal proving decisive - thankfully, it was an Arsenal goal. And so we made it to the semi-final, to face Aston Villa... just as we had a year earlier.

Having fallen to the Villans last year, and having played out a bruising 4-4 draw in Birmingham a few weeks earlier, Cybury knew what to expect. The defence rose to the occasion, keeping a powerful Brummie attack quiet, and the forwards did enough to clinch another '1-0 to the Arsenal'.

And so to uncharted territory for the club - our first Worldnet final. And of course, it had to be against the mighty QPR, winners of the League, previous holders of the Worldnet title, and generally accepted as being the best team in the land. The two clubs met to open the season, with the Hoops winning 6-2, but a rematch later in the year gave the Gooners a 2-1 win and a real lift to the campaign. Which side of Cybury would be on show this time?

After a succession of tight 1-0 results, Cybury went rampant in the final, with Nigeria's Usen Udoh and Stevenage's Paul Lowry smashing two past the West Londoners and still managing to keep the customary clean sheet. And so we actually managed to live up to our reputation, at long last. And yes, it is ironic that a team of Arsenal fans should win a trophy thanks to a rock-solid defence and a not-especially-profilic strike force. There may be more to life than stereotypes, as Blur once sang - but we don't care. We have another trophy.