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The original was posted on /r/soccer by /u/ExtensionAd8134 on 2024-05-30 12:31:49+00:00.
Original Title: [The Athletic] Ten Hag’s staff presented a motivational video to the players before Fa cup final, featuring Al Pacino’s stirring speech from “Any Given Sunday” interspersed with highlights from United’s journey under Ten Hag, all set to U2’s “One.”
Before delivering the tactical plan, Van der Gaag presented a video of his own. This time, it was an edit from the 1999 US sports movie, Any Given Sunday, and the iconic motivational speech given by coach Tony D’Amato, played by Al Pacino, addressed to his Miami Sharks. Cutting between D’Amato’s locker room and images from United’s period under Ten Hag, Pacino’s speech provided the voiceover, crossing over with U2’s hit song One.
Pacino’s words summed up United’s own season. “Now either we heal as a team or we’re gonna crumble, inch by inch, play by play, ’til we’re finished…. We’re in hell right now, gentlemen, believe me. And, we can stay here — get the shit kicked out of us — or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb outta hell one inch at a time.”
Every United player was present in the meeting, and as Pacino’s speech spoke about the narrow inches of elite sport — “one half a step too late, or too early, and you don’t quite make it. One half-second too slow, too fast, you don’t quite catch it” — the video relived Garnacho’s disallowed offside goal at Arsenal earlier in the season, where United plucked defeat from the jaws of victory, as well as Victor Torp’s disallowed goal for Coventry against United in the semi-final at Wembley, where United came within a whisker of defeat.
Those who saw the video recalled how every player across the squad featured in the showreel; top-class saves by Andre Onana, United defenders clearing shots off the line and memorable goals such as Scott McTominay’s late winning header against Brentford and Garnacho’s overhead kick at Everton.
In essence, Ten Hag and Van der Gaag sought to remind United’s players what they are truly capable of, and in Pacino’s words, urged them to “heal as a team”, rather than “dying as individuals.” It was also a raw encapsulation of United’s pleasure and pain over the past season, encouraging them to “climb outta hell” while showing clips of United’s players applauding their supporters after a recent 4-0 defeat at Crystal Palace in the Premier League, as well as the trauma of Chelsea’s dramatic 4-3 win over United in April. The aim was to expose United’s players to their own highs and lows, seeking to replicate the highs and galvanise the team by avoiding a repeat of the lows.
“Now I can’t make you do it,” says Pacino. “You got to look at the guy next to you. Look into his eyes! Now I think you’re gonna see a guy who will go that inch with you. You’re gonna see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team because he knows, when it comes down to it, you’re gonna do the same for him!
“That’s a team, gentleman! And, either we heal, now, as a team, or we will die as individuals. That’s football guys. That’s all it is.
“Now, what are you gonna do?”
That was the question to United’s players. Their answer? Win the FA Cup.