IT WAS the year of the sensational comeback.
An A-list sporting year from Augusta to Anfield to The Ashes.
Tiger Woods won his first major in 11 years after winning the Masters at AugustaCredit: Reuters
The year of Tiger Woods roaring back from physical breakdown and emotional meltdown to slip into the most famous piece of tailoring in sport, The Masters’ Green Jacket.
The year of Liverpool overcoming a 3-0 Champions League semi-final deficit to make mortals of Lionel Messi’s Barcelona — and then for Tottenham to join them in the final with another Houdini job 24 hours later.
And the year of Ben Stokes staging the most spectacular jailbreak in Ashes history to win the Headingley Test, accompanied by bespectacled tailender Jack Leach — Superman and Clark Kent together at last.
It was also the first year in history that England teams contested two World Cup finals in major men’s team sports: chaotic glory at Lord’s for the cricketers, followed by a miserable no-show from Eddie Jones’ rugby side in Yokohama.
The year’s most shimmering highlight arrived on July 14 in St John’s Wood, where that man Stokes played the first of his two miraculous innings as England defeated New Zealand and finally won a cricket World Cup final at the fourth attempt.
It was a mixture of epic triumph and comedic farce. Chariots of Fire and Wacky Races all rolled into one.
England defeated New Zealand and finally won a cricket World Cup final at the fourth attemptCredit: AFP or licensors
As England struggled to chase a modest Kiwi total, Stokes had the nous and clout to make an unbeaten 84 — including one crazy six which included four overthrows when the ball struck his outstretched bat as the all-rounder lunged for a second run.
The result was a tie, followed by a Super Over in which Stokes and Jos Buttler with the bat and Jofra Archer with the ball, earned another tie with a final-ball run-out, as England prevailed by virtue of a bizarre boundary-countback rule.
Three and half months later in Japan, England’s rugby men went into another World Cup final as firm favourites, only to be outmuscled and hammered 32-12 by a South Africa side captained by inspirational township boy Siya Kolisi.
England had thrashed Australia in the quarters and then dethroned the world champion All Blacks in a semi-final with perhaps their finest-ever display.
They faced down the pre-match Haka in a ‘V for victory’ formation, then outclassed New Zealand from start to finish.
It was a performance bordering on perfection, yet only ended up making England’s panic-stricken display in the final feel utterly deflating.
Manchester City secured an unprecedented domestic Treble pipping Liverpool by a point in the leagueCredit: PA:Press Association
And it was a similar story in The Ashes, where Stokes and Leach denied the Aussies an unassailable 2-0 series lead, despite having needed 72 to win when No 11 Leach came to the crease in the Third Test.
An inspired Stokes bludgeoned all but one of those runs, Leach making the most famous one not out of all time — frequently halting play to wipe his glasses on a steamy Leeds afternoon which burns bright in the memory.
And yet the following week at Old Trafford, England were out-played as man-of-the-series Steve Smith bagged a double century and the Aussies retained The Ashes, Joe Root’s men winning at The Oval for the scant consolation of a drawn series.
England would not win a Test series all year for the first time this century.
In football, Manchester City secured an unprecedented domestic Treble.
And yet, somehow, 2019 belonged to Liverpool, with whom City are enjoying a classic modern rivalry.
The Reds were European champions for the sixth time and suffered only one Premier League defeat — against City on January 3.
The Open Championship was won by Irishman Shane LowryCredit: Pacemaker Press
Pep Guardiola and his side won the most relentless title race the English top flight has ever known, finishing with 14 straight victories to hold off Jurgen Klopp’s men by a single point.
Yet Liverpool have dominated the new season and already look nailed-on for their first title in 30 years.
Their greatest night was that 4-0 semi-final second-leg success over Barca, when — without Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino — they produced the most extraordinary result of a wonderfully mental Champions League knockout stage.
It included Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s injury-ravaged Manchester United overhauling a 2-0 deficit from the home leg to defeat Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 in the French capital.
Then there was Spurs’ hyperventilating quarter-final success over City, followed by their own ridiculous semi-final comeback, when Lucas Moura’s second-half hat-trick defeated Ajax in Amsterdam.
The final could not live up to any of that drama but Liverpool did not care, winning 2-0 in Madrid to paint Europe red once more.
Liverpool reigned as Champions League winnersCredit: Reuters
Lucas Moura’s second-half hat-trick defeated Ajax in AmsterdamCredit: Reuters
The VAR shambles which denied City victory in that quarter-final against Spurs would be unleashed on the Premier League this season — a groundbreaking change leading to widespread mayhem. Elsewhere, Brendan Rodgers revitalised Leicester and is propelling them towards Champions League qualification.
Rodgers’ Foxes handed out a 9-0 gubbing of Southampton for the biggest away win ever seen in the English top flight.
Tottenham sacked Mauricio Pochettino and appointed Jose Mourinho, while Arsenal paid a less tearful “good ebening” to Unai Emery.
England were disappointing at the Nations League finals, beaten in the semi-final by Holland and VAR.
But Gareth Southgate’s young side marched on towards next summer’s Euro finals, after a qualification campaign lit up by 37 goals, yet marred by racial abuse during their victories in Montenegro and, most shockingly, Bulgaria.
It was golf which gave us the great global story of the year as Woods pulled off the most evocative of all sporting-redemption tales with his first Major victory in 11 years at the age of 43.
Since 2008, the American had been publicly humiliated over his personal life and suffered crippling back problems, yet he defied all odds to conquer Augusta again.
The Open Championship was staged across the Irish Sea at Portrush for the first time in 68 years and there was an Irish winner in Shane Lowry, who claimed his first Major by six clear shots.
Lewis Hamilton piloted his Mercedes to the chequered flag at Silverstone on his way to a sixth Formula One crownCredit: EPA
Almost as miraculous as Woods’ recovery from injury was that of Andy Murray, who was afforded a sentimental send-off into ‘retirement’ at the Australian Open, only to ignite his pipe and slippers by undergoing revolutionary hip surgery and winning the European Open just nine months later.
The year’s outstanding tennis match was the Wimbledon men’s singles final — played at the same time as that extraordinary cricket World Cup decider — where Novak Djokovic defeated the ageless eight-time champ Roger Federer in a 5hr epic in the first Grand Slam final-set tie-break.
On that same dizzying afternoon, Lewis Hamilton piloted his Mercedes to the chequered flag at Silverstone on his way to a sixth Formula One crown.
Anthony Joshua was another man on the comeback trail, regaining his three world heavyweight titles with a unanimous points victory in Saudi Arabia against Andy Ruiz Jr.
This after the podgy Mexican rank outsider had inflicted the first defeat of the Brit’s professional career with a seventh-round knock-out in June for the shock of the year.
At the World Athletics Championships in Qatar, Britain won two golds — Dina Asher-Smith in the 200 metres and Katarina Johnson-Thompson in the heptathlon.
Anthony Joshua regained his heavyweight titles with a unanimous points victory in Saudi Arabia against Andy Ruiz JrCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
Five forwards Man Utd could go for in transfer window after missing out on Haaland
The Championships played out to a largely empty stadium and were overshadowed by Alberto Salazar, the former coach of Mo Farah, being found guilty of doping charges.
Onwards then, to 2020, an Olympic year where Britain’s double-barrelled track-and-field golden girls will aim for further glory.
If it is all half as compelling as these last 12 months, we are in for a joyride.
Dina Asher-Smith won gold in the 200 metres at the World Athletics Championships in QatarCredit: PA:Press Association
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
