‘It will be worst 90 minutes of my life’
BLACK CATS AND BORO HERO READY FOR MISERY
JULIO Arca faces the most uncomfortable 90 minutes of his life when former clubs Sunderland and Middlesbrough meet at the Riverside next week.
Arca spent six years on Wearside and seven on Teesside, but the divided loyalties that normally accompany games between his former employers have been multiplied a thousand-fold by the situation in which those teams find themselves.
Because the Black Cats take on Boro on Wednesday night in a basement clash which will nudge either - or both - one step closer to the Championship.
“It is an impossible situation for me,” says the Argentinian, who will be watching at the Riverside.
“It is always difficult when Sunderland play against Middlesbrough, but when they are both fighting relegation like this I can’t celebrate a victory no matter who wins. “Sometimes when your two old clubs play each other you can be diplomatic and hope for a draw - but this time that would be a loselose situation, because a draw is no good to either of them. “It is not going to be nice experience at all, it will probably be the most difficult game I have watched in my life.” Sunderland had no game this weekend due to Arsenal’s involvement i n the FA Cup semifinal, while Boro were crushed 4-0 at Bournemouth on Saturday. And with relegation rivals Hull City and Swansea City both winning, the situation looks increasingly grim for the two North-East clubs. Sunderland are bottom of the table and 12 points behind the fourth-bottom Tigers, while Boro are next-to-bottom and nine points from safety. The Black Cats have a game in hand on Boro and two in hand on Hull and Swansea, and still have to face all three of those sides.
Arca said: “You can never say never because Sunderland have been in these kind of situations before, have been written-off, and have managed to stay up for the last four seasons.
“But I don’t think they have been this far away before and - while they still have a mathematical chance of survival - you have to say it looks very unlikely. Boro have an extra three points so have a slight advantage, but they can’t score goals and while they have defended pretty well this season, recently they have started to concede a few.
“The players have to keep on believing, but I think everyone at both clubs can see what is coming.”
Arca suffered two catastrophic relegations with Sunderland, as a member of the squad that was relegated with 19 points in 2003, and then as part of the side that went down with only 15 points three years later. And he was part of the Boro team that was relegated from the Premier League in 2009.
He said: “Relegation is always really bad, really painful, and those two seasons with Sunderland were especially bad. But even though we went down, the club came back.
“After we went down the first time, it took two years to get back to the Premier League under Mick McCarthy. And even though we came straight back down, the club won promotion at the first attempt and it has been in the top league ever since.
“After being relegated with Boro, the club found it a lot more difficult to win promotion but they got there eventually.
“The problem is that the Championship is improving all the time, and if Sunderland and/or Boro are there next season, it won’t be easy to win promotion.”