The way Manchester United and Chelsea played the FA Cup 2007 final, many would say it was a drab affair, that we could have had a better match. But considering the occasion and the final outcome of the match, the new Wembley stadium deserved the best two teams in England (and arguably in Europe) this season to fight for the right to be its new rulers. And as it panned out, these two teams did fight it out to the very last moment.
Jose Mourinho doesn’t call himself ‘the special one’ for nothing. The Chelsea manager may have seen his side lose the crown to the eventual champions but he has made sure one thing that Chelsea don’t lose to Man Utd during the course of the season. So that when it mattered, he would be able to take advantage of this painful reality for his opponents. Thus two matches in the EPL this season ended in a stalemate, 1-1 at Old Trafford and 0-0 at Stamford Bridge. He had done it, something even Sir Alex Ferguson hadn’t been able to achieve when Chelsea won the league two times in a row. ManU had lost thrice in four encounters then.
In his three years at Chelsea, Mourinho has taken shrewdness as a manager to new heights. He has managed to study teams and break them down at will. And what transpired at the Wembley was an exact showcase of what ‘the special one’ is capable of. Everybody knows the style of football Manchester United play. Actually they know only one style of play, that is free flowing and attacking football. To let the Red Devils do that is like committing footballing Hara Kiri. Something AC Milan prevented in the second leg of the Champions league and knocked ManU out. And this was exactly how Jose planned this match, like a game of chess.
Yes, it was a game of chess. The teams started slowly. None of them their usual self, simply put the weariness of a long season was beginning to tell on the players. Both teams have played over 60 competitive games this season and were still fighting for glory. ManU just didn’t find their rhythm from the beginning itself but the slow initial pace of the game suited Chelsea just fine as they usually are slow starters. But the game veered on so much for the first half that the first shot on goal didn’t come till the 26th minute when Lampard tried to get the better of Man Utd’s defence. Rest of the half was pretty uneventful as the crunch rivals paid each other just too much respect.
The second half however proved to be just opposite. United tried too hard to force the pace. Rooney helped them get a move on and Giggs responded to his initiative. However, the PFA player of the year, Christiano Ronaldo was clearly having a bad game as he couldn’t even get past Paulo Ferreira, the Portuguese left-back had a decent game although he was considered the weakest link in the Chelsea line up. Essien who stood in the middle of defense along with Terry, faced up wave after wave of the United attack. Meanwhile John Obi Mikel and Makelele withstood pressure from Paul Scholes and Carrick in the midfield. Up ahead, Joe Cole had been surprisingly replaced before the start of the second half by Arjen Robben, who along with Kalou and Drogba was trying hard to break the Red Devils’ defense. But neither team had any success.
There were a few close moments though. Gigs tripped over by Essien seemed to have pushed over Petr Cech and the ball with him over the goal line, but the referees failed to give a goal. And correctly so, as a player can’t just push the goal keeper beyond the line. It’s simply a foul. Rather they should have had a penalty or a free kick. Rooney seemed to have been fouled by Essien too, but the referee again didn’t award a penalty. Quite rightly, they are still upset about it. Chelsea on the other hand were weaving webs around their opponents’ defense. Robben set up Drogba but the latter just hit the side netting. He did come agonizingly close to scoring off a free kick later on but only hit the post.
It seemed that for the third consecutive year the FA cup winner would be decided via penalties. But everybody made the mistake of discounting Chelsea’s never say die attitude. Match after match this year, Chelsea have struck in the dying moments, games in which they were looking like settling for a draw, only to win in the end. This was one thing that Mourinho and his team have learnt, that they just can’t give up. We saw a close title race because of that only. And this will power only helped them here too. Drogba struck his 33rd goal of the season after a fine double play with Lampard and thus Chelsea scored with only about five minutes left.
In the end, the solitary goal was enough. Of course Manchester United were disappointed, they weren’t able to complete the double. Chelsea completed theirs however, adding this one to the League cup. More importantly, they are still undefeated by their closest rivals and of course, Mourinho has now won every English title in his three year stint at his club. The coming season will be the most interesting to watch, no doubt. But for now, Wembley is once again the home of English football and Chelsea are the rulers of the English FA for the fourth time.
Image Credit: BBC - [1], [2], [3]
Source: ibnlive
