Last night Sunderland was locked in an epic battle with Manchester United in the League Cup semifinal 2nd leg at Old Trafford. Sunderland came in with a 2-1 aggregate score. Ki and Sunderland pulled off the extraordinary… Jones equalized on a Welbeck miss hit shot, but the odd tournament away goals rules meant that if it wasn’t settled in extra time, Manchester United would take the trip to Wembley for the final. A tired but unflappable Sunderland crew did an extraordinary job of holding down waves of attacks throughout the match, then pressed the hosts gallantly for a heroic stretch in the 2nd half, but no goal to show for all the hard work. With a minute of extra time remaining, Ki with the ball at the edge of the box, worked his way around and passed the ball to Bardsley, his powered shot went right to DeGea. Then some bit of magic was on the ball, it took a wicked spin off DeGea’s hands, and spun around into the corner of the post -and bounced on in! Celebrations on the visitor support side rocked Old Trafford, but Chicharito instantly turned the celebration to red devil counter celebrations as he tapped in a cross with 10 seconds remaining!
With both sides scoring, those weird League Cup rules meant PKs would have the final say. Not your ordinary nerve wracking affair, you could sense so much on the line for both teams based on recent events that have rocked both clubs in this tumultuous season. Dramatic multiple missed PKs, blocked saves and nails bitten off both hands later, Ki knocked in what eventually turned out to be the game winning PK, despite Gardner missing his chance to put the game away -Rafael Da Silva’s turn was saved by Mannone. Mannone was simply magnificent -he was one of several heroes of the match. It takes a village they say- well rather it takes a whole team in Sunderland’s case. The Wearsiders now goes to Wembley in early March – Manchester City awaits. What a game. More on this later — I’m on the run as usual but here’s a youtube of Ki’s PK – nice job sending DeGea guessing the other way.
UPDATE: I did remember when watching the game, the folks calling the game for BeInSport called Ki “a fulcrum for the Sunderland attack.” He started running out of gas in the 2nd half (I thought Poyet would pull him) but he stayed in and played deeper. A little quieter for a stretch, Ki still was reliable (save for the very first pass to start the 2nd half) in his distributions, kept the ball alive for Sunderland, and if he is tagged as the cool and calm midfield playmaker – he lived up to that. Got to go, more to come.
The goalscorer for Manchester United is Jonny Evans. As always, it is a well written match analysis 😀
it was the best game i’ve watched in a long time
You have got to be fucking kidding me. Korea lost to Iraq AGAIN after losing to Iraq in U-20 World Cup? I thought Korea would win the cup since Australia and Japan got out.
Falcao was injured and won’t be playing in world cup. Japan has it easier now. Fuck.
^^^^^ no offense but LOLOL
‘Japan is no doubt a huge rival of Korea in terms of football. It’s not about political issues, history, or anything like that. It’s about a huge rival of Korea in terms of FOOTBALL. Just because we talk about Japan doesn’t necessarily mean we are “hatorating” Japan.’
Dude do you know how to read? I’m not the type of person to be offended and all that on the internet but what I was implying is that just because people talk about Japan doesn’t mean we are hatorating Japan. Do you even know basic english? Did I mentional political isssues or history and say anything like that? I only said Japan has an easier group now that Falcao is injured. Did I try to insult Japan or anything like that? Please learn basic english before commenting please.
Im not trying to cause a stir but I think its you who should proof read before posting.
“Falcao was injured and won’t be playing in world cup. Japan has it easier now. Fuck.”
You really expect people to not take that statement as jealousy/hating?
cmon man
Omg I just lost my temper for one second. Yeah sorry for acting like a hypocrite and just ignore my post up there ^^.
cool. English is my 1st language.
It was also a double major in college. Lulz
Even without Falcao, Korea’s group is still infinitely easier than Japan’s. Colombia and Ivory Coast are A LOT better than Russia and Algeria. Greece… who knows… no team should be discounted. The point is, Korea can only blame itself if it doesn’t get out of its group. I believe, problems and all, Korea can and should get out of the group stages. I’d say it’s the easiest group they’ve ever been in.
On another note… personally, I’m disappointed because Falcao is fantastic and would have made the World Cup a lot better. I read there’s still a chance he can recover in time..
Lets just worry about ourselves shall we? I don’t get the constant comparing of our group with Japan’s.
Its totally pointless. Unless you enjoy hatorading.
Japan is no doubt a huge rival of Korea in terms of football. It’s not about political issues, history, or anything like that. It’s about a huge rival of Korea in terms of FOOTBALL. Just because we talk about Japan doesn’t necessarily mean we are “hatorating” Japan.
I want Korea to do better than Japan. It’s just ingrained into me. However, I don’t root for them to do badly. Honestly, as an Asian American, we should pull for Asians to do well in general. Besides, that actually only helps Korea in the end to get better. As examples of why we should pull for Asians, whether Korean or Japanese, etc. to do well: http://soccerly.com/snap/20140116/dempsey-called-up-to-pepsis-world-cup-squad
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/06/world-cup-portfolio-201006
Notice anybody missing?
The commentators are suddenly becoming more balanced. I like that! 🙂
By the way, in case people didn’t understand what I was implying, the media has racist tendencies, either directly or by omission. In my links above, it’s evidence of omission. So that is why I can’t ever denigrate another Asian team. That being said, I can’t criticize taegukreddevil, since I kind of understand the sentiment. I once had to draw something for art class, where we did an exchange with a class in Japan. My drawing? Korea beating Japan 3 to 0 in soccer. Lol. So I get it. But, I just try to see the big picture now.