The new Wembley Stadium was the scene for a nerve-wracking Carling Cup finals match as Tottenham came from behind to defeat Chelsea 2-1 to secure their first trophy since 1999.
Spurs came out strong from the start as if to show their determination to claim the cup, with Robbie Keane narrowly missing a shot in the first minute and Pascal Chimbonda hitting the bar in the ninth as Spurs get four shots on goal in the first ten minutes or so.
After Chelsea weathered the opening Spurs volley, they continued to test the new backline for Spurs (with Paul Robinson back in goal as well) for awhile, until Didier Drogba drills a free kick into the net in the 39th minute. If the goal of starting Robinson was to boost his confidence, it was not returned in kind from Robbo as the hapless goalie just stood still as the ball curled around the wall into the net to his left. All of the anxieties that Spurs fans have with Robbo came flooding back into our minds, wondering if Spurs would have to score three or four to get the result, given the outcome of their bright start to the match as Chelsea goalie Petr Cech was in fine form handling those shots.
Spurs equalized in the second half in the 70th minute, as a hand ball call on Wayne Bridge led to a penalty kick from Dimitar Berbatov, who cooly knocked the ball to the left at Cech went right. The rest of the half was basically both teams squandering goal opportunites, so it was on to extra time to sort this match out.
Just after the start of extra time, Jermaine Jenas, on a free kick, blasts the ball goal-ward and Cech knocks the ball away............right to Spurs defender Jonathan Woodgate's face, and the ball heads back toward the untended part of the goal. Some excellent Spurs defense in addition to a return to form from Robbo in stopping shots filled the remainder of the match, and Spurs lay claim to their first bit of silverware since manager Juande Ramos took over last October.
Battling back against a team like Chelsea is a great accomplishment that Spurs fans will relish in for a long, long time, here's to hoping that this is the first step toward better things. COME ON YOU SPURS!!!!
SPURS MATCH REPORT
2 comments:
Aww, well done on a deserved win. I'm a Chelsea fan, so I'm still a little disappointed, but it was great to see Keano (legend) win something.
cheers for your words, especially about Keane, I'd been under the impression that non-Spurs fans always found him irritating. Good luck against Olympiacos, going for the CL title is a nice consolation, I'd say.
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