Three bold storylines in perpendicular straight lines converged on an early Saturday night at the same point in time and space to form a single football coordinate system, in which a bewitching spectacle called the “FA Cup Final” unfolded. One axis is the charismatic confrontation between Chelsea and Manchester United, which finally got into the atmosphere corresponding to the status. The second direction is the history of the oldest tournament in the football world, which has long become one of the national symbols. And the third dimension, spatial - the legendary Wembley Stadium, which for the first time appeared at such a level in a new ultramodern guise, while retaining in detail the spirit of the great events that make up the very essence of British football. In this coordinate system, teams had to draw their own graphic continuation of a unique English tradition, each with its own color, blue or red.
Jose Mourinho with his Yorkshire terrier nicknamed Gullit violated the idyllic monumentality of the pre-match picture (who would doubt it) (here, perhaps, many in the Portuguese were disappointed - the dog’s name is extremely out of date). Under other circumstances, this story would probably fall under the heading “bullshit” and would be immediately forgotten, but now through the efforts of the Chelsea manager it has grown into a whole saga. Somewhere he hid a terrier that was at odds with the local bureaucracy, and in England it was joked that the dog would watch the match on television and keep in touch with Mourinho on a cell phone. It is unlikely that this whole situation internally had such an effect on the Portuguese - he gained a reputation as a person who calculates everything in the world. Sometimes it seems that he knows in advance where to slip on the way home.
Alex Ferguson chose to return the anticipating audience to the football plane, comparing Chelsea with a wounded beast for the sake of the day. The coach of Manchester United recognized his team’s moral advantage: the Mancunians have already won their main trophy of the season, but it’s kind of awkward to show their League Cup in a decent company. At the same time, Ferguson emphasized that both teams want to win equally.
In addition to problems with Gullit, Mourinho also had other staffing concerns - due to injuries, Ricardo Carvalho, Ballack and Shevchenko were left out of the historical match, and Robben and Ashley Cole's readiness was enough only for the bench. The defense suffered the most damage again - Essien took the place of the central defender, and Wayne Bridge was located on the left. They advanced forward Didier Drogba, who, as far as they could, tried to help Wright-Phillips and Joe Cole, timidly crowning the outwardly attacking formation 4-3-3. Salomon Kalu remained in ambush.
The Mankunians had fewer problems - only Captain Harry Neville did not change his tuxedo to a game uniform. His deputy, Wes Brown, formed a protective symmetry with Gabriel Heinze, whom Ferguson again preferred Patrice Evra on the left. Another pre-launch personnel puzzle, bearing the name of Smith-Fletcher, was resolved in favor of the Scotsman, and, accordingly, a more cautious tactical option. Ronaldo, Giggs and Rooney were responsible for the attack.
The events of the first half may well fit into one, not particularly branchy phrase. Against the background of almost sapper alertness, Manchester United owned the ball more, and Chelsea hit the goal more often, but they did not even create one full-time goal for two teams. Drogba and Lampard were almost dangerously beaten from afar. Wayne Rooney climbed offside three times as part of an asymmetric response. The Mankunians were generally noticeably nervous, having made too many defective attacks and not having seized the ball and territory enough to lead a traditional combination game. At Chelsea, the middle line was underdeveloped in the attacking phase - Drogba often remained without proper support.
The feeling that the teams were playing with the burlak load of seasonal fatigue and the responsibility that shackled the initiative for the 90,000th super stadium did not disappear even after the break. At Chelsea, Robben appeared on the field, replacing Joe Cole in position. The Dutchman missed the game so much that for a warm-up he hit his head from the penalty line - a spectacle almost exclusive. The time, however, began more aggressively for Manchester United - it was time for Rooney to get out of the offside, but Peter Chekh parried a dangerous strike from the striker.
The match began to gain momentum. Drogba has already been gesturing the stands of the expressive conductor, and Rooney, in response, makes a solo breakthrough from one gate to another. The century-old bunch of Mankunians immediately worked - Scholes spotted Giggs in the penalty area, but the Welsh hit hit the crossbar from the fly. But Drogba, with a penalty a couple of minutes later, hit the goal frame, but did not feel much joy from it.
Duelists continued to act cautiously, increasingly losing their time on a simple or individual game. Robben, Drogba and Rooney in the second half made several solo raids on other people's gates, but did not reach the goal. And about twenty minutes before the end of normal time, the activity curve of both teams steadily crawled down. Cristiano Ronaldo was extremely passive, who spent the first game hour strictly on the left, then migrated to the right, but the result did not change due to a change in the places of the flanks. The Chelsea defenders almost didn’t connect to the attacks and carefully guarded the Portuguese, and with him Giggs. Only Rooney managed to physically push Essien a couple of times, but this was too little to count on victory.
The bewitching lullaby ended the main time of the match - even Wembley merged in a monotonous hum. Steve Bennett’s double whistle woke Manchester United - the team, invigorated by the release of Alan Smith, issued a decent 15-minute finish, crowning it with the most dangerous moment in the match. The attack was good - a Mancunian soul was in her body. Rooney got the ball on the right flank and cut a pass into the center on the oncoming Giggs. The captain in the fall took out the ball and rolled with him to the goal - Cech caught both. Drogba's answer was adequate - the Ivorian did not hit the empty corner with an acute angle.
But the last 15 minutes of the match were for Chelsea. Having waited for the rush of the Mankunians, the “blue” decided not to bring the matter to a penalty shootout on their own. First, the substitute Kalu passed twenty centimeters from heroism, and then his more eminent compatriot again took the floor. Obi Mikel out of habit threw the ball in the direction of Drogba, the Ivorian, turning around, passed to Lampard and immediately opened into the box. Frank in touch returned the ball to the striker, and Ferdinand and Brown did not solve the simple trick. Drogba was left alone in front of the goal, calmly threw the ball through van der Sarah and was at the base of the blue jubilant pyramid. The forward conducting the super-season won the nominal duel against Ronaldo and the real against Vidic and again scored at the most important moment.
The game was made. Mourinho, forgetting about his terrier, ran to celebrate the victory. He has never won an English Cup. “Well, the dog is with him,” read on Ferguson’s annoyed face, and apparently equally related to Mourinho and the Cup. Wembley, meanwhile, was digesting the symbolism of the situation - the first winner of the Cup at the new stadium magically coincided with the last at the old one. Three plots merged into one and painted in stylish blue tones. Style - element of Mourinho. He nevertheless managed to get out of the bad season with his head held high.
Chelsea - Manchester United - 1: 0 (0: 0, 0: 0, 1: 0)
Goal: 1: 0 - Drogba (116).
Chelsea : Cech, Paulo Ferreira, Terry, Bridge, Essien, Obi Mikel, Makelele, Lampard, Wright-Phillips (Kalu, 93), D. Cole (Robben, 46, E. Cole, 108), Drogba.
MANCHESTER UNITED : van der Sar, Brown, Vidic, Ferdinand, Heinze, Fletcher (Smith, 92), Scholes, Carrick (O'Shea, 112), Cristiano Ronaldo, Giggs (Sulscher, 112), Rooney.
Warnings : Scholes (59), Makelele (84), Vidic (85), Smith (106), Kalu (120), Paulo Ferreira (120 + 1), E. Cole (120 + 2).
May 19th . Wembley. 6 p.m.
Judge : Steve Bennett (Kent).