UK News
Chelsea v Manchester City: FA Cup final – live | FA Cup
Key events
90 min On 11 November 2018, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City beat Man Utd 3-1 through goals from David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Ilkay Gundogan. The day before that, Antoine Semenyo made his FA Cup debut for Newport County in a 2-0 win away to Met Police.
Eight years on, Semenyo is a few minutes of injury time away from scoring the winning goal in an FA Cup final.
88 min Excellent game management from City, who are keeping the ball and frustrating Chelsea.
86 min: Chelsea substitution Alejandro Garnacho replaces the weary Joao Pedro.
85 min Cherki addresses a bouncing ball of the edge of the area with a ferocious shot that is beaten away by Sanchez. It was straight enough but that’s still a fine save.
84 min: Nunes hits the post
Doku plays a superb pass to release O’Reilly on the left. His low ball across the area towards Haaland is crucically cut out by Caicedo.
Seconds later, Nunes screws a low cross on the run that deflects onto the near post!
83 min “That was a wonderful goal, I actually burst out laughing,” writes Kári Tulinius. “This was like something the Harlem Globetrotters would pull, if they played football.”
Please don’t make Florentino Perez angry again.
82 min: Chelsea substitution Former Manchester City forward Liam Delap comes on for Reece James.
80 min And now it’s over to our resident Quasimodo. “My pre-season prediction of a team in blue or red winning top honours in England and Europe looks like coming true again, Rob,” writes Simon McMahon. “I amend it slightly to include green and white in Scotland. Hoping it holds for the World Cup this year too. Scotland v Spain final. Norway for Eurovision. Democrats or Republicans. Labour or Tories Reform. It’s foolproof, I tell you. Bet the farm on it.”
79 min Darren Cann, assistant referee in the 2010 World Cup final, again thinks it was the correct decision to not award the penalty. I’ll bow to his superior knowledge, but Khusanov took a big risk by leaning quite strongly into Hato.
77 min A big chance for City to clinch it. Doku frees the underlapping O’Reilly on the left side of the area – but he cuts the ball back to nobody instead of trying to score another Wembley goal.
Chelsea break and there’s another penalty appeal for a challenge by Khusanov, this time on Hato (I think). It looked clumsy – he was the wrong side – but it’s been cleared by both the referee and VAR.
76 min “Semenyo did a Zola?” says Giovanni Cafagna.
75 min: Chelsea substiution Pedro Neto replaces Marc Cucurella, which presumably means a switch to 4-2-3-1.
74 min: Chance for Enzo!
Chelsea almost reply straight away. A long throw from the left is headed on by Colwill and volleyed onto the roof of the net by Enzo. He was only six yards out but had to flick the volley towards goal while wrestling with Guehi, so it wasn’t an easy chance.
Erling Haaland opened the game up with a sharp turn away from Fofana 30 yards from goal. He gave the ball to Bernardo, who played it back to Haaland on the right side of the area. Haaland drove a first-time cross towards the near post, where Semenyo dragged the ball behind his standing leg and into the far corner. That’s an outstanding finish!
GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Man City (Semenyo 71)
Antoine Semenyo puts City ahead with a fabulous goal!
70 min The corner is headed away.
69 min Semenyo runs at Cucurella, who concedes a corner with a well-timed challenge. Semenyo has been a greater than threat than Doku so far.
67 min On that occasion, Khusanov barely touched Joao Pedro. I’m still not sure about the one before half-time though.
66 min Gusto clips an early cross into the box, where Joao Pedro goes down off the ball after some sort of touch from Khusanov. The referee isn’t interested, nor Stockley Park’s finest.
65 min: City substitution Mateo Kovacic replaces Rodri, who isn’t fit enough to go the distance. Phil Foden seemed to be getting ready too but he hasn’t come on yet.
63 min “Cynical Urges (50 min),” says Joe Pearson, “is my next band name.”
Who knew a band with a name like that would drop the first great yacht rock album?
61 min This is Chelsea’s best spell of the match, and Pep Guardiola is about to respond with a double substitution.
59 min James takes a corner on the right, gets the ball back from a near-post clearance and flips a delicious cross that is just too high for Fofana at the far post.
58 min Chelsea have two penalty appeals turned down in the space of 10 seconds. The first was for a challenge by Doku on Caicedo, the second when Enzo’s cross hits the elbow of O’Reilly. His arm was folded into his body so there’s nothing for VAR to see here.
56 min Khusanov is booked for barging Cucurella over. There were, before you mention it, some differences between that and the penalty appeal before half-time. No time for that because it’s all happening…
55 min: Rodri heads off the line!
James’ corner is headed up in the air, with Trafford in no man’s land as he tries to make up for that error. Caicedo heads it back towards the open goal and Rodri nods it away just in front of the goalline. Trafford probably would have made the save as he ran back desperately, but I wouldn’t put the farm on it.
54 min Trafford lets a backpass run under his foot and behind for a Chelsea corner. Could have been worse, a whole lot worse, because he wasn’t far from the goalline.
52 min City are playing with greater urgency at the start of the second half. This is what happened at Stamford Bridge last month, when it was goalless at half-time and 3-0 to City after 67 minutes.
50 min “Khusanov was beaten all ends up,” says Justin Madson of the Chelsea penalty appeal just before half-time. “He took the angle to get the ball, realised he couldn’t, then angled to take out Joao Pedro. No attempt to play the ball whatsoever, not even looking at it.
“I am tired of shoulder charges by defenders being called ‘a coming together’ when the defender is beaten. It’s a cop-out of an excuse for swallowing the whistle for something that would ordinarily be a foul because it happens in the box.
“Thank you for your time.”
My instinct is that it was a foul. But the speed with which VAR cleared it, and the certainly with which Darren Cann on the BBC said it wasn’t a penalty, has given me pause. I certainly agree with the broader point. Footballers, not just defenders, have become so good at disguising their cynical urges.
47 min: Big chance for Semenyo!
Cherki gets on the ball straight away. He plays an excellent angled pass out to O’Reilly, who stands up an even better cross to the far post. Semenyo gets up early, six yards from goal, but heads over the bar. Either he jumped too early or the cross was slightly too high.
47 min “I’m on call and missed the MBM,” boasts Alan Terlep, “so I went back to the beginning… and the Millenium Bug.
“I was a technician in 1999 and ran patches for the Millennium Bug on hundreds of computers. First business day of 2000, I got a frantic call from a factory that was completely shut down. I went out and found that I’d missed a step in the patch, so the bug shut down the factory.
“What happened to the Millennium Bug? We saw it coming and fixed it before it caused big problems. It was a shining example of society successfully fixing a problem and it should be celebrated by anyone who thinks we can collectively make life better.”
Amen to that. Now, any idea how society can come together to fix everything? (Also, that must have been a pretty scary phone call to receive, especially if you’d been living life to the max the night before.)
46 min City begin the second half. Cherki has indeed replaced Marmoush, so these are the revised line-ups.
Chelsea (3-4-2-1) Sanchez; Fofana, Colwill, Hato; Gusto, Caicedo, James, Cucurella; Palmer, Enzo; Joao Pedro.
Substitutes: Jorgensen, Acheampong, Tosin, Chalobah, Essugo, Andrey Santos, Neto, Garnacho, Delap.
Man City (4-2-3-1) Trafford; Nunes, Khusanov, Guehi, O’Reilly; Rodri, Bernardo; Semenyo, Cherki, Doku; Haaland.
Substitutes: Donnarumma, Dias, Reijnders, Stones, Ake, Kovacic, Savinho, Foden.
Rayan Cherki is coming on at half-time, presumably for Omar Marmoush.
“When was the last time a team was utterly crushed, 1980s-style, by losing the FA Cup final? Pardew’s Palace, West Ham in 2006?”
You must have missed me weeping like a bairn in the bogs in 2018, mate. (But seriously folks, I’d probably say Palace in 2016 or Hull in 2014.)
Jonathan Wilson
Half-time reading
Another final-day showdown, another final-day heartbreak. The pain may have been spread over 61 years, but that won’t make it any easier to bear for Hearts who, having been top for 250 days of the Scottish Premiership season, missed out on the title again.
There was, of course, a Celtic penalty for handball and a critical video assistant referee decision that went their way but, on this occasion, neither provided the controversy. That came instead from the confusion as the game was ended by a pitch invasion with 23 seconds plus whatever else the referee felt needed to be added to injury still to play.
Some incursions are largely joyous, forgivable as spontaneous eruptions of emotion but while that may have been true for the majority who spilled out of the stands, there were also many who confronted Hearts players. But even if the invasion had been purely celebratory, fans cannot be allowed to dictate when games finish.
Half time: Chelsea 0-0 Manchester City
Peep peep! That’s the end of a first half that was intriguing rather than downright entertaining. The stats say City have been the better team – 60 per cent possession, both shots on target – but Chelsea grew into the game after a slow start and got into some promising positions. Joao Pedro, all alone up front, has been excellent.
45+1 min: Chelsea penalty appeal! After Bernardo lost the ball in a dangerous position, Joao Pedro surged into the penalty area and was sent flying by Khusanov. It was a body check rather than a trip but I think decision could have gone either way.
Nope, no penalty. The consensus is that it’s one to file under ‘a coming together’. That’s fair enough, but equally Khusanov knew what he was doing.
45 min Three minutes of added minutes.
44 min: Sanchez denies Haaland
Haaland rumbles into the Chelsea area, left of centre, and batters a shot from a tight angle that is blocked by Sanchez. His positioning was good, Petr Cech-good, and that made it very difficult for even Haaland to score.
42 min Andy Gordon has this to say on the skull cap being worn by Chelsea’s keeper Robert Sanchez.
My mind is wandering a bit, but could Chelsea have downloaded an AI of Petr Cech to feed to Sanchez through electrodes in that skull cap?
I love this idea; the potential is endless.
41 min The corner is headed away by Haaland, who then uses his abundant noggin to clear the danger a second time.
40 min After another crisp Chelsea move, Palmer’s cross is headed behind by the stooping Bernardo Silva. Chelsea are on top as we approach half-time.
38 min A deep cross is cushioned back across the face by Gusto and cleared by City. Chelsea are having less of the ball but look more dangerous when they have it.
33 min Semenyo beats Cucurella with ease on the right side of the area, only to slash a left-foot shot out for a throw-in on the far side.
32 min Cucurella is booked for a foul on Semenyo, who has caused him problems all day.
32 min Joao Pedro looks okay to continue.
31 min Now Joao Pedro is down with an injury to his left thigh. That’s a worry – for Chelsea, for Brazil and for all lovers of economical, intelligent, underrated centre-forward play.
29 min Enzo Fernandez is booked for wiping out Bernardo Silva. Both feet were off the ground, with his studs showing slightly, so although he took the ball he can have no complaints.
Okay, he should have no complaints. He is currently complaining.
28 min “We’ve gone from numbingly dull to mildly exciting incompetence,” says Adam Roberts. “Is this progress?”
Any chance we could talk about the game rather than my writing?
27 min: Disallowed goal for City! Semenyo plays in the underlapping Nunes, who gives Haaland an open goal at the far post. But Nunes started his run far too early and was clearly offside.
26 min Chelsea are growing into the game. Enzo Fernandez almost releases Joao Pedro with a short through pass that is crucially intercepted by Khusanov.
25 min Caicedo is limping with what looks like a knee problem. He’s going to continue for now.
23 min At the other end, James is sacked just outside the area by Doku. Haaland collects and smashes a cross-shot across the face of goal from a very tight angle.
22 min A fine tackle by Palmer on Doku leads to a dangerous Chelsea break. Joao Pedro is held up at first by Khusanov; then, when support arrives, he ignores Enzo on the edge of the area and goes for goal himself. Alas, Joao Pedro slips in the act of shooting and the ball dribbles through to Trafford.
21 min A slick attack from Chelsea, their first move of quality, ends with a cross on the run from Gusto that is headed behind by the diving Nunes.
The corner is taken short and eventually worked all the way back to the keeper Sanchez. No, I haven’t made that up.
19 min Possession watch: Chelsea 28-72 Man City.
16 min Not a classic so far. Both teams are playing the long game – City with the ball, Chelsea without.
The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.
Source link
Key events
In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.
Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.
“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “
News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.
“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.
“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.
Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.
The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.
The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.
An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.
In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.
For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:
“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.
“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”
Saturday’s match reports here.
The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.
“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against Cape Verde.
“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.
“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.
“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.
“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”
The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”
Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.
The teams – Lamine Yamal starts
Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.
Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.
Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?
Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.
Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat
The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.
The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.
Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.
“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.
Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.
Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.
A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.
Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP
Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?
Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.
Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.
“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”
A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.
“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”
We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.
The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.
Preamble
Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.
Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.
A topless man can be seen driving erratically in Edinburgh before abandoning his car and attacking a black man and a delivery rider.
Source link
-
Oxford News4 weeks agoJeremy Clarkson hits back with sweary response over BGT backlash
-
Business & Technology4 weeks agoCar boot sale to return to Bicester after 20 years
-
Oxford News4 weeks agoJeremy Clarkson reveals new Clarkson’s Farm surprise guest stars
-
UK News2 weeks agoUK defence spending plan ‘well short of what’s required’ and harder choices needed, says John Healey – UK politics live | Politics
-
UK News3 weeks agoTwo arrests and three police officers injured in protest at asylum hotel
-
UK News3 weeks agoJohn Healey resigns as defence secretary in disagreement with Starmer over spending – UK politics live | Politics
-
Oxford News3 weeks agoOxford sports bar brawl with bottle and pool balls thrown
-
Student Life2 weeks agoHome Office proposes doubling of Campsfield capacity