Fatigued City Persevere and United Make the Final… Just

The magic of the FA Cup was in full effect this past weekend as Wembley housed the semifinals between the current holders Manchester City and Chelsea on Saturday, then last year’s runner’s up Manchester United saw Championship side Coventry City on Sunday. 

Man City and Chelsea clashed in the first semifinal for what was their third meeting this season, and considering Chelsea’s turbulent and mediocre season, it may have been easy for some to pick City to roll past them. The story isn’t that simple though, their previous meetings in the league both ended in draws that City probably should have won, but Chelsea were very much competitive in. More than a few times in both games, Chelsea exploited City’s high line to create plenty of chances. 

Saturday wasn’t very different. Chelsea were in high spirits, coming off a 6-0 win over Everton, where new wonderkid and City academy product, Cole Palmer scored four goals (including a perfect hat trick in the first half) in an exceptional performance. City on the other hand seemed to be hungover from being knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid in a penalty shootout. They looked fatigued and disinterested in the first half, while Chelsea looked fresh and excited. Plenty of times Chelsea players were beating City players to the ball, carving through their lines and creating chances. City were unrecognizable, chasing shadows. 

Chelsea striker, Nicolas Jackson was very active, finding himself in great positions but wasn’t able to capitalize in any of them. The one that will burn Chelsea fans the most came at the half hour mark when Enzo Fernandez put him in on goal, Jackson then rounded City keeper, Ortega, but delayed making an attempt on goal, giving the City defenders time to regain position. He then tried to find Cole Palmer at the back post with a poor ball and the chance was wasted. 

The second half revealed a more assured Man City as they were probably both lambasted and motivated during Pep’s halftime speech. They grew into the game with each passing minute until they had the complete control of the game. Chelsea weren’t totally down and out, as Jackson continued to make good runs into the vacant City half, but each time he was well defended by the anticipation and pace of Kyle Walker. It came together for City late on when substitute, Jeremy Doku combined with Kevin De Bruyne who released a cross from the left hand side of Chelsea’s box. A scramble occurred as Chelsea struggled to clear the ball, and Bernardo Silva was at the back post to tuck the ball home. 1-0 City, and that’s how the game ended.

Chelsea will have some ire towards themselves for wasting the many opportunities they created, but also towards the referees as they’ll feel they were robbed of a penalty from a supposed Jack Grealish handball. 

The result is funnily ironic from a City perspective, the game sort of mirrored their Champions League game against Madrid, except they were the side on the back foot who eventually found the winning ticket at the end.

Everyone apart from Coventry City fans would’ve had Manchester United easily strolling their way into the final on Sunday afternoon, and for about an hour, they were right. Throughout the whole game, it was clear they were the better side, both on the pitch and on the scoreline. Goals from McTominay, Maguire and Fernandes had to score read 3-0 after 70, and at that point, the game seemed to be won, but Man United have had funny ways to make things difficult for themselves recently, and thus, the comedy performance (for everyone but United fans) ensued. 

After some lackadaisical defending, Coventry put together a good move down their right hand side before a Fabio Tavares cross was brilliantly finished by Ellis Simms on the half volley. 3-1. Minutes later, Conor O’Hare found himself in some space just outside the United penalty area and his shot took a heavy deflection of the back of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, and it looped over André Onana into the back of the net. 3-2. Then in added time, Wan-Bissaka was red-faced again when he slid to block a cross but the ball ended up hitting his arm in the box. Haji Wright scored the resulting penalty, 3-3, the game heads to extra time. 

Extra time was relatively uneventful, but due to the past 30 minutes of playing time, Coventry had the energy of the stadium, football fans (apart from United fans) worldwide and the magic of the FA Cup gusting wind in their sails. They almost got their fairy tale finish in added time of extra time when Victor Corp stretched to poke a Haji Wright cross past Onana, but it was agonizingly ruled out for offside by a manner of millimetres by VAR. Man United were in all honestly lucky to see a penalty shootout, which they eventually won as Hojlund scored the winning kick. 

So it’s Manchester City vs Manchester United, a repeat of last year’s FA Cup Final, which City won on their way to completing a historic treble winning campaign. The final will take place at Wembley on Saturday May 25th.