Chapter 973 The First Championship in 2012
When he debuted, Su Dong was known for his violent long-range shots from outside the penalty area and was called the Little God of War by the media and fans.
As his career progressed, Su Dong gradually got rid of the small word in front of him, and many people respectfully called him the God of War.
Later, gradually, I don't know when it started, people realized that his career had surpassed Batistuta, and unknowingly, no one called him the God of War anymore.
As early as two or three years ago, his personal coaching team had drawn up a detailed plan for him, a transformation plan for when he reached a certain age, which included one item that hoped he would try to reduce such violent volleys and choose a more agile shooting method.
Therefore, in the past two years, Su Dong's heavy artillery has gradually decreased, and has been replaced by various shots in blind spots. So much so that now, many people admire Su Dong's shooting skills, believing that every shot he makes is aimed at the blind spot.
But many forgetful people forget that with his height, strength and explosive power, the heavy artillery he fired was very amazing.
Especially as his experience grows and his ability to control the football improves, the accuracy of his control of the ball is also constantly improving. Now the heavy artillery he fires out not only has a fast speed but also has great power.
Cardiff goalkeeper Heaton stared at the front as if facing a great enemy. When Hazard made a horizontal pass, his sight immediately shifted to the front of the penalty area. Especially when he saw Su Dong chasing him, he immediately tensed up his nerves and was ready to pounce at any time.
But what he didn't expect was that after Su Dong caught up with him, he shot directly without stopping the ball.
The football came at him as fast as a bolt of lightning. He didn't even have time to react and judge the path of the ball before it went straight to the right side of the goal.
He just stood there, watching Su Dong's fierce shot into the goal, dumbfounded, without even making the most basic save.
Heaton was really stunned!
Only he himself knew that it was not that he did not want to react, but that he did not have the time to react.
He had no idea which side to pounce on.
By the time he figured it out, the ball had already gone in.
Less than two minutes into the game, Su Dong scored a goal against Cardiff with a fierce shot from the edge of the penalty area.
One to zero!
…
After Su Dong took the lead in breaking the deadlock on the field, the situation began to tilt towards Manchester City.
Manchester City has the advantage in strength. Cardiff wanted to steal a goal at the beginning, but failed to do so and ended up losing the goal in just two minutes. This was a huge blow to Cardiff's morale.
Manchester City did not stop there, but continued to exert pressure and pressed Cardiff into the half.
Being at a disadvantage in terms of strength, being passive on the field and lagging behind in the score, Cardiff had no choice but to shrink its defense and build a solid defense with three lines, trying to block Manchester City's attack outside the goal and then wait for an opportunity to counterattack.
This kind of tactical play did play a certain deterrent role.
Under the coaching of Malky Mackay, Cardiff's overall tactics and defense are still very strong, otherwise, this Championship team would not have been able to advance to the League Cup final.
But under the strong passing and ball control of Manchester City, Cardiff soon revealed its shortcomings and deficiencies.
In the 15th minute, Manchester City tried to attack on the right but failed. Sanchez dribbled the ball to the right side of the arc and passed the ball back to Toni Kroos. The German midfielder pretended to pass the ball to Zabaleta and continued the attack on the right.
This immediately caused Cardiff's defense to tilt to the right, and the left-back quickly pulled out of the penalty area and targeted Zabaleta who was running in from behind.
Unexpectedly, Toni Kroos feinted a shot and suddenly transferred the ball to the left.
After Leighton Baines chested the ball, he took two steps forward and quickly passed the ball to Hazard in the left corner of the penalty area.
The Belgian dribbled past the defender and rolled the ball into the penalty area.
Su Dong ran towards the left side, facing Hazard's pass, blocked the opponent's central defender Turner with his body, and kicked the ball with his right foot from the outside.
Hazard's ground ball was directly pushed behind him by Su Dong with his right foot. Sanchez, who was on the right side of the penalty area, had already cleverly seized the opportunity when Su Dong ran to the left, took advantage of the gap left by the central defender, and directly inserted himself near the penalty spot, which was unguarded.
The Chilean winger received Su Dong's pass and shot the ball directly into the lower right corner of the goal.
2-0! Sanchez yelled, looking extremely excited, and rushed directly to the sidelines. Su Dong chased him and hugged him by the waist. Both of them looked very excited.
"Manchester City completed a wonderful attacking combination in the frontcourt."
"Tony Kroos's long pass was very important. It must be said that the pass had a very wide field of vision and was very comfortable. After Leighton Baines stopped the ball, he directly faced the weak spot of Cardiff's defense."
"And Su Dong's assist was a stroke of genius and very imaginative. You can see that he played very relaxed and spiritually. The Cardiff central defenders couldn't stop him at all."
"Two to zero. After just fifteen minutes, Cardiff were already two goals behind."
"As we said before the game, the gap in strength between the two teams is really huge. The total value of the Cardiff team is only about 10 million pounds. Any player picked out of Manchester City's starting lineup is worth more than the entire Cardiff team."
"You can't make such a simple comparison in football, after all, Cardiff also reached the League Cup final, but to some extent, the price also reflects the huge gap in strength between the two teams."
"Now, two goals down, Cardiff are in a much more difficult situation."
…
In the end, Malky McKay was unwilling to gamble anymore.
In fact, from the moment Manchester City was drawn, everyone had been mentally prepared and just wanted to take a gamble.
After all, for a Championship team like Cardiff, being able to snatch a League Cup from the strong teams in the Premier League will definitely boost the team's morale.
But now, he didn't dare to gamble.
Reaching the League Cup final is a victory, but being slaughtered by the opponent in the League Cup final is another matter.
Next, Cardiff still has to prepare for promotion to the Premier League. It is not a good thing that their morale has been broken by Manchester City at this time.
According to the original plan of Malky Mackay and the Cardiff management, after the League Cup, the team will focus on qualifying for the Premier League. So now, with a two-goal deficit, the most important thing for Cardiff is to maintain the team's morale.
As for the championship, is there still a chance?
With this in mind, Malky McKay did not make any substitutions, but made a slight adjustment, pulling back one of the two forwards, trying his best to defend tightly, requiring the players to concentrate on defense, and not willing to put much manpower into the offensive end.
Manchester City also slowed down its attack appropriately.
On the one hand, the opponent has shown weakness. If they continue to press at this time, they will only bite when the rabbit is cornered. If they are really pushed to the limit and Cardiff is determined to fight to the death, Manchester City may not necessarily gain any advantage. For a final like this, does it make sense to score one or two more goals?
Another point is that Manchester City also needs to conserve its strength.
The matches are too dense and the team is very tired. It is not worth it to fight Cardiff at this time just to score a few more goals. It is better to play more leisurely and save energy for the next game.
With both sides having different thoughts but the same attitude towards the game, the League Cup final began to become boring.
No one is willing to try their best, so they try to do things in the least strenuous way.
Until the second half, Cardiff once wanted to launch a counterattack, but Manchester City quickly pressed Cardiff back with continuous attacks. Even in the 63rd minute, Manchester City got three consecutive corner kick opportunities on the left and right flanks, making Cardiff's front side in a panic.
Pepe also received a corner kick from David Silva and scored with a header, giving Manchester City another goal, 3-0! This goal completely destroyed Cardiff's counterattack, and made this Championship team clearly see that they had no way to deal with Manchester City's strong control.
From then on, Cardiff accepted their fate and just adopted a strict defense strategy, not wanting to lose the ball again.
As for Manchester City, they also did not pursue further.
In the end, Manchester City defeated Cardiff 3-0 with goals from Sudon, Sanchez and Pepe, and won the first championship in 2012, which is also the third League Cup championship in the club's history.
Manchester City won the League Cup twice in 1970 and 1976, which is 36 years ago. Now that they have won the League Cup again, all the Manchester City fans who followed the team to Wembley Stadium are undoubtedly very excited.
When the whistle sounded at the end of the game, they sang Manchester City's team song "We Are the Champions" on the spot, and cheered for the players in the team.
…
The fans were delighted, but the dressing room had a lukewarm reaction.
As usual, Su Dong took his teammates to the surrounding stands to thank the Manchester City fans who came to London, but he did not feel too excited.
As he said in a subsequent interview with the media in the comprehensive interview area, Manchester City’s main battlefield now is still in the Champions League, especially the second leg against AC Milan.
"For us, the first leg was like a humiliation. We lost two goals for some reason. It was very unfair to us and we all couldn't accept it."
"So, we will double the two goals we scored in the first leg in Manchester!"
Su Dong's remarks were also unanimously affirmed by the British media.
Some people had previously worried that Manchester City's setback in Milan would hit the team's morale and might even lead to them losing the League Cup final, but now it seems that such concerns are more groundless.
Manchester City won the League Cup final without any suspense or surprise.
It can be seen from this game that Manchester City’s strength is still strong and its performance is as stable as ever.
The only trouble is the schedule.
Fighting on four fronts, Manchester City has too many games, and they are too dense.
(End of this chapter)
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