Chapter 864: One More Needed
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Not everyone would be seated on the stands waiting for the match to start before the match.
When the referee blew the whistle signifying kickoff, there were still people entering the stadium, looking for their seats.
Just when these people were still looking down in the rain, looking for the seat numbers that corresponded to the numbers on their tickets, they heard a booming cheer coming from next to them. It felt as though a tsunami was coming, or an earthquake was occurring at that time and they could not even maintain their balance.
“Boom——!!”
These people looked up in a daze, saw the people surrounding them jumping around with their arms raised and they looked towards the pitch.
What did they see?
The team in red sprinting in excitement!
There was a voice from the live broadcast which drowned out the cheers, “1:0, Nottingham Forest takes the lead! The scorer is Aaron Mitch.e.l.l!”
These people finally realized —— When they were still busy looking for their seats, Nottingham Forest had already scored!
“This is really too fast! The TV broadcast wasn’t able to keep up with it… We can only look at the replay. After the kickoff, Şahin pa.s.sed the ball back to George Wood, who distributed the ball to the flank… Fernández continued forward after an one-two with Gago and Gago lobbed the ball forward very accurately and beautifully! Fernández received the ball… He crossed it! Aaron Mitch.e.l.l’s diving header! The ball’s in —— It’s a goal!! Barely 20 seconds into the game! This is the record for the fastest goal in the FA Cup final, it’s also the record for the fastest goal for a cup final played in Wembley!!”
The commentator roared in excitement.
Twain pumped his fist in the rain and celebrated the goal with the people around him.
Back in the changing room, he told his players to get the first goal, a quick goal would bring the match towards their rhythm, but he did not expect the team to give him such a great surprise —— They actually scored after 20 seconds.
“No matter what’s the results of this match, Nottingham Forest and Aaron Mitch.e.l.l have already etched their names in the history of the FA Cup with this goal!”
Mitch.e.l.l sprinted towards the stands where the majority of Forest fans were at in the rain. He egged them on with his arms, asking them to shout louder and louder. He loved to hear this kind of cheers.
Tottenham did not expect Forest to score so early in the game. The match had just begun, and their defense were not organized yet. Forest took advantage of this small window of opportunity and hit Tottenham where it hurts.
Harry Redknapp’s face was darker than the London skies then. He could not say anything about conceding a goal like this at the sidelines.
He had thought that Forest would take it slow in this match after a sequence of high intensity matches, using a strategy of drawing their opponents out before hitting them on the break.
He did not expect Tony Twain’s team to be so determined in attacking right from the start, that was totally beyond his imagination.
Such an early goal had some element of luck of course. However, what was the point of saying that his opponent was just lucky at this point in time?
It’s a fact that they were trailing, and that their opponent was leading. There would be peculiar changes in the match due to such happenings.
The worst thing that could happen in a match against Twain’s team was to give them the lead. Forest could choose to continue attacking next or play a defensive game and hit them on the break. No matter what they do, it would be akin to torture for their opponents.
How should Tottenham deal with it?
Attacking?
Redknapp was not that stupid. Pressing up in attack would be like opening their doors for a few more Forest goals. He decided to sh.o.r.e up their defense first. After all, trailing by a goal was nothing, they just needed an opportunity to level the score.
He had to stabilize his players’ state of mind first, they must not lose their cool and panic, they must not give Forest another opportunity to take advantage and score another goal. This match would be difficult if they were to trail by two goals.
He stood at the sideline and shouted towards the pitch, asking his players to calm down with hand signals at the same time.
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After 17 minutes, Tottenham levelled the score from a corner kick. The scorer was Michael Dawson. He did not show any mercy against his former club with an accurate and powerful header. Akinfeev did not even react to it as a group of people watched the ball fly into the goal. Some of the players even got their eyes blurred by the water splas.h.i.+ng up.
Tottenham levelling the score made the fans doubly excited. When they were trailing earlier, these people were worried that the trophy would be given to Forest just like that, but it seemed like Tottenham did not want to give up yet.
Twain had no intentions of shoring up his defenses after Tottenham scored. Instead, he encouraged his two full backs to continued attacking from the sideline.
Redknapp could tell Twain’s intentions too. Since Forest was attacking, there would bound to be s.p.a.ces behind. That was why Tottenham had to attack too, how else could they take advantage of these s.p.a.ces?
One of the most exciting battles in the history of FA Cup finals has begun.
In the 39th minute, Tottenham Hotspurs took advantage of an opportunity to attack after Forest’s right-back Rafinha did not manage to rush back in defense in time and launched a quick counterattack. Pavlyuchenko made a feint when one-on-one against Akinfeev which made Akinfeev lose his footing and lost the best opportunity to dive on the ball. Pavlyuchenko rounded Akinfeev easily and put the ball into the empty net.
Tottenham had come from behind to lead 2:1!
The cheers of the Tottenham fans rang out from the stands. When Forest scored right at the start of the match, they could not imagine that Tottenham could come from behind to lead in the first half.
However, their cheers only lasted two minutes. In the 42nd minute, Mitch.e.l.l used his individual skills against three Tottenham defenders, but he got pushed to the ground by Dawson. The referee blew for a direct free kick in the attacking half for Forest.
Bale stood on the ball and the Forest fans started singing the “Song of Bale”.
The ball was about 28 meters away from the goal and the wall was very compact. As a team in the English Premier League, everyone knew about the threat of Gareth Bale’s free kick.
George Wood and Gago did their best to squeeze into the wall, positioning themselves near the near post of the goal. It looked like Bale would be shooting from this angle towards the goal later, hence the Tottenham players pushed towards the near post, trying their best to squeeze the two Forest players out.
When the referee blew the whistle, Wood and Gago left the wall as expected, but the empty s.p.a.ces left behind were covered by Tottenham players almost instantly… However, n.o.body expected Bale to not go for the near post, choosing to shoot towards the other side instead. The ball flew around the wall from the other end straight into the far corner of the goal!
That was obviously one of the free kick routines which they practiced countless times.
The goalkeeper Gomes was deceived by the wall and the tactics of the Forest team. When Bale took the free kick, he even moved his center of gravity towards to near post. As the ball flew towards the goal from the other side, he could do nothing but watch the ball fly into the far corner of the goal!
“2:2!! The first half is not over yet and there are already four goals between the two teams! What an exciting first half!”
The Tottenham fans kept mum, this time, it was the Forest fans who sang in the rain.
Of course, there were also some Forest fans who thought that it was weird. Tony Twain usually did not find it hard to resort to conservative tactics in important matches, why did he suddenly choose to play an attacking game against his opponent? They were worried that if this went on, Forest might fail instead.
Twain’s thoughts were very simple. He wanted to make use of this match to check on his team’s attacking prowess. Against a team like Real Madrid, it would not be sufficient to be able to defend.
When the first half ended, the two teams were level with the score at 2:2. The match was played in a very quick rhythm from the start and the fans got their money worth.
Many people did not expect such an exciting match to be played out in a FA Cup final. Nowadays, football had become more and more practical and finals were usually a boring affair. Especially so if Nottingham Forest was involved in the final.
They did not expect Twain to suddenly have a change of heart which made it difficult for everyone to get used to it.
Was he going to raise the flag of attacking football and play an open game with Tottenham?
Redknapp must have thought so, because he told his players during the halftime team talk to continue pressing the attack and take advantage of the s.p.a.ces behind when Forest attack in the second half.
However, at the same time, in Nottingham Forest’s changing room, Twain smiled and told his players, “We’ll play on the break in the second half.”
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The changes in the situation of the second half were beyond Redknapp’s expectations too.
His team pressed up in attack, but he soon realized that Nottingham Forest did not come forward in attack too. Instead, they retreated to the back and started to position themselves to play on the counterattack…
The commentator was very disappointed at this change and started to insult Twain again, “Tony Twain must be afraid, afraid that his team might continue conceding goals and lose morale or even the game if he continued to play an open game with Tottenham. I think he can’t take this failure and therefore chose to play a more conservative game… What a pity, only the first half of this final is exciting…”
Redknapp was not dumb. He knew Twain was going to play on the counterattack when they drew back their defensive line, if he continued pressing forward, he would have been asking for it.
Hence, he drew back too.
No wonder the commentator sighed and said that the first half was more exciting.
After 20 minutes of boring football, Redknapp finally could not take it and launched the attack first.
They bombarded the Forest goal for ten minutes without any result while the Forest team turtled in a total defensive formation.
Just when Tottenham was going to take a breather, the dagger that was hidden in Forest hands suddenly shot out!
Akinfeev did not pump the ball up, choosing to throw the ball out to start the attack. This was a counterattack with a purpose.
Gago sprayed a long ball to the flank after receiving the ball. Moke received the ball quickly and he did not continue bringing the ball forward. Instead, he took a look at the situation in front and chose to play a direct, diagonal ball towards the front of the penalty area.
Mitch.e.l.l followed the ball with his long legs with Michael Dawson following him beside him!
The pa.s.s that Moke played was a rolling ball and it was very fast on the wet gra.s.s. Mitch.e.l.l was not a fast player, but he was still fast enough when compared to a center back, and he had long legs which was a very useful advantage. For example, now…
Moke’s pa.s.s was a little bit forward, it was difficult to receive such a ball, let alone control it.
However, Mitch.e.l.l did not even think about controlling it!
When the ball reached the arc of the penalty area, the 2.02 meters tall Mitch.e.l.l suddenly jumped and slid towards the ball!
Michael Dawson did not expect this tall fellow to slide towards the ball from outside the penalty area! He was stunned momentarily and lost track of his target just like that.
Gomes originally wanted to come out for the ball but dropped back after realizing that Dawson was following his target also did not expect Mitch.e.l.l to choose and slide after the ball from outside the penalty area…
Why is he sliding the ball? He’s not a defender!
The football told him about Mitch.e.l.l’s plan in the next second.
Mitch.e.l.l successfully reached the ball and the ball flew directly towards the goal after changing direction!
Earlier on, it was established that the ball would roll especially fast on the wet gra.s.s. Gomes did not expect Mitch.e.l.l to shoot directly…a sliding shot from outside the penalty area!
Gomes could not dive in time and the ball rolled past his fingertips! It rolled towards the goal on the gra.s.s very quickly…
Dawson ran past Gomes and ran towards the ball, planning to clear it.
He was just a step too late and he kicked air as the ball rolled past him, hit the post and went into the goal.
“3:2! A brace for Mitch.e.l.l!”
Mitch.e.l.l became the hero of the Nottingham Forest fans. He raised his arms and thanked G.o.d for giving him such an opportunity —— To score a brace in the FA Cup final!
His childhood dreams were being fulfilled one by one.
The Nottingham Forest’s players were all very excited as they surrounded Mich.e.l.l, slapping him on the head and shoulders.
Their target this season was the treble. They had already won the league t.i.tle and they were leading Tottenham by 3:2 in the FA Cup final with victory in sight. Two trophies would definitely improve their morale and confidence greatly.
But Twain was only happy for awhile before shouting at his team to focus and not let out in their attack. A lead of one goal was not safe…
Redknapp knew that Twain would do that. Taking the chance of Forest scoring, he waved his hand —— Tottenham was to continue attacking. They must score before Forest scored again!
He almost succeeded.
A long shot from Modric was out of Akinfeev’s reach but it came back off the crossbar and out.
The Forest Fans broke out in cold sweat from the shock.
The rain started to fall heavier.
Twain had already forgotten his wife’s instructions before the match. He stood straight on the touchline and allowed the rain to drench him with no intentions of moving back. He encouraged his team using this method.
His players were playing in the rain, as a manager, he had to brave the rain with them.
The teams started to play an intensive game after 20 minutes of a quiet game as the match became more exciting.
It might be because of the weather condition, the excitement of the match deteriorated. Mistakes became much more abundant following the drop in energy level and the match after that was difficult to watch.
However, Twain and Redknapp were still very focused. They were not looking at what was happening on the surface, but what was happening on a deeper level. Everyone was making mistakes, it was all about which side could capitalize on the other side’s mistake now.
On the 81st minute, Nottingham Forest capitalized on Tottenham’s mistake first. Agbonlahor, in as a subst.i.tute for Mitch.e.l.l a.s.sisted from the flank and Şahin followed up from the middle and fired the ball into the goal.
This goal basically p.r.o.nounced the death sentence for Tottenham.
Following that, Tottenham struggled for a while more, but they could not break through the Forest goal. This was because Nottingham Forest shamelessly played with everyone in defense after taking a two goals lead and did not give Redknapp’s team any chance at all.
When injury time started, the Forest fans started to sing and dance on the stands in the rain. They were singing Queen’s “We are the Champions”, announcing their victory ahead of time.
When the referee blew the whistle for full time, the fans’ singing became thunderous cheers.
The Forest bench rushed onto the pitch with Twain leading them as they embraced the players on the pitch.
“Congratulations, Tony Twain! He finally got the first FA Cup trophy in his managerial career! In all the compet.i.tions that he had partic.i.p.ated in, other than the UEFA Europa League, he has won all the trophies that he could win! This is really a historical moment! The most successful manager in England for the past decade has etched his name on this trophy with the longest history in English history! His team and him are creating history!”
Twain was lifted by his players above their shoulders and paraded.
He extended his arm and pointed towards the sky —— Just one more trophy!
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The day after the match, the media used a photo of him doing this, with a caption:
Nottingham Forest, pointing their sword towards the UEFA Champions League!