Joe Mason puts Cardiff up 1-0 (Carling.com)There's always something special about a cup final, even if it's not huge like the Champions League. Cup finals are fairly unique to footy, and the teams always get up to play when there's silverware on the line. Certainly both Cardiff and Liverpool got up for this one. Cardiff was trying to become the first non-English side to win a English league major trophy since 1927. Liverpool was trying to win it's first trophy in six years.
The Reds announced their intentions quite quickly, as Glen Johnson cracked a shot off of the crossbar in the second minute. Liverpool would go on to control most of the possession in the early minutes, as well as in the entire match. However, a theme started to emerge. Despite Liverpool's possession and good build up play, they were having a hard time working the goalkeeper. Andy Carroll got a couple of header chances. One went wide in the 15th minute, and had another easily saved in the 18th.
Cardiff on the other hand drew first blood on what was only really their second attack of the match. In the 19th minute Kenny Miller slipped a ball through the Liverpool defense to Joe Mason in the six yard box. He deftly put the ball between Pepe Reina's legs to give Cardiff City the improbable 1-0 lead.
Liverpool didn't miss too much of a beat after that as they continued to possess and attack. Unfortunately, they turned out to be very wasteful. Both Andy Carroll and Jose Enrique sent shots into orbit, and even Steven Gerrard had a tough time finding the target, The first half came to an end with Cardiff City still clinging to their 1-0 lead.
The second half was pretty much a direct continuation of the first, with Liverpool dominating possession, but not converting their chances, Jordan Henderson went way off target in the 47th, and Charlie Adam had an effort blocked in the 52nd. Liverpool did find their breakthrough in the 60th though. Luis Suarez hit the post after a corner kick, but the rebound went right to Martin Skrtel, who calmly kicked the ball into the net to equalize at 1-1.
Cardiff was certainly stunned after that, and the fatigue started to show on the faces of both sides. The Blue Birds did get a couple of chances to win it late on though. Ben Turner hit a header just barely wide in the 83rd, and Kenny Miller scraped the paint off of the top of the crossbar in the 88th. At full time we were still tied at 1-1, and went into extra time.
The first fifteen minutes of extra time were fairly uneventful, but controlled by Liverpool. Luis Suarez did have a potential winner cleared off the line in the 92nd, and Craig Bellamy went not too far high in the 105th, but after the first 15 minutes, it was still 1-1.
So the two teams switched sides and got it on one more time. This time, Liverpool was able to poke their heads in front. In the 108th minute, a Cardiff player hit a bad clearance right to Dirk Kuyt in the area. It took Kuyt by surprise a little bit, but even as he tumbled over backward he managed to poke a shot toward goal that snuck in the bottom corner to give Liverpool the 1-2 lead. Cardiff wasn't out though, they had some heroics of their own up their sleeve. In the 118th minute, Ben Turner got a rebound given up after a corner and nutmegged Reina once again to tie the match at 2-2 and send the Wembley crowd into a frenzy.
Since the extra time couldn't sort things out, the match went to the penalty shootout. Steven Gerrard went first for Liverpool, and had his shot saved. Kenny Miller then hit the post for Cardiff, and Charlie Adam sent his kick into the cheap seats for Liverpool. Don Cowie drew first blood for Cardiff by beating Reina, only to have Liverpool come back level with a professional strike from Dirk Kuyt. Next up for Cardiff was Rudy Gestede, but he also hit the post and put the advantage in Liverpool's hands. Stewart Downing scored next for the Reds, and Peter Whittingham equalized for Cardiff at 2-2. Then Glen Johnson hit the roof of the inside of the net to make 3-2.
That left it all to Anthony Gerrard. He's the younger cousin of Liverpool's Steven Gerrard. If he missed his kick, his older, more famous cousin would lift the Carling Cup. Yeah, kind of sounds like a Hollywood script. Anthony did indeed miss his kick, quite horribly, giving Liverpool the Carling Cup 2-3 on penalties. As soon as it happened, Steven went not to his team, but to his younger cousin to console him. It was a real class move on his part.
This really was one of those matches where it really stinks that someone has to lose. I know it's cliche, but it's true. Cardiff played their tails off all match long and truly left it all on the pitch. In the end, penalties is a cruel way to decide a trophy, but congratulations to Liverpool for winning the Carling Cup!
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