Not the best vid, but pretty good for a TV grab. Anyway, why is this my goal of the weekend? If you watch carefully, you'll see Kuyt fall backwards as he hits the shot, but still get power behind it and get it on target. Great goal.
Showing posts with label Carling Cup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carling Cup. Show all posts
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Congrats to Liverpool F.C., 2012 Carling Cup Champions!
Steven Gerrard lifts the Carling Cup trophy! (AP Images)Tonight the Puddle passes on it's congratulations to Liverpool FC and captain Steven Gerrard on winning the 2012 Carling Cup. They defeated a valiant Cardiff City club in a penalty shootout to claim their 8th League Cup title. The win also entitles them to a spot in next year's Europa league, but the Reds will have their sites set higher. This was their first trophy in six years and first under their new American ownership group.
2012 Carling Cup Final: Cardiff City vs. Liverpool
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!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Carling Cup Semifinal: Liverpool vs. Manchester City
Despite being t0p of the Premier League for a good portion of the season, City have not experienced a lot of success in cup runs this year. They failed to make the Champions League knock out stage, though they did have a tough group including Napoli and Bayern Munich. A couple weeks back city rivals Manchester United ended their hopes of defending their FA Cup title. Coming into this second leg of the League Cup semifinal at Anfield, they trailed Liverpool 1-0 on the aggregate after falling in the first leg 0-1 to a Steven Gerrard penalty kick.
This was an awesome match to watch. King Kenny called his guys out publicly after an embarrassing defeat at Bolton on the weekend and his players responded, taking it to City early and often. Joe Hart was a BEAST in this match. In the 4th minute he turned aside a point blank shot from Jose Enrique and followed it up with three more good saves against the likes of Johnson, Bellamy and Adam over the next 20 minutes. No doubt he was keeping City in the tie.
City had no sight of goal until the 28th minute, when Edin Dzeko had a shot blocked. In truth, it was only a half chance. Nigel De Jong did a lot better on 31 minutes when he smashed a ball into the postage stamp corner to make 0-1 and equalize the aggregate. To say it was against the run of play would be an understatement.
Liverpool went right back on the attack however and took the aggregate lead again just 10 minutes later. In the 40th minute Micah Richards threw himself in front of a shot in the penalty area. The ball ricocheted off of his foot and hit his outstretched hand. Referee Phil Dowd awarded a PK, which Gerrard promptly converted.
City felt pretty slighted and I can see why. It was obviously a case of ball to hand. However, the hand was outstretched, nowhere near the body. To my way of thinking, if you throw yourself into a shot like that in the area with your hands up like that, you're just asking for a penalty. Phil Dowd illustrated this several times by doing what appeared to be the Thriller dance. It was highly entertaining.
Liverpool continued to dominate in the second half and nearly put the tie away. In the 53rd minute Skrtel forced a glorious save out of Hart on a Gerrard free kick. Then in the very next minute the big City 'keeper barely closed his near post in time to Stewart Downing.
City hung in there though, and it looked like the Reds might rue those missed chances. In the 67th minute they struck again against the run of play. Kolarov sent in a cross that Dzeko banged in off of his right foot to make it 1-2 and again equalize the aggregate.
Liverpool was not to be denied this day though. They finally put the tie away in the 74th minute off of the foot of Craig Bellamy, who else? Dirk Kuyt sent in a cross that Bellamy took then passed to Glenn Johnson at close range. Johnson then sent the ball right back to Bellamy who slotted the ball past a helpless Joe Hart to equalize the match at 2-2 and hand Liverpool the 3-2 win on aggregate. They'll face Cardiff in the League Cup final.
THRILLER! (Getty Images)
This was an awesome match to watch. King Kenny called his guys out publicly after an embarrassing defeat at Bolton on the weekend and his players responded, taking it to City early and often. Joe Hart was a BEAST in this match. In the 4th minute he turned aside a point blank shot from Jose Enrique and followed it up with three more good saves against the likes of Johnson, Bellamy and Adam over the next 20 minutes. No doubt he was keeping City in the tie.
City had no sight of goal until the 28th minute, when Edin Dzeko had a shot blocked. In truth, it was only a half chance. Nigel De Jong did a lot better on 31 minutes when he smashed a ball into the postage stamp corner to make 0-1 and equalize the aggregate. To say it was against the run of play would be an understatement.
Liverpool went right back on the attack however and took the aggregate lead again just 10 minutes later. In the 40th minute Micah Richards threw himself in front of a shot in the penalty area. The ball ricocheted off of his foot and hit his outstretched hand. Referee Phil Dowd awarded a PK, which Gerrard promptly converted.
City felt pretty slighted and I can see why. It was obviously a case of ball to hand. However, the hand was outstretched, nowhere near the body. To my way of thinking, if you throw yourself into a shot like that in the area with your hands up like that, you're just asking for a penalty. Phil Dowd illustrated this several times by doing what appeared to be the Thriller dance. It was highly entertaining.
Liverpool continued to dominate in the second half and nearly put the tie away. In the 53rd minute Skrtel forced a glorious save out of Hart on a Gerrard free kick. Then in the very next minute the big City 'keeper barely closed his near post in time to Stewart Downing.
City hung in there though, and it looked like the Reds might rue those missed chances. In the 67th minute they struck again against the run of play. Kolarov sent in a cross that Dzeko banged in off of his right foot to make it 1-2 and again equalize the aggregate.
Liverpool was not to be denied this day though. They finally put the tie away in the 74th minute off of the foot of Craig Bellamy, who else? Dirk Kuyt sent in a cross that Bellamy took then passed to Glenn Johnson at close range. Johnson then sent the ball right back to Bellamy who slotted the ball past a helpless Joe Hart to equalize the match at 2-2 and hand Liverpool the 3-2 win on aggregate. They'll face Cardiff in the League Cup final.
THRILLER! (Getty Images)
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