Cups

Liverpool FA Cup Journey Ended in Grand Style: The Reds First FA Cup Title in 16 years

Published

4 years ago

May 14, 2022

90minsoccer

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Liverpool fa cup win marks their second trophy of the 2021/22 season by defeating Chelsea on penalties after the game ended goalless.

Jurgen Klopp’s side are once again the champions of another breathtaking encounter at Webley. The drama at Wembley reminded football lovers of the same event that transpired between the blues and the reds at Wembley in the Carabao Cup final where Liverpool triumphed 11-10 on penalties.

The same tempo, the same teams, the same venue but different trophies. In the end, it was Liverpool who returned home smiling after a breathtaking and mind-racing encounter at Wembley.

Liverpool have won the FA cup after 16 years drought. The Reds last won the title in 2006 when they played against West Ham United and won on penalties after a thrilling 3-3 draw. The English FA Cup has been the oldest and most historic trophy in football history and winning it brings a special kind of fulfillment to a team.

Jurgen Klopp had the last laugh as he become the second manager after Sir Alex Ferguson to have won the English Premier League, European Cup, League cup, and FA cup with the same club in the history of English football.

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The Liverpool Boss had his eye on a quadruple this season and has won two already. Liverpool are currently 3 points behind Manchester City with two matches to play. The chance of winning the Premier League title is slim for the German tactician.

Another final awaits the Reds as they may be winning their third trophy of the season when they slug it out with Real Madrid in the Champions League final in Paris on May 28.

Liverpool Lost Mohammed Salah to Injury

As Liverpool celebrate their victory over Chelsea so do Real Madrid celebrate the news of Mohammed Salah and Virgil Van Dijk’s injuries. The FA Cup victory came with a cost and a huge blow to the Merseyside.
Jurgen Klopp confirmed Salah’s injury after the Egyptian star was subbed in the first half of the game, also after the goalless 90 minutes, it looks like Van Dijk picked a knock as he was taken off too and replaced by Matip, a decision Jurgen Klopp never planned to take.

According to the Liverpool Boss, Fabinho will be fit and available to feature in the champions league final in Paris but he cannot say the same for Mohammed Salah and Virgil Van Dijk.
Salah’s facial expression said it when he could not continue the all-important fixture at Wembley. Mohammed Salah suffered the same heartache the last four years at Kyiv. It was said to be a groin injury, and its severity cannot be stated for now.

Van Dijk too was not left out of the injury worries as he was taken off due to what looked like a muscle strain. He has been fit and productive since his return from a knee injury last summer. Without Van Dijk, Liverpool will find it difficult in the remaining games of the season.

With Machester City looking uncatchable on the top of the Premier League table, Liverpool must put up a little more effort to surpass Southampton and Wolves as they approach the end of the premier league season. Also, wisdom demands that the Reds’ boss rotates his players in the remaining two premier league fixtures in preparation for the champions league final in Paris.

Tsimikas Was the Hero At Wembley

The FA cup final at Wembley reminds us so much of the Carabao Cup, where a winner was not in sight at the end of 90 minutes and 120 minutes, but the Carabao final was more typical than these as all players including the goalkeeper were among the penalty takers unlike the FA cup final that saw only seven players taking the spot-kick.

Similarly, just as in the Carabao cup final, it was Liverpool who were held under pressure with Chelsea taking the spot-kick first after a coin was tossed by the referee. Everything was moving fine until Cesar Azpilicuetahit the woodwork in the shootout, Liverpool could have sealed their victory after the lapse by the Chelsea captain but for Edouard Mendy who put up a brilliant save of Sadio Mane’s penalty.

In the end, it was Kostas Tsimikas that sealed the title for Liverpool. The Greece international has been in fine form since joining the club and was brought on in place of Andy Robertson. He assumes the role of a Hero when he sent Edouard Mendy the wrong way after Alisson Becker saved Mason Mouth’s spot-kick.

The energy the youngster alongside teammates used for the celebration is still unfathomable.
Then came the celebration, the songs, the colour, the whole Wembley was painted red and once again Liverpool emerged victorious at Wembley.

What The FA Cup Victory Mean To Liverpool FC

Jurgen Klopp beat Thomas Tuchel to become the first German coach to lift the English FA cup. The reigning European and world champions once again failed to launch revenge for what transpired between the two sides in the Carabao Cup final.

The 2021/2022 FA cup title made it the club’s eighth FA Cup title in history. With the trophy won, Liverpool now have more domestic trophies than any other English team. The Reds were level with Manchester United after winning the Carabao Cup in February but now surpassed the Red Devils with the hope of winning two more titles before the end of the season.

Match Statistics

Although the game resulted in a penalty shootout, it was a fierce battle between the two English teams. Liverpool were the better side in the game with a total ball possession of 53% while Chelsea had 47% of ball possession. Also, Liverpool had 17 total shots against 10 shots by the Chelsea side. Below is the comprehensive table showing the match statistics of the two teams.

	Chelsea	Liverpool
Ball Possession	47%	53%
Total Shots	10	17
Shots on Target	2	2
Corners	5	5
Fouls	13	12
Shot Accuracy	20%	11%
Blocked shots	0	3
Woodwork	1	3
Big Chances Missed	1	3
Offside	1	1
Passing Accuracy	81%	82%
Total Passes	553	613
Successful Passes	449	508
Total Crosses	20	25
Successful Crosses	4	10
Interceptions	13	3
Blocks	3	0
Clearances	19	14
Saves	2	2
Yellow Cards	1	0
Red Cards	0	0

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Cups

U20 World Cup: NFF narrates Why Falconets were delayed at Istanbul Airport

Published

3 years ago

August 24, 2022

90minsoccer

The Falconets ended their journey in the ongoing World U20 World Cup in the Quarterfinals after losing to the Netherlands. Nigeria’s football governing body has provided its own explanation of the falconets’ suffering in Istanbul, Turkey.

After their elimination from the 2022 Fifa U20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica, the Nigeria U20 Women’s team’s travel difficulties were not accepted by the Nigeria Football Federation as their responsibility.

Why the Falconets were delayed at Istanbul

Christopher Danjuma’s girls exited the tournament after losing 2-0 to the Netherlands in the quarterfinal having won all their group stage matches with a perfect record.

After being eliminated, the squad reportedly left for Nigeria, according to several accounts. The Falconets Danjuma’s women were regrettably left stranded in Istanbul’s airport for two days.

Fans were outraged by this and took to social media to criticize Amaju Pinnick’s board for the poor treatment of the U20 team. The NFF, however, has provided an explanation of what went wrong.

“Fifa, not the NFF, made the travel arrangements for the team from Costa Rica. Also not anticipated by Fifa were the snags that caused the team to be delayed for more than three hours in Bogota and a further hour in Panama. The players arrived in Istanbul after the flight to Abuja had already departed, according to an NFF statement made available to GOAL.

“Our representatives requested humanitarian travel permits so they could transport the players and officials to a hotel inside the town, but they were told that Nigeria had been deleted from the list of nations whose nationals were granted visas on arrival in Turkey, making this impossible.

“The airline then drove the group to an airport sleeping area and provided them with tickets for five-hourly meals.

“NFF has no involvement in this scenario; prior to the difficulties with the travel plans, agreements had been made for the team to be received in Abuja.”

NFF Statements on the Falconet’s odd clothing

On the subject of the players’ clothing, the statement added the following clarification: “The players were given three sets of green jerseys and two sets of white jerseys, as well as various sorts of housewear and training shirts.

The team jersey which was first delivered to the hotel’s laundry staff came back with some Fifa and NFF badges on the front and names at the back that had been peeled by the washing machine. As a result, the players decided to only wash their jersey tops (and not any other items).

It is unarguably embarrassing to see a team as Falconet stranded in such a manner and not fully kitted in their usual green and white outfit. The Nigerian football governing body should step up on the welfare of their players to avoid global disgrace.

Falconets’ Journey in the Fifa U20 World Cup

The Nigeria U20 women started their 2022 Fifa Women World Cup campaign with a win against France. The falconets beat the expectations of many to secure a slim 1-0 victory against the french ladies.

They proceeded to the round two games of the group stage to face South Korea and as if it was a tradition, they yet managed a 1-0 victory against the Koreans to rake in a total of 6 points in two games.

Their final group stage match was against Canada and as expected, the falconet outclassed the Canadian ladies with a 3-1 demolition to move ahead into the quarterfinals of the competition, before they met their waterloo and fell to a 2-0 defeat in the hands of the Netherlands that eventually sent them packing.