Manchester City’s FA Cup Victory Gives them their First Trophy in 35 Years
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Manchester City ended their 35 year dry run without a major trophy after beating Stoke 1-0 in the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium last Sunday.
Just the one goal from former Catalan midfielder Yaya Toure on the 74th minute was enough to seal City’s FA Cup victory and give them their first major trophy less than three years after being taken over by their billionaire Sheikh owners.
City’s FA Cup victory is a fantastic achievement, especially for a football club who have been completely over-shadowed by their next door neighbours, Manchester Utd, over the last 30-50 years. City’s last major trophy was in the 1976 League Cup Win against Newcastle United; a 35 year gap in which Utd have won 12 domestic league titles, 2 Champions Leagues and a double figure of FA Cups and League Cups to display on their panoply.
Speculation of City’s manager Roberto Mancini will be quashed after he has successfully led City to both an FA Cup victory and guaranteed qualification for the 2011/12 Champions League next season (a pre-season target demanded by the owners).
After the match, Mancini said, “I am happy for the fans, they deserved to win this Cup. For a long time they didn’t win.”
Although the FA Cup represents and ecstatic day for Manchester City fans, it’s more likely that their Champions League place will spur them on for future seasons. The allure of Champions League football now means that Manchester City can attract the best football players from all over the world. Although City have spent more than half a billion pounds on players in the transfer market since being taken over (including acquisitions such as David Silva, Toure, Balotelli, Tevez, Dzeko, Lescott, Given and more), as Mark Lawrenson (BBB Football pundit) says, “while before they were able to attract 4 star players, now they have the financial girth and Champions League attraction to attract 5 star players.”
The game at Wembley was also one of the rare times this season in which City have opened themselves up for the game and avoided the defensive, negative minded tactics that have earned them so many narrow wins and draws away from home. With Mancini electing to play a flock of attacking talents including Tevez, Ballotelli, Silva and Youre upfront, City dominated the match and should have even been in front much sooner after Silva missed a glorious chance to open the scoring just 16 minutes into the game.
However, Toure’s goal (which he dedicated to his brother Kolo Toure who is suspended following a drugs investigation) was easily enough to cast aside a Stoke City, a team who have done excellently in getting into the FA Cup final and sealing Premier League survival just years after being promoted form the depths of the Championship.
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