Chelsea beat Everton 0-1 (AGG 1-3) in the second leg of the Carling Cup semifinals and earned a trip to Wembley on Sunday, February 24th to play Tottenham in the final. The Londoners went into the game with a 2-1 lead, but Joe Cole scored a beautiful volley on 69 minutes to officially send the Merseyside squad to the showers in dismay. Petr Cech had the performance of the evening with 7 saves, holding Everton at bay throughout the match. He dedicated his amazing performance to his wife, Martina, and his new daughter, Adela, who was born Tuesday shortly after 6:00 AM in Prague, the Czech Republic’s capital, and Cech’s home country.
Nicolas Anelka and Shaun Wright-Phillips also had good performances for the Blues, both frustratingly hitting the woodwork rather than the back of the net. Juliano Belletti and Alex, while performing well on the defensive end, also produced some close shots on goal at the other end. Steve Sidwell and Florent Malouda acted superbly as middlemen, moving the ball well and feeding the forwards with crisp passes, the latter sending the lobbed ball to assist Cole’s goal. Claude Makelele, who was named captain for the evening with the absence of John Terry, Frank Lampard, and Michael Ballack due to injuries, performed well in his defensive midfield position, covering well for the defenders who were pushing the ball forward to the offensive half.
With injury problems coming to a close for many players, Chelsea look like contenders on all fronts and aren’t holding back either.
No comments:
Post a Comment