ivoryclark
Player Valuation: Free Transfer
WOW!! Who the hell would of thought that would be the result?!? A true underdog story.. Everybody had written Liverpool off before the game had started, the cup was as good as Cardiff's, afterall, glory is their right and destiny alone... The pre match hype and even Football Focus was an ode to Malky McKay, the poor Redz didn't even get a sniff.. Hansen, Coleman and Shearer were all in agreement that the unstoppable footballing force that Cardiff had spent millions putting together over the last decade would just have too much quality for lowly Liverpool to contend with.. Looking at the on field head to heads it was clear it was going to take a mammoth effort from Liverpool to even get themselves in the game! How could Agger and Skrtel hope to contend with 35 million signing Rudolphe 'Rudy' Gestede? Would England captain Gerrard, Downing, Adam and England under 21's captain Henderson even get a sniff of the ball in midfield against arguably the World's best midfielder for the last decade, Don Cowie. Dare they even mutter his name!. As for their journeyman striker Luis Suarez, it would be an easier task for him to con his way into Heaven than to find a way through the twin pillars of Arcadia that are Mark Hudson and Ben Turner in Cardiff's defence.. Things were looking bleak, and bleaker still when Cardiff predictably took the lead.. A landslide victory was on the cards.. It must of crossed a fair few of those poor Liverpool fans minds that their journies back to South London, Wiltshire and Norway would be a despondent one.. But NO! There was a light in the darkness.. Hope!! After clawing one back and scaring the bejeezus out of all those arrogant Cardiff fans who had gloated pre match, the un-expected happened. Kenny Dalglish, a man known for his unquestionable morals and judgement looked at his injury plagued substitute bench, which was already considered to pale in comparison to the behemothic ensemble of internationals that Cardiff had the luxury of, and called forth the team's self proclaimed 'ladies man' and 'joker in the pack', Dirk Kuyt. Well the joke was swiftly on Cardiff as Dirk took a rasping shot that was unlucky not to tear through the net and continue into orbit had it not been for a jammy block by the defender. 2nd time lucky though as the ball intentionally returned and Dirk kept his footing and cooly picked his spot.. Game on!! Cardiff tried to attack but Liverpool's war horse Jamie Carragher, winner of the FA's fair play award for 11 seasons running and a man revered for his footballing integrity was there to break up the game with grappling, fouls, and refusing to give the ball back.. Only a shoddy last minute scrambled goal that was so unlike the quality we're used to seeing from Cardiff, and nothing like Skrtel's earlier equaliser stopped Da Redz from securing one of the biggest upsets in Cup history in normal time.. Guy Mowbray was over the moon, predictably so given the BBC's obvious bias towards Cardiff, you could hear Hansen squeal with delight from the studio. Only Mark Lawrenson seemed cool on the drama, as he had all game, with impartial commentating and unbiased opinion.. Extra time was largely uneventful.. And so to penalties.. Looking at the potential takers it was a no brainer.. The calm heads of Cardiff, who had forged their white hot killer instinct in the fire filled stadiums of countless European Cup finals, i think at last count it was 200 if Cardiff's boastful fans are to be believed, would walk this... Not so... We witnessed today a true underdog story.. The classy delight on Kenny Dalglish's little Jimmy Kranky face was enough to melt the coldest of hearts... It was almost enough to make hundreds of thousands of people from all over the country decide to follow this bunch of plucky underdogs just by the sheer heart they had shown to climb that mountain, not for the glory or for the silverware or even for being able to shut their mates up. This was justice...
