Ferguson pushed Vidic into the Stoke City penalty area, which was a bit of a random punch to kill the master.

Stoke City's players have been preparing for a month, but they can't imagine that centre-back Nemanja Vidic will play as a striker.

Although Nemanja Vidic is not a striker, he has the height and the header, and after mixing up the middle, Stoke City's defence is a bit of a mess.

In the 40th minute, Patrice Evra crossed from the left, and Stoke City defender Shawcross almost scored an own goal when the ball grazed the post when he was fighting with Nemanja Vidic.

After Stoke City opened the goal, the ball changed hands at the feet of Manchester United in a blink of an eye, Ferdinand grabbed the ball and didn't bother to hand it over to Scholes to organize, all the methods in front of him were exhausted, and there was no goal, he simply kicked into the Stoke City penalty area.

Long passing is a traditional trick in the Premier League, and the effect is basically resigned to fate.

However, United were lucky this time when Nemanja Vidic grabbed a header and he couldn't get his header on goal, but slotted the ball to the edge of the box.

This area is Gao Xiaodong's position, and he is also the first choice for long-range shots.

Stoke City defended Gao Xiaodong's long-range shot very hard, and when Gao Xiaodong rushed over to shoot, there were already Stoke City players coming to block the line.

Gao Xiaodong didn't shoot reluctantly, he flicked the ball sideways and passed it to Scholes, who was plugged in with him.

Scholes was slower than Gao Xiaodong, Gao Xiaodong flicked it, but it was right for his step, Scholes raised his foot to the ball and shot.

The ball flew like an arrow into the top right corner of the goal.

This time Scholes was lucky, the ball didn't hit any of the defenders, and a defender jumped up and didn't hit the top of the ball, and the ball hit the corner.

Stoke City goalkeeper Sorensen is a very good goalkeeper and he was in excellent form today, and if it wasn't for the excellent play in front of him, it would have been difficult for Stoke City to keep the goal open.

When Scholes shot, Sorensen reacted immediately, but Scholes's shot was fast and powerful, and Sorensen flew and pounced, barely touching the ball.

The angle of the ball was tricky, almost close to the post, but because of this, although Sorensen only touched the ball, the ball still bounced off the post.

It was United's best chance after the opening, and when the ball went to the corner, the anxious Manchester United fans were already applauding, and the arms that did not applaud were raised, but they did not expect to hit the post.

"What a pity!"

"It's so easy to pry open a hole in the tortoise's shell!"

"Bad luck!"

……

Manchester United fans sighed.

However, the game was not over, after the ball bounced off the post, Rooney arrived as soon as possible, and he shot again, but the ball bounced off the defender.

This time the ball fell to the feet of the Stoke City player, and Pennant tried to clear the ball but made a mistake in the middle of the game, and he kicked the ball on his team-mate Hut and bounced towards the goal.

Sorensen had just saved Scholes's shot, and before he could decide on it, his teammate's clearance ball bounced towards the goal again, and he almost subconsciously fell to the ground and saved, but fortunately the ball rebounded and slowed down, and was blocked by Sorensen's hand.

After blocking the ball, Sorensen yelled in anger and yelled at his teammate who made a mistake when he got up.

There was a burst of exclamations from the stands.

These cries were made by the fans of the Stoke City team, who were almost suffocated with nervousness, but they did not expect Sorensen to save the team again.

"Beautiful!"

"Sorensen!

"Sorensen!

……

Stoke City fans in the stands excitedly chanted Sorensen's name.

It's no wonder that Stoke City fans are happy that Sorensen has performed so well in the game, and if he can really drag it out to the penalty shootout, maybe Sorensen really helped Stoke achieve his championship dream. Manchester United win a corner. Rio Ferdinand also came to Stoke City to fight for the top in the box.

In the 44th minute, Paul Scholes took a penalty kick in front of the box, Rooney's header rubbed to the back post, and Hernandez at the back post made the ball to the edge of the penalty area to find Gao Xiaodong.

This patient and unexpected combination finally disrupted Stoke City's defense, and Gao Xiaodong also shook off the marker and played a curling ball, which flew past all the players in the box and flew into the top corner of the goal.

Manchester United had enough patience this time, but it didn't hide from Sorensen's eyes, and his attention was always on Gao Xiaodong.

Seeing the ball flying over, Sorensen leaped to the top of his hand and bounced off the crossbar.

In less than five minutes, United had hit two posts and a very threatening rebound.

Luck can be said to be very bad, because the goal is just one line away from the goal.

Not only did the fans sigh, but the players of Manchester United were also anxious.

The on-site commentator's eyes widened, "Two goalposts! Today's goalkeeper Sorensen is simply amazing! There are two goalposts in the first half, will there be one in the second half? Today's game is really a bit evil, see you for a long time, one side has been in a bucket formation from the first minute, and a defender has pushed to the front forward, and this kind of tactic can only be used by Ferguson and Prelees. ”

With only one minute of stoppage time left before the end of the first half, the Manchester United players failed to find the back of the net with successive shots, and the players were a little anxious and did not have the patience to organize an attack and hang the ball in the box after taking the ball.

Well prepared and with a clear height advantage, it will be too difficult for United to break down Stoke City with a long ball alone.

As Gao Xiaodong's header hit the top of the stands, the referee blew the whistle for the end of the first half.

Although the score was 0:0, it was not the same feeling for Manchester United and Stoke City, Manchester United shot almost 30 shots in the first half, but did not score a goal, in the eyes of Manchester United players and fans, this is similar to failure, because in the second half Stoke City will certainly replicate the style of play in the first half, without luck, it is too difficult for United to score.

Stoke City defended the first half regardless of the face, although it was a little embarrassing, but it completed the task perfectly, as long as they continued to defend like this in the second half, it was not impossible to defend for 120 minutes.

Therefore, in the first half of the game, the Manchester United players and fans were disappointed and went back to the dressing room with frustrated faces.

Stoke City, on the other hand, jumped and jumped with excitement as if they had already won.

The managers of both sides have not performed the same way.

In his elation, Pulis took the initiative to shake hands with Alex Ferguson, then interacted with his team-mates and fans before heading back to the dressing room to set up tasks.

Ferguson was in a very bad mood, his expression was very serious, and after shaking hands with Pulis, he went back to the locker room with a cold face, and a reporter wanted to interview at the entrance of the mixed passage, but he was also pushed away by Ferguson and strode back to the locker room.