No. 324: The League Cup final beckons
Blackburn Rovers came to Birmingham today for one purpose, and that was to win the game and qualify for the final.
Blackburn's team attacked ferociously as soon as they came up, frantically besieging the Birmingham team, pressing on all fronts, and they were really very daring to put in the troops.
At the beginning of the game, Blackburn did cause a lot of problems for Birmingham City and threatened Birmingham City on a number of occasions.
However, from the 25th minute of the first half, Birmingham adapted to Blackburn's attack, and they began to counter-attack.
The Birmingham team's counter-attack began.
In the midfield, Birmingham's Ji Chengyong suddenly steals the football at the feet of Blackburn midfielder Andrews, Ji Chengyong immediately shook Andrews, and then he immediately gave the football to his compatriot Li Qinglong on the wing.
Li Qinglong immediately broke forward after receiving the ball, and this time Li Qinglong's breakthrough was very successful, directly past Blackburn's full-back Warnock, and then cut directly inside.
Blackburn's centre-back Samba, a tall man with a strong body but poor speed and agility, immediately pounced.
Samba should be very good at defending those strong forwards, but when facing an Asian player like Li Qinglong, who is fast and very flexible, his weaknesses are infinitely magnified.
When Li Qinglong saw Samba pounce, he immediately changed his direction and smashed the ball continuously, and stunned Samba in a few strokes, and Samba's body couldn't keep up, and after a few turns, he almost fell into the penalty area.
At this time, Li Qinglong suddenly accelerated and changed direction past Samba, and directly faced the goalkeeper Paul Robinson of the Blackburn Rovers.
In the first leg of the match between the two sides, Paul Robinson was very, very good, which allowed Li Qinglong to have a lesson, so Li Qinglong did not choose to shoot.
After Li Qinglong raised his foot to fake a shot, attracting the attention of Paul Robinson and Oye, he immediately knocked the ball sideways, and the ball immediately rolled towards Dongfang Chen, who was unmarked in the middle.
Empty, empty!
The fans of the Birmingham team immediately shouted excitedly, and in the excited shouts of the Birmingham fans, Dongfang Chen easily pushed the football to the bottom left corner of the goal.
Paul Robinson saw Li Qinglong pass Samba, he quickly moved the right side of the goal, at this time, Dongfang Chen pushed the bottom left corner of the goal, although Paul Robinson had desperately pounced to the bottom left corner, but it still did not help, the football rolled into the goal of the Blackburn team.
1-0, 2-0 on aggregate, Birmingham extended their advantage and were more psychologically superior.
Seeing their goal breached, Blackburn fans were a little ugly, and this time, the game was more difficult than they thought.
The Birmingham fans cheered excitedly, chanting Dongfangchen's name, Dongfangchen scored again, and he had scored two goals in the two legs, and the Birmingham fans were excited.
Of course, a lot of credit for this goal is on Li Qinglong, his breakthrough and passing are very important, otherwise Dongfang Chen would not have gotten such a light shot opportunity.
After conceding a goal, Blackburn didn't break down, but after that, they were more determined, and now that they have lost two goals, what else is there to consider? Let's fight it!
The Blackburn players suddenly had an unprecedented unity of mind and began to attack wildly, which gave Birmingham a very big threat.
Midfielder Tugaj went on a rampage with the football and hit it hard, passing half time and reaching Birmingham's half.
Birmingham defender Kevin Boateng immediately pounced, who knew that Tugaj went directly to Kevin Boateng to fight his body, and almost lost the football himself.
Tugaj smacked his tongue, and Kevin Boateng was too strong, and he immediately passed the ball out, and it rolled to Peterson's feet.
Peterson is the number one star of the Blackburn team, and he is also the tactical core, and the Blackburn team's attack comes from him, so the Birmingham team is actually very easy to defend, as long as it seems to be Peterson, the Blackburn team has no good way.
The Birmingham team defended tightly against Petersen and did not give Peterson any chance.
It is not for nothing that Petersson is called Norway's Becky, this guy is indeed very similar to Becky, both have very good passing ability, especially wide crosses and long passes, but their ability to break through with the ball is relatively weak.
With Birmingham's tight defense, Petersen really didn't have any good chances, he had to keep passing the ball back and reorganise the attack.
However, the Birmingham team's defense of Peterson was simply too tight, and soon the Blackburn team also discovered this problem, and Blake himself began to worry, Peterson was seen to death, so how should this game be played?
At this time, Blackburn's head coach Allardyce frowned, thinking about how to break the game.
However, at this time, the Birmingham midfielder broke the ball again.
Blackburn's midfielder Andrews passed the football to Petersen on the side, who knew that Li Qinglong, who was next to Peterson, suddenly rushed out to break the ball successfully, and he immediately knocked the football sideways.
The ball rolled to the feet of Kevin Boateng, who saw Andrews back and immediately struck the ball sideways again, and the ball immediately rolled towards Sebastian Larsson, who was cutting forward on the wing.
Everyone thought that Sebastian Larsson would opt for a long pass and launch a quick counter-attack.
However, Sebastian Larsson surprisingly did not opt for a long ball, but suddenly dribbled across the half pitch and into the Blackburn penalty area.
Sebastian Larsson's surprise choice surprised Blackburn's players, and after being surprised, Blackburn's centre-back Øyer burst out to intercept Sebastian Larsson.
And Samba followed Dongfang Chen closely, sticking Dongfang Chen to death, and not giving Dongfang Chen a chance.
Samba is indeed strong and tall. Standing with Samba, Dongfang Chen can feel the pressure, Samba is taller than Dongfang Chen.
Samba clings to Dongfang Chen tightly, and Dongfang Chen is indeed difficult to get rid of.
Oye then rushed out boldly and went up to block Bastian Larsson.
Seeing Oye rush out, Sebastian Larsson immediately slammed the ball to the side and prepared to go down the side. Seeing this, Oye immediately followed, and went up to Sebastian Larsson, trying to squeeze Sebastian Larsson out.
However, just as Oye was on the line, Sebastian Larsson suddenly slammed the ball into the middle with his heel, and then he spun around sharply, using his speed and agility to get rid of Oye and rush towards the Blackburn penalty area.
The Blackburn fans immediately erupted in a panicked scream, and it was over.
Sebastian Larsson shook off Øyer and dribbled straight into the Blackburn penalty area, leaving Blackburn's defenders stunned.
Samba could only let go of Dongfang Chen at this time and rushed to Sebastian Larsson, who was dribbling the ball.
At this time, Samba has no intention of paying attention to Dongfang Chen, he must go up to block Sebastian Larsson, otherwise Sebastian Larsson will go to the meeting alone.
Sebastian Larsson saw Samba pounce, but he didn't mean to pass the ball and continued to dribble forward.
In fact, Sebastian Larsson meant to pass the ball, he didn't pass the ball at the first time, he was calculating the distance between Samba and himself.
Just as Samba was about to pounce in front of him, Sebastian Larsson suddenly knocked the ball sideways, and the ball rolled quickly towards the middle and past Samba.
Samba was shocked, and he immediately turned his head to look at the middle lane, where Dongfang Chen was in the air.
All the Blackburn fans in the scene immediately screamed in horror, it was him again, and it was over.
Seeing the football rolling over, Dongfang Chen immediately slammed his leg and pumped it fiercely towards the football, Dongfang Chen was about to shoot.
However, just when the football was about to roll in front of Dongfang Chen, Dongfang Chen did not draw towards the football, but let the football roll quickly under his feet and roll backwards.
This made Nelson, who rushed up quickly and wanted to give Dongfang Chen a surprise defense, was shocked in his heart.
The ball raced past Dongfang Chen and Nelson and scurried towards the back post, where Sturridge was in the air.
It turned out that Dongfang Chen had already known that Nelson was rushing up, so Dongfang Chen pretended to raise his leg to shoot, and after attracting Nelson's attention, he immediately missed the football, and the football immediately rolled to the back point.
"It's empty! Sturridge! Sky Sports commentator Andy Gray immediately shouted excitedly.
Watching the football roll over, Sturridge's heart was very calm, and there was no excitement.
Sturridge glanced up at Paul Robinson, who was speeding over to intercept him, and then immediately slammed the ball into Blackburn's goal.
The ball flew quickly into the bottom left corner of the Blackburn goal, and yes, into the bottom left corner.
Paul Robinson just pounced on the bottom right corner of the net, yes, a shot in the opposite direction. Sturridge pumped the ball in the opposite direction of Paul Robinson.
Paul Robinson was shocked to see the soccer ball fly out, and the soccer ball flew past him and towards the goal behind him.
This time, Paul Robinson had no choice but to send the ball into the goal at a rapid pace, sending the white net up.
At 3-0, Birmingham extended the score again, and Blake himself changed his face at this time, and they seemed to see no hope in this game at this point.
Before the end of the first half, Birmingham had another very good chance, but Sturridge didn't take it and wasted Dongfangchen's pass.
At the end of the first half, Birmingham led 2-0 and the aggregate score became 3-0.
After the first half, the St Andrews Stadium was jubilant and the Birmingham fans were already celebrating their qualification for this season's English League Cup final, they were very excited, they really didn't expect their team to be so good and reach the English League Cup in the first season of promotion.
A year ago, the fans of the Birmingham team couldn't think of it, which was simply an extravagant expectation, but a year later, they actually did it, and the fans of the Birmingham team were so excited, cheering wildly, and chanting Dongfang Chen's name loudly.
Fans of the Birmingham team know that the Birmingham team can have today, and Dongfang Chen has contributed a lot!