Most fans and football critics who predicted before the game that Arsenal would settle the battle in ninety minutes were impressed by Leicester's tenacious performance.

They never imagined that a Championship team would be able to play inextricably with Arsenal, the "Gunners" who have been in the top four of the Premier League all year round, and finally decided the winner with penalties.

This makes them think about a question:

Is Arsenal too weak, or is Leicester too strong?

For Leicester fans and supporters, they were delighted with their fighting spirit and desire to win in this final.

They can't wait to see how Leicester City will perform in the top flight after promotion to the Premier League!

Players from both sides came to the sidelines to rehydrate, and the managers of both sides began to arrange the penalty takers.

In terms of penalty shoot-out experience between the two sides, Arsenal have the upper hand.

Although neither Arsenal nor Leicester City had a penalty before the game.

However, when Arsenal faced Wigan Athletic in the semi-finals, they were eliminated on penalties.

Leicester City, on the other hand, played a penalty shoot-out for the first time this season.

And in a crucial game like the FA Cup final.

The penalty taker is definitely under a lot of pressure.

Therefore, the first player must be the best and most confident candidate in the team with penalty kick skills.

With his eyes roaming over the players' faces, Pearson was the first to speak:

"Jamie, you're the first to go!"

Hearing this, Vardy just nodded grimly.

Placing Jamie first is the easiest choice to make.

Vardy, the team's top scorer and winner of the league's penalty spot-kick percentage, was the first to take the spot!

"Anthony (Conokette), you second."

"Andy (Kim), you're the third."

"Danny (Drinkwater), fourth."

"Ling, you're the fifth!"

Everyone was a little surprised to hear that the head coach had arranged Ling Feng, the youngest in the team, as the fifth critical free throw pick.

But no one spoke out against it or raised objections.

Of course, Pearson naturally had his own considerations for such a decision.

First of all, Ling Feng's physical fitness is one of the best players in the team.

In penalty shootouts, there are often cases where players are physically exhausted, resulting in deformed shots, shots flying or misses.

Therefore, the better the fitness, the less likely it is to make mistakes in the shooting action.

Secondly, Ling Feng is recognized as a big scene in the team.

The more critical the moment, the more this eighteen-year-old young man can calmly deal with the unpredictable situation on the field, so as to make the most reasonable choice.

Repeatedly when the team is behind, assisting teammates or scoring goals to direct reversals is a clear example!

What's more, without Ling Feng's two assists, they simply wouldn't have been able to drag the game into a penalty shootout.

Therefore, no matter what the considerations, it is reasonable to let Ling Feng shoot the last penalty.

As for the head coach's arrangement, Ling Feng was stunned for a moment, and then nodded seriously, indicating that he understood.

Being arranged to shoot the last penalty, Ling Feng felt the head coach's trust in him.

There is definitely pressure.

After all, this penalty shoot-out is about Leicester's first FA Cup title in more than 100 years of team history.

Having reached the final and fought with Arsenal for 120 minutes, Ling Feng certainly hopes to win this title.

So, in his opinion, what he needs to do now is to put these distractions behind him and focus on this penalty.

It was the first penalty of his career.

In any case, it must be shot in!

As for whether you can win in the end, it depends on the performance of your teammates and opponents.

In case, all of your teammates score and your opponent loses two, and you don't even have to play.

Or maybe the opponent shoots all the shots, and the teammates lose two, and you don't have to play.

Football has never been a one-man sport.

All he can do is do what he can do well!

After asking the assistant coach to hand over the penalty order to the fourth official, Pearson came to his players again.

He knew very well that even when it came to penalties, they were still at a disadvantage.

Because, the opposing goalkeeper Fabianski saved two penalty kicks in the penalty shootout against Wigan Athletic in the semi-finals.

Therefore, entering the penalty shootout again, he has a certain psychological advantage.

Of course, Pearson didn't tell his disciples about this.

At such times, the last thing you should do is to increase the psychological pressure on the players.

Therefore, Pearson just shared with his disciples the saving habits of the opponent's goalkeeper Fabianski, and then stood in a circle with his disciples and shouted a loud cheering slogan:

"Blue Fox, forward!"

。。。

After a coin toss, Leicester City were given the chance to take the lead.

In a penalty shootout, any detail can affect the final result.

Among them, according to FIFA statistics, the side that takes the penalty first has a 60% chance of winning in the end.

It's easy to understand.

The penalty shootout is the first penalty, which does have a certain advantage.

The penalty shootout, removing the element of luck, is a psychological game between players.

And from the point of view of psychological pressure, the pressure of the first penalty is the greatest, but it can put pressure on the opponent.

As long as the first player to take the penalty is first, the pressure on the opposing player who takes the next penalty will increase by one point, and the pressure on your teammates will be reduced by one point.

Of course, this question of odds does not apply to every penalty shoot-out.

Just like in the semi-finals between Arsenal and Wigan Athletic, Wigan Athletic took the lead but missed one penalty after another.

There are too many factors that affect the penalty shootout, luck, mentality, shooting skills, etc., and the coaches and players on both sides can only try to tilt the balance of victory in their favor.

That's all

The first player to take the penalty was Jamie Vardy.

I saw him take the ball from the referee's hand, and slowly walked to the penalty spot amid the boos and cheers in the stadium.

With the ball set up and straightened, Vardy slowly stepped back.

No more, no less, after taking three steps back, he stopped.

Then, staring at the turf in front of the ball, waiting for the referee's whistle to blow, he sprinted to the ball.

The moment he shot, he didn't look at the goal at all, it was just a burst shot of "bang"!

Speed and angle are excellent!

Fabianski pounced in the right direction, but he didn't touch the ball.

Immediately after the penalty, Vardy waved his fist at the cheering fans in the stands.

And the Leicester City players who stood in a row at the arc of the center circle applauded him one after another. It was Arsenal's turn.

The first player to take the penalty at Arsenal was the team's veteran Rosicky.

Clearly, Wenger hopes Rosicky's wealth of experience will give him a good start to the penalty shoot-out.

And Rosicky did not live up to the trust of the "professor". Run, push, and you're done!

Schmeichel guessed the wrong direction of the ball and pounced on the other side.

Both players scored the first penalty for the ball.

The score is 1 to 1.

Leicester's second penalty was taken by former France Under-21 international Anthony Conokett, now 22.

Since missing the most important penalty of his life in last year's promotion play-off, Conokite has been practising his penalties and is ready to take them again.

And by placing him in the second penalty, Pearson is also to give him a chance to make up for his regrets last year.

And Knoket didn't disappoint Pearson either!

I saw him standing in front of the ball, slashing with a kick to the ground, and the ball drilled into the lower right corner of the goal.

After the penalty was scored, Knokite suddenly felt that the demons that had been haunting him for a whole year disappeared in an instant.

The whole person is also much more relaxed.

A relieved Konoket couldn't help but look up to the sky and roar, then turned around and made a fist to his teammates in the center circle.

As if to say, "This time, I didn't let you down like I did last year!" ”

Fans and teammates responded with applause of encouragement.

Arsenal's second penalty is the team's starting center forward, "King of Heaven and Tiger" Giroud!

In this game, Giroud performed very well, although there were no goals and assists, but he gave full play to the fulcrum of a big center forward.

not only had close hand-to-hand combat with Morgan and Moore in the penalty area, but also came to the top of the arc from time to time to make balls for teammates who were inserted.

Giroud's performance satisfied the French coach Didier Deschamps in the stands, and also made Leicester City manager Pearson realize the importance of a big center forward in the front.

"Steve, maybe we should ask Brighton how much that Argentine is"

Just as Pearson was discussing the team's summer window signings with Walsh on the sidelines, Giroud also had a shot on target.

The penalty taken by the Arsenal and French national team centre-forward was powerful.

Even if Schmeichel Jr. guessed the right direction, he made a judgment in advance.

However, I watched the ball fly from my fingertips into the net, splashing white waves.

The first two penalties were scored by both sides.

And Leicester City's third penalty was the conscientious team veteran Andy King.

Andy King, who came off the bench in overtime, is full of energy and has a hard foot.

He fired a direct shot into the top corner of the net to continue to put pressure on Arsenal's next player.

Arsenal's third penalty was the team's substitute center forward who came on in extra time, Sanogo.

Seeing this little black take the ball to his mouth and kiss it, Ling Feng inexplicably had a feeling.

This ball may be missed!

First of all, Xiao Hei's brain has never been very good, and his psychological pressure is also poor.

Especially in this kind of high-pressure penalty shootout, the brain is likely to short-circuit.

Secondly, the action of pro-ball shows that he has no bottom in his heart and needs to pray to the ball for blessings.

Therefore, Ling Feng stared at Sanogo's back tightly, and kept muttering in his heart:

"Hit ~ plane! Hit ~ plane! ”

Perhaps it was his first time playing in a penalty shoot-out, and in a crucial match like the FA Cup final, Sanogo was indeed a little nervous.

At the same time, he has been holding back a lot of energy in his heart.

He has played little this season and has often been used as a substitute for Olivier Giroud, which has left him with a high self-esteem.

He would love to prove to Arsene Wenger that he is capable of starting.

Therefore, the moment he shot the goal, he almost used all his strength to exert his strength, as if he was going to explode the ball.

In the next second, the ball turned into a black afterimage and shot straight to the top edge of the goal.

And Schmeichel Jr. only subconsciously raised his hands, but he couldn't block the ball.

Then, only a crisp sound of "bell" was heard, and the ball that hit the crossbar did not bounce into the goal, but bounced out!

The slightly trembling crossbar also made the hearts of tens of thousands of Gunners fans in the stadium tremble.

Watching Sanogo miss a penalty invariably reveals an unbelievable mask of pain.

Even Arsene Wenger, who was on the sidelines, showed a look of surprise for the first time.

Immediately afterwards, the eyes of the godfather of Arsenal couldn't help but pass a look of disappointment.

He knows very well how important this penalty is for Arsenal and him.

Realizing that he might have kicked away the team's best chance of winning the championship in nine years, Sanogo put his head in his hands and suddenly felt like his world was dark.

Finished!

It's all over!

Standing still for a moment, he was summoned back to the harsh reality by Fabianski's shouts.

Turning around, he didn't even dare to look at his teammates, he directly pulled up his jersey, covered his face, and returned to the queue in the center circle with his head down.

Although I wanted to beat this guy in my heart, the rest of the Arsenal players held back.

Captain Koscielny even patted him on the shoulder and comforted his compatriot Xiao Hei, who was about to cry.

No way, penalty shootouts are too much of a test of the players' mentality.

What can their team-mates do if they miss a penalty.

They are a team.

To win together, to lose, only to lose together!

Watching Sanogo miss the penalty, the Leicester City players standing in the center circle also breathed a sigh of relief, and then high-fived to celebrate.

They know very well that they have taken the initiative in this penalty shoot-out.

There are only two free throws left, and if they are all scored, they will be able to have the last laugh in this fierce battle!

Leicester City's fourth penalty player is "Drinking Brother" Drinkwater.

Maybe it was Sanogo who just missed a penalty that eased the pressure on his heart a lot.

He didn't make any mistakes, he shot low and scored the ball steadily!

Fabianski, who guessed the right direction again but couldn't save the ball, angrily kicked the post before walking away from the goal.

Because he knew very well that he couldn't save the ball and only had one last chance left.

Arsenal's fourth penalty was Aaron Ramsey. The "Grim Reaper" shot mercilessly to the right side of the goal, clinging to the post and flying into the net.

In the next second, he opened his arms and raised towards the red Arsenal fan stands.

Seeing this, the Gunners fans let out enthusiastic cheers. Apparently, Ramsey was trying to call out the fans to cheer for the team, thus influencing Leicester's players who took the last penalty.

"Ling, it's up to you."

Amid the blessings of his teammates and the boos of the Gunners fans, Ling Feng slowly walked towards the penalty area.

He didn't expect that the key to determining the outcome of the game would fall on him in the end!

As long as you score this penalty, the game will be over.

They will win their second title of the season and Leicester's first FA Cup in 130 years!

Ling Feng didn't think about what would happen if he didn't score.

Because, he firmly believes that he will definitely score this penalty!

Firm belief makes every step of his life sonorous and powerful.

Before coming to the penalty area, he took the ball handed by the referee, and Ling Feng put it on the penalty spot.

Stepping back some distance, he looked at the goal, roughly measured its width, and then withdrew his gaze.

He didn't look at goalkeeper Fabianski, he just wondered whether he would hit the bottom left corner of the goal or the bottom right corner later.

His shooting skills are not very good, and his shooting power is not high.

However, his shooting accuracy is still good.

Especially against Fabianski, who is 1.9 meters tall and relatively slow to get off the ground, playing the two lower corners of the goal is the best choice.

Taking a deep breath, Ling Feng's eyes lit up, staring at the ball tightly.

Beep!

With the referee's whistle sounding, Ling Feng ran forward, and according to the feeling of using the [Putting Master] every time, the arch of the inside of the foot pushed hard!

In an instant, the ball shot out and flew straight to the bottom right corner of the goal!

At the same time, Fabianski also flew sideways and pounced on the right side of the goal!

He guessed the right direction!

However, with his shot angled too tricky and clinging to the turf, he wasn't going down the ground that fast.

Eventually, before Fabianski's fingertips could touch it, the ball slipped inside the inside of the post!

Not tonight, I'm a little tired these days, I've stayed up late, and I'll write again tomorrow.

Good night everybody

(End of chapter)