Manchester United Vs. Manchester City, FA Cup Semi-Final: 0-0 Halftime, No One Brought Their Finishing Boots

Both Manchester United and Manchester City came to play in their FA Cup Semi-Final at Wembley Stadium, but neither team has been able to finish thus far. Dimitar Berbatov had the first half’s best chances and he absolutely should have put the Red Devils ahead early, but he wasn’t the only person guilty of poor finishing.

Berbatov’s chances came back to back in the 15th minute. The first came after a great bit of build-up play, capped off by a through ball into the box by Park Ji-Sung. Berbatov ran onto the ball and got a shot away, but it was well saved by Joe Hart. Seconds later, Nani sung a low cross into the box that met the foot of Berbatov, but the striker inexplicably skied his easy chance over the bar.

Other than that sequence and a header over the bar by Nemanja Vidic in the 25th minute, the match was fairly uneventful for the first 30 minutes, at which point the action picked up considerably. Berbatov had another opportunity on a corner kick in the 30th, but hit his header over the bar.

Manchester City then had all of the chances from that point until the end of the half, as the flow of the game changed considerably. In the 32nd minute, David Silva hit a low pass across the box to Gareth Barry, who made a very impressive turn to open himself up for a shot, but he hit the side netting to Edwin van der Sar’s right.

City’s last few chances came from long shots, and all of them failed to hit the back of the net in an unlucky fashion. Mario Balotelli took a great long shot from 30 yards in the 34th minute, but was denied by van der Sar. Joleon Lescott missed with a volley off of a set piece in the 36th minute, and Vincent Kompany missed a long shot in the 43rd minute, following a corner created by Yaya Toure.

Manchester United were very much in control of the first 30 minutes of the game, but after a half hour, Manchester City’s central midfielders started to pressure higher up the pitch, which created more possession and more chances for City. It will be interesting to see what strategic changes, if any, both managers make for the second half.