For the first time in their history, Swansea City are League Cup champions, and they've done it in absolutely brilliant fashion. Bradford City, who impressively dispatched of three Premier League sides en route to Wembley, finally met their match in the Swans on Sunday. They didn't record a shot on target until the 88th minute as the Premier League side showed off their superiority in a 5-0 drubbing.
Bradford vs. Swansea: Final score 0-5 Swans lift League Cup and make it look easy
Swansea City have become the first Welsh side to lift the Football League Cup, and have won the first major English football honor in their club’s history. They had no problem defeating Bradford, 5-0, at Wembley.
Michael Regan
Swansea played a bit cautiously in the opening minutes, feeling out Bradford and what they would offer going forward. When they realized that the Bantams had very little for them, Michael Laudrup's side turned up the pressure and didn't take long to score. Nathan Dyer fired Swansea in front in the 16th minute, poking in a rebound after Matt Duke saved a shot by Michu, but failed to clear the danger.
Not long before halftime, Michu took advantage of some lax defending to net Swansea’s second. The Bantams played much too conservatively while defending the move, backing off both Michu and the man who fed him with an assist, Pablo Hernandez. With room to shoot and time on the ball, Michu placed a simple finish past Duke.
If the match wasn’t over at 2-0, it was certainly over two minutes after the break when Dyer netted his second. It game on a truly spectacular curled finish, placed perfectly to the far post from the edge of the penalty area.
Things turned a bit sour shortly afterwards for Swansea, and sadly, their infighting might become the bigger story from this final than their spectacular performance. Jonathan de Guzman drew a penalty and a red card on Duke for denial of a clear goal-scoring opportunity in the 56th minute, and as both the regular penalty taker and the man who won the spot kick, de Guzman wanted to take. Dyer, on a hat trick, disagreed and threw a downright temper tantrum when de Guzman refused to let him take. The Dutch-Canadian buried his penalty, and Dyer did not celebrate with his teammates.
Dyer was eventually substituted to boos from the Wembley crowd, and Swansea eventually added a fifth goal for good measure. After a long spell of pressure and a delivery into the box from Angel Rangel, de Guzman netted his second of the day to put the icing on the cake for the Swans.
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