Manchester United vs. Chelsea, 2013 FA Cup: Halftime score 2-0, Rooney and Chicharito have United ahead
Javier Hernandez and Wayne Rooney have staked Manchester United to a 2-0 halftime lead at Old Trafford.
If Chelsea hope to defend their FA Cup title, they'll need to stage a massive second half comeback after falling behind 2-0 to Manchester United thanks to two goals in the opening ten minutes.
Manchester United roared out of the gate with two early goals that but Chelsea right on their heels.
Javier Hernandez scored first in the 5th minute, hitting a looping header at the near post off a long ball in from Michael Carrick that spun back across the face of goal and into the net. Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech made a move toward Chicharito despite the fact there was a defender covering him, pulling himself way out of position. Had Cech remained deeper, he should have had enough time to react.
Just five minutes later United were back for more after Nani was taken down at the corner of the Chelsea area. Wayne Rooney's free kick was nothing amazing but it managed to evade the Chelsea defenders and tuck itself nicely inside the far post making it 2-0. Again Cech was out of position, frozen in the middle of the goal. Either he expected a defender to head the ball away or he lost track of the ball in flight.
If you were sitting watching the game and humming Ice Cube’s “Check Yo Self” and replacing the lyrics with “Petr Cech yourself before you wreck yourself,” you win at life.
Chelsea's best chance of the half came in the 22nd minute when Juan Mata actually managed to dribble into the United area and found Frank Lampard right in the middle of the box with a short pass. Lampard's re-directed shot wasn't good enough though and David De Gea had no trouble making the save.
Chelsea looked much better in the last ten minutes, so at least Rafa Benitez will have that to point to during his halftime speech. That’s assuming of course that any of the Chelsea players still bother to listen to anything he has to say.
Nani went down in stoppage time and after a quick chat with the physio got up and walked right down the tunnel. It wasn't clear what happened but obviously something was bothering the winger enough to ask for a sub. Antonio Valencia came on in his place.
