The FA Cup Final – Pre-Match Headlines
– Being watched by an audience of 500 million
– New Wembley cost £800 million
– 3rd time the top two teams in the league have met in the FA Cup Final
– First showing of new Reebok Sprintfit football boots
– £3.90 for a hot dog, £10 for a programme
– Manchester United without Gary Neville
– Chelsea without Shevchenko, Ballack and Carvalho
The FA Cup Final – The Build-Up
Ryan Giggs led out Manchester United, wearing the new Reebok Sprintfit, and kicked off the FA Cup final in the new football boots. Opposite, was Umbro stalwart, John Terry wearing the blue Umbro X Boot Vengeance, in a way the home favourite with Umbro‘s close ties to Wembley and the players using a special limited edition Umbro FA Cup X Ball III football seen for the first time on the dodgy-looking Wembley turf.
The FA Cup Final – The Football Boots
It was Nike (Man U) versus Adidas (Chelsea) in the sponsors of kits, but in the football boots of the players, it was Nike who took the upper hand, with 10 out of the starting 22 (45%) wearing Nike football boots. The black and white Nike Total 90 Laser football boots worn by Rooney, Ferdinand, Essien and Makelele – the yellow colourway having been ditched for this match at least. 5 players wore the stripes of Adidas, with 4 players wearing Puma football boots.
The Reebok Sprintfit was on display for the first time, but in truth, Giggs has an awful game, even missing an easy goal-scoring chance, and his touch and control severely let him down. How much that is to do with his new football boots, we are not sure, as team-mate Ronaldo stuck to his trusted ice white Nike Mercurial Vapor III football boots, instead of wearing the new Vapor in the silver colourway, and also had a subdued and uneventful game.
The FA Cup Final – The Game
As a show piece final watched around the globe, the game was an insipid and tepid one, with both teams adopting similar formations, each playing with a lone-striker, who were both left unsupported through most of the game. In effect, the teams cancelled each other out, and even a few runs and shots by the huffing and puffing Frank Lampard, in his Adidas Predator Deep Space football boots failed to ignite the touch paper.
The FA Cup Final – The Extra Time
After a goal-less 90 minutes, extra time seemed to be only a prelude to the inevitable penalty shoot-out, but Chelsea bought on Salomon Kalou, wearing the orange Adidas Tunit 50.7, and he lit up the pitch with his football boots, and skill. Ryan Giggs stuck with his Reebok Sprintfit through the match, but failed to show us any reason why the Sprintfit is such a good football boot, and was substituted before the end. With the game ending and the tempo building, it took the cool football boot of golden boot winner Didier Drogba to seal the match, his Nike Mercurial Vapor III Deep Royal Football Boots slotting home the only goal with just three minutes to go, sealing United’s fate, grabbing the FA Cup for the blues, and going down in history as scoring the first FA Cup goal in the new Wembley stadium.
FA Cup Final – Football Boots: The Winners and Losers
The magnificent John Terry, in his Umbro X Boots, led his teams up the 107 steps to collect the Cup from Aston Villa fan Prince William, which marks the end of a difficult season for the club. United will be happy with the Premiership title, but will rue their failures on the European stage. In terms of football boots, Nike clearly won the day with its impressive count and display of the Nike Total 90 Lasers, even though the winning team is sponsored by Adidas, so honours even on that front. For the other football boot makers, Reebok will be keen to forget their first showing of the Sprintfit, whilst Umbro must have been cock-a-hoop to see their torch bearer lift the cup and take the glory!
wat is the new vapor in the silver color way? how does it look like???