CHAMPS v DISRUPTORS – City face Brighton in FA Cup final
With an exciting conclusion to the English domestic season at Wembley coming on Sunday, Gethin Thurlow looks ahead to the showdown.
After two tight games this season, with each being won by the home team, the sides eventually made up when Brighton’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal confirmed the WSL title’s destination this year. That game, alongside the title-halting 3-2 victory by the Seagulls over City, formed part of an incredible run for Brighton against top sides, which also featured a draw at Manchester United and a successful quarter-final win against Arsenal.
Dario’s Seagulls
While it has not been an easy season for Brighton overall – losing Michelle Agyemang very early on and dropping to 7th in the table – they have been better than ever in those bigger games against the top teams. Even when losing in those Arsenal, City or Chelsea games, they always feel like a equal opponent.
Unlike a lot of other teams in the WSL, Dario Vidosic’s side like to come out and press aggressively, play their way whoever sits in front. You certainly won’t see the low block that was on display last time England appeared at Wembley from either team, whatever the score and whatever the time on the clock.
Perhaps given this fact, the prospect of a final against Andrée Jeglertz’s champions will be slightly less scary to Brighton. It’s not like they’ve had an easy path to get here, as Dario Vidisic identified. He says: “We’ve had to overcome different things. We’ve had quite a tough draw”, with three away trips to fellow WSL sides ensuring his team had to stay on it in all competitions.
They came through that however, including a 2-0 deficit to Liverpool in the first few minutes. Fran Kirby said that her teammates have “learnt how to be resilient in tough moments”, throughout the campaign, and it’s clearly been essential in this late run. With that new-found resilience, a lot of hard work on the pitch and a plucky attitude, why can’t Brighton pull one more upset and bring home the FA Cup trophy?
Andrée’s Army
For the west end occupants of Wembley however, the entire season has been pretty perfect. Ironically, with an opposite trajectory to Brighton, City’s struggles have been in the latter part of the season and against bottom-half opponents. A draw at Villa and that loss away to Brighton halted their progress, while they could only inch past Liverpool in injury time when the title looked to be slipping away. However, after also finding themselves 2-0 down to Chelsea after 85 minutes in the semis, they followed Brighton’s lead to turn it around and remind everyone that this is still ultimately the best team in England.
A massive boost for the citizens is the return of Vivianne Miedema. While nerves and pressure surely played a part in City’s drop-off, it was also her absence. Though Fujino, Kerolin and Fowler are all brilliant and worthy replacements in that number 10 role, with plenty of skill and technical ability, no-one can make up for the presence, reading of the game and those late runs into the box that Miedema provides.
Personally, she’s my Man City/WSL player of the year, and has added so much to the overall structure of the team and creativity, with an innate knack of getting goals. Whether her minutes come from the start or the bench, Brighton will definitely know she’s there, while fellow goalscorer Bunny Shaw goes out there for the club knowing she’s secured for another four years, so she might as well get another piece of silverware!
A fantastic game is in order, and whoever wins they will be a worthy champion as we say goodbye to the English domestic season.
Catch the action on Channel 4 and TNT Sport at 3pm BST, or try and grab one of the final remaining tickets for the game…
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