[NoSkillz]

Sun. March 3, 2024

League Cup - Final
Manchester United vs. Dover
Wembley, London, UK

Betting Odds: Manchester United: 7-4 Draw: N/A Dover: 5-4 (Favourites)
Past Meetings: 4W 3D 9L

Showing the respect we’re gaining in the footballing world, we’re slight favourites today against Manchester United, who have dropped to fourth in the league and are 14 points behind us! We’ve got a win and a draw against them already this year in league play and hope to finish them off today for our second consecutive League Cup win. They are pretty much completely healthy for today’s matchup and Yaya Sanogo continues to be their danger man, sitting with 27 goals on the season already.

Neil Cairney will miss the next three games due to suspension so Andrea Rocca starts in his place alongside Jose. Otherwise, we have our normal starting eleven in there today. Control mentality as usual.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, Jose, A. Rocca, G. Bolis
S - P. Moses, Chiquinho
Bench - C. Guzman, S. Nasri, E. Harvey, G. Fanfoni, G. Allan, Z. Bardi, S. Andrea

Jurgen Klinsmann’s United club is in a flat 4-4-2 today with Sanogo and Oscar Briceno up front. Former Dover players Said Henni and Cristian Rodriguez are in the lineup at ML and DC respectively. Liviu Dragomir is in goal. It looks like a capacity crowd today at Wembley so I tell the players to win this for their supporters!

1’ - We get the opening kick and Chiquinho gets a shot on goal only 18 seconds in but Dragomir is there for the easy stop.

3’ - Paul Moses and Chiquinho play give-and-go and Chiquinho is away. His shot is weak and again, right at Dragomir for the easy stop.

4’ - We are starting off well and now it’s Chiquinho with a delicious feed into Moses but his hard blast is turned behind the goal by Dragomir! Nothing comes from the corner.

15’ - Again, it’s Chiquinho to Moses and he sends a low blast toward goal but Dragomir is up to the task!

16’ - United have possession and it’s Sanogo avoiding a tackle from Claudio Contreras and he’s breaking in toward the area. He unleashes a low blast and it’s perfectly placed in the far corner, past Wilke and it’s IN! “No keeper in the world would have stopped that one!” bellows the announcer, as United score on their first real chance of the match. MANCHESTER UNITED GOAL 0-1

20’ - Chiquinho with a long ball up to Moses and he’s in on goal for a third time and again, Dragomir makes a great save. Boy, we’re getting chances but can’t get it past this guy yet!

26’ - We battle for possession in the United end and Arsene Bamba wins the ball. He sends a little touch pass into the area and there is Chiquinho, latching onto it and immediately putting it past Dragomir and in! Four United players run to the sideline official to plead their case against offsides but to no avail. We pull level! DOVER GOAL 1-1

35’ - Sanogo gets loose in the area again and his shot from in tight is stopped by Wilke!

43’ - Moses is given the ball around midfield and uses his speed to get past Rodriguez. He’s in on goal and Dragomir stops him AGAIN but the rebound is out to Chiquinho and he rifles is low past the sprawling United keeper and it’s IN! DOVER GOAL 2-1

HALFTIME - United are doing a good job holding onto the ball, with 55% of possession but we have a big 11-9 (9-2 on target) shot advantage. Their keeper has kept them in this! I tell the team I’m pleased.

68’ - Moses runs with the ball and delivers a pass to Chiquinho in the area. He’s got two United defenders on him and Cristian Rodriguez attempts a clear but the ball deflects right onto the foot of Moses, who calmly left foots the ball into the corner of the net past a stunned Dragomir! DOVER GOAL 3-1

71’ - Rayane Hamon with a yellow card. On the ensuing free kick, Sanogo heads the ball on goal and Wilke makes the great save!

73’ - Gianluca Bolis is out and Graham Allan is in. We switch to a counter attacking mentality.

77’ - United substitute Ishak Belfodil gets off a shot from in close and Wilke is in great position for the stop.

79’ - Saber Nasri comes on for Rayane Hamon.

82’ - Chiquinho is having a monster game today and he eludes a defender down the left flank, cuts in and WIRES a shot off the crossbar! So close!

83’ - We work a rapid fire counter and it’s Moses running down the left, hitting the byline and cutting back to the right before feeding an oncoming Jose but his shot is off the goal post!!! Wow!

84’ - The pace is ridiculous here and now it’s Sanogo absolutely making Contreras look like a punk and he is in all alone. Wilke makes a brilliant save to keep our two goal cushion. Seconds later, Contreras brings down Sanogo, thankfully outside the area, and gets a yellow card.

86’ - In comes Gian Marco Fanfoni and we take out Andrea Rocca.

90’+1 - We win a ball at midfield and start a quick counter and it’s Fanfoni, just on the field for mere minutes, feeding Moses and sending him on his millionth breakaway of the game. He’s in on goal and sends a SCORCHER past Dragomir and it’s IN! That trophy is OURS!!! DOVER GOAL 4-1

WOOO! We win our second consecutive League Cup!!!

Manchester United 1 - 4 Dover
Goals - Chiquinho 2 (9.2), Paul Moses 2 (9.4)
Assists - Arsene Bamba (7.6), Paul Moses, Gian Marco Fanfoni (6.9)
Man of the Match - Paul Moses
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.0), Salim Loucif (7.2), Rayane Hamon (7.0), Claudio Contreras (7.4), Renato Gaucho (7.3), Jose (7.7)
Attendance - 90,000

Sensational! United held 52% of possession but we outshoot them 18-16 (11-5 on target). Just a wonderful accomplishment to defend that title!

-- We pocket £103,000 for the victory.

-- We earn automatic Europa League qualification with the League Cup win but obviously, we’re destined for bigger and better things.



Coach Poaching

-- An Italian club comes calling for one of my goalkeeping coaches but I offer a new deal with better terms and we are able to keep him.



Premier League Update

-- Manager-less Manchester City continue their immense struggles, dropping a 3-1 decision to Reading while Arsenal get past Sheffield Wednesday 1-0.



Injury Update

-- Young wonderkid Rafinha resumes full training after missing a couple of weeks with a damaged foot. We’re now completely healthy.

-- Bah! One day later, Zoltan Bardi suffers a bruised shin during an international match against Ireland and he’ll miss about a week.



International Update

-- Lots of caps going around for Dover players! On the U21 side of things, we see caps awarded to Andy Broomes (England U21 - two goals), Jim Ryan (Australia U20 - one goal) and Marcel Quade (Austria U21).

-- As for players taking part in senior team action, caps went to Lyubomir Kunchev (Bulgaria - one goal), Salim Loucif (Algeria), Shanon Andrea (Holland - one goal), Rayane Hamon (France), Saber Nasri (Tunisia), Chiquinho (Belgium - one goal), Paul Moses (England - one goal), Zoltan Bardi (Hungary - RED CARD), Graham Allan and Neil Cairney (Scotland) and Mwemere Mutesa (Rwanda). So eleven senior caps and 3 Youth caps.



Dover U18 Update

-- Our U18’s beat Chelsea 2-1 behind goals from Eddie Robinson and a Liam Pearce own goal to win the U18 Cup! This is the third time we’ve won the U18 Cup, having done the deed back in 2019 and in 2022.



Premier League Update

-- Manchester City hire Jose Mourinho for their open managerial spot, as he leaves Real Madrid to take this position. Damn…they’ll be much tougher to beat later this month.



Next Up

-- We head on the road to face second place Chelsea in a huge Premier League matchup.