Ferguson pushed Vidic into Stoke City's penalty area, which was quite a bit like killing the master.

The Stoke City players have been preparing for a month, but they never expected that central defender Vidic would serve as the striker.

Although Vidic is not a forward, he is tall and headed. After disturbing the middle, Stoke City's defense became a little messy.

In the 40th minute, Evra made a cross from the left. Stoke City defender Shocross competed for the top of the ball with Vidic, and flew out against the post and almost scored an own goal.

After Stoke City kicked the goal, the ball changed hands in a blink of an eye and reached Manchester United's feet. After Ferdinand grabbed the ball, he was too lazy to hand it over to Scholes. He used up all the methods before and did not score any goal. He simply took a big foot and drove into Stoke City's penalty area.

Long-term passes are a traditional show in the Premier League, and the effect is basically left to fate.

However, Manchester United was lucky this time. Vidic actually grabbed the header. He had no way to head the ball, but he rubbed the ball to the front of the penalty area.

This area is Gao Xiaodong's position, and he is also the first candidate for long-range shooting.

Stoke City was very defensive to Gao Xiaodong's long-range shot. When Gao Xiaodong rushed over to prepare for a shot, Stoke City players had already come to block the line.

Gao Xiaodong didn't barely shoot, he threw the ball horizontally and passed it to Scholes who was plugging in with him.

Scholes was slower than Gao Xiaodong. Gao Xiaodong made a move, but he was right at his step. Scholes raised his foot and shot against the ball.

The ball flew straight to the upper right corner of the goal like a sharp arrow.

This time Scholes was lucky. The ball did not hit any defensive player, and a defender jumped up and did not hit him. The ball hit the dead corner.

Stoke City goalkeeper Sorenson is a very good goalkeeper, and his form is also very good today. If it weren't for his outstanding performance in front, Stoke City would have difficulty defending the goal.

When Scholes shot, Sorensen reacted immediately, but Scholes' shot was very fast and powerful. Sorensen flew and rushed and barely touched the ball.

The ball is very tricky and almost sticks to the post. But because of this, although Sorensen only touched the ball, the ball still hit the post and bounced out.

This is the best opportunity for Manchester United after the opening. When the ball was heading for a dead corner, the anxious Manchester United fans had already started to applaud, and their arms that did not applaud were raised, but they did not expect to hit the post.

"What a pity!"

"It's finally easy to pry a hole in the turtle shell!"

“I’m so lucky!”

...

Manchester United fans sighed.

However, the game was not over. After the ball hit the post and bounced out, Rooney arrived immediately. He shot again, but the ball hit the defender and bounced out.

This time the ball fell to the feet of the Stoke City player. Pennant wanted to clear the ball with his big foot but made a mistake in a hurry. The ball was kicked by him and bounced towards the goal by his teammate Hut.

Sorensen had just saved Scholes' shot, but his teammate's clearance ball bounced towards the goal again. He almost subconsciously fell to the ground and pounced. Fortunately, the ball rebounded and slowed down, and was blocked by Sorensen's hand.

After blocking the ball, Sorensen screamed in anger, got up and yelled at his teammate who made a mistake.

There was a burst of exclamation in the stands.

The fans of Stoke City made these calls. They were so nervous that they almost suffocated. Unexpectedly, Sorensen saved the team again.

"pretty!"

"Sorenson! I love you!"

"Sorenson! Great!"

...

Stoke City fans in the stands were excitedly shouting Sorensen's name.

No wonder Stoke City fans are happy. Sorensen performed so well in the game. If they could really delay the penalty shootout, maybe Sorensen really helped Stoke realize his dream of winning. Manchester United got a corner kick opportunity. Ferdinand also came to Stoke City's penalty area to compete for the top.

After Ferdinand reached the penalty area, Manchester United's ability to compete for a high ball in the penalty area was stronger. In the 44th minute, Scholes scored a front penalty, Rooney headed the ball to the back point, and Hernandez at the back point made the ball and went to the front of the penalty area to find Gao Xiaodong.

This patient and unexpected cooperation finally disrupted Stoke City's defense. Gao Xiaodong also threw away the guard and shot a curved ball. The ball passed through all the players in the penalty area and flew to the upper corner of the goal.

Manchester United has enough patience to cooperate this time, but it did not hide it from Sorensen's eyes. His attention has been on Gao Xiaodong.

Seeing the ball flying over, Sorensen supported the ball with one hand, and the ball hit the crossbar and bounced out.

In less than five minutes, Manchester United had scored two posts and a very threatening rebound.

Luck can be said to be very bad, because the goal post is only one line away from the goal.

Not only the fans sighed, but the Manchester United players were also anxious.

The commentator opened his eyes widened and said, "Two posts! Today's goalkeeper Sorenson is simply amazing! There are only two posts in the first half. Will there be any other second half? Today's game is a bit weird. I'll see you for a long time. One side started to set up the iron barrel formation from the first minute, and a defender hit the front of the front. Only Ferguson and Pulis can use such tactics."

There is only one minute of stoppage time left before the end of the first half. Manchester United players failed to score in a row. The players were a little anxious, so they didn't have the patience to organize the offense and then jumped into the penalty area.

With sufficient preparation and obvious height advantages, it is too difficult for Manchester United to break through Stoke's gate by relying solely on long passes.

As Gao Xiaodong headed the ball into the stands, the referee blew the whistle to the end of the first half.

Although the score is 0:0, it feels different for Manchester United and Stoke City. Manchester United scored nearly thirty goals in the first half, but did not score a single goal. In the eyes of Manchester United players and fans, this is similar to failure, because Stoke City will definitely replicate the first half style of play in the second half. Without luck, it would be too difficult for Manchester United to score a goal.

Stoke City defended the half without caring about the first half. Although he was a little embarrassed, he completed the task perfectly. As long as he continued to defend like this in the second half, it was not impossible to defend for 120 minutes.

Therefore, in the first half, Manchester United players and fans were both disappointed and went back to the locker room with frustration.

But Stoke City jumped and jumped excitedly, as if they had won.

The head coaches on both sides performed differently.

Pris was very happy. He took the initiative to shake hands with Ferguson, then interacted with the fans with his teammates, and finally returned to the locker room to arrange the task.
Chapter completed!