Chapter 91: FA Cup Final [6]
Chapter 91: FA Cup Final [6]
Saturday, May 15, 2010
The roar of the crowd echoed like thunder as Nate sprinted down the pitch, the ball glued to his feet. Behind him, Chelsea’s defenders tore after him, lungs burning, desperate to close the gap. Max, grimacing with every step, limped forward, eyes locked on Nate, determined to cut off the attack.
Nate’s heart hammered. The stadium blurred, every second stretching longer, the weight of a thousand eyes pressing down. With one final burst, he launched a fierce pass toward Max, who was closing in fast near the edge of the box.
Max caught the ball just outside the box, his ankle a blazing fire with every step. Chelsea’s defenders closed in like wolves with Terry roaring in pursuit, Lampard cutting off angles, Čech towering in goal, eyes sharp as a hawk.
Max’s vision tunneled as the ball hurtled toward him, a spinning blur of black and white cutting through the Wembley air. His left leg throbbed, the old injury flaring with every step, but he shoved the pain down deep. There was no room for weakness now. Not with the score tied at 1-1, not with the clock bleeding into the final seconds of extra time, and not with Crawley Town with just a moment away of making history against the giants of Chelsea.
He planted his right foot, ignoring the sharp stab in his knee, and met the ball with a clean touch. The crowd’s roar swelled, a tidal wave of sound that drowned out everything else. Max glanced up, his mind racing. The Chelsea keeper, Petr Čech, loomed large in the goal, his frame filling the net like a wall. Two defenders were closing in from the left, their boots pounding the turf, but Max saw the gap a sliver of space, a fleeting chance.
Čech jumped, reaching with all his strength, his fingers just brushing the ball, but it got past him and hit the net with a loud noise. The crowd burst into cheers, caught between shock and joy.
2-1.
The red corner exploded like a volcano, Crawley’s supporters roaring like warriors unleashed, their chants crashing over the stadium: "Craw-ley! Craw-ley!"
Meanwhile, Chelsea’s fans sat stunned, mouths agape, disbelief washing over them like a cold wave. Their cheers turned to stunned silence, the reality of the moment sinking in, Crawley had struck a mighty blow.