After Fly scored, he immediately ran to the sidelines to do a guitar-playing celebration and blew a kiss to Taylor in the stands.
Since the families of the Arsenal players were present at the match, Taylor was not sitting alone in the box but had formed a "WAGs group" with the girlfriends of her man's teammates.
Seeing Fly's flying kiss, the broadcast camera immediately focused on Taylor, who was happily chatting with Wilshere's girlfriend.
Taylor noticed the camera on her and quickly responded to her little man's childish behavior.
The 28th minute of the match.
Roger Johnson took a corner kick, and the ball arced through the air, landing on Žigić's head.
The Serbian giant jumped lightly, using his absolute height to overpower Koscielny, who was marking him, and completed a header.
Facing this close-range header, Szczęsny was helpless. Although he instinctively made a save attempt, he still could not prevent the ball from flying into the goal.
Birmingham 1:1 Arsenal, they equalized the score.
"GOOOOOOOOOAL!!!"
"Number 19, Žigić!!!"
"This giant from Serbia once again dominated the penalty area with his unparalleled height."
"The Frenchman tried his best, but he still couldn't stop the Serbian from putting the ball into the net."
"Birmingham has currently equalized the score at 1:1. It seems this match is not as one-sided as everyone thought before the game..."
The 38th minute of the match.
A sliding tackle from the side and behind by Koscielny was ruled a foul by the Main Referee, who showed him a yellow card.
The 39th minute of the match.
Birmingham's free kick in the attacking third was blocked directly by the wall, and Clichy controlled the ball immediately.
Facing the pulling from behind by Craig, Clichy hit a long ball, sending it over the midfield.
At the same time, Fly, who was hovering near the midfield line, instantly accelerated, directly leaving Ridgewell, who was marking him, in the dust.
Ultimately, the trailing Jiranek became the only defensive player in front of Fly.
Facing the incredibly fast Fly, Jiranek did not move forward towards the ball but retreated directly backward.
On the other side, the Dutch forward Van Persie also used all his might to sprint towards Birmingham's penalty area.
Fly saw that Jiranek had no intention of pressing forward, so he chose to accelerate all the way with the ball, and quickly reached the edge of the penalty area.
At this position, Jiranek had to press forward... even if he didn't want to.
So he gritted his teeth, took a gamble, and directly abandoned Van Persie, who was on his left, and stepped forward to try and tackle the ball at Fly's feet.
Facing this situation, Fly could choose to dribble past Jiranek and then shoot.
But this choice would undoubtedly be a lone wolf move. With a teammate completely unmarked, there was no need for Fly to force a shot himself.
Seeing Jiranek getting closer and closer, Fly made a horizontal pass, sending the ball in front of Van Persie.
Upon realizing this, Jiranek immediately did a split, attempting to intercept Fly's pass in the middle.
But unfortunately... Fly's pass was perfect, the trajectory was just out of reach even with Jiranek stretching his body to the limit.
Van Persie, facing this golden opportunity right in front of him, did not hesitate and gratefully accepted it.
Although Ben Foster had adjusted his position towards Van Persie in time, for the Dutchman, who was at the peak of his shooting ability, it was almost impossible for any goalkeeper to save a shot at this distance without any interference.
With a gentle push of his instep, the ball flew into the net like an arrow leaving a bow.
Arsenal 2:1 Birmingham, they took the lead again!
"GOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!"
"Number 10, Robin van Persie!!!"
"Arsenal broke through Birmingham's defense with a very simple long pass from the back."
"Fly, on the grass spanning the entire half, was like an unstoppable cheetah, pushing forward across Birmingham's entire half with lightning speed."
"Ultimately, facing the awkward choice of Arsenal's 2v1 in the attacking third, Jiranek had no choice but to attempt a gamble defense."
"The final result was also regrettable... Fly gave the wide-open Dutchman a scoring opportunity right in front of goal, and the latter did not let Fly down, putting the ball into the net."
"2:1, Arsenal takes the lead again!"
The 42nd minute of the match.
Fly's revenge finally arrived...
In a midfield scramble, Fly directly dropped back and, while Sebastian Larsson wasn't paying attention, took the ball from his feet.
Larsson discovered that the damn American had launched a sneak attack. Enraged, he directly swept Fly's legs, bringing him down to the ground.
And the moment Fly fell to the ground in "pain," Larsson immediately felt something was wrong...
"Beep--"
A short whistle sounded, and the Main Referee ran directly to Fly, asking him how he was.
Arsène Wenger on the sidelines also immediately went into action, unleashing a barrage of complaints at the Fourth Official...
"Sir, you should have seen it. That despicable Swede swept my player down in a manner almost like 'Chinese kongfu'. This is clearly a malicious foul!"
"This kind of malicious foul should be punished with a red card. Otherwise, if other players imitate this in the future, how can football matches be played?"
Fly himself was fully in character, hearing the Main Referee's question, his face twisted in extreme pain, giving the impression that he had been shot.
"Damn it, what did you do?"
"You Nordic bitch, you Fxxk..."
Wilshere and Varane saw Fly fall and immediately rushed forward to confront Sebastian Larsson.
The Swede, with reason regaining control, quickly argued:
"No... I didn't use much force. This amount of force couldn't possibly knock him down... This American must be diving, I swear..."
Larsson was actually not wrong. Fly did not feel much force from his sweep.
If he hadn't wanted to, he could have completely stabilized his body and moved forward.
But Fly just didn't want to be that "honest"...
Since this damn dog provoked him at the start, once Fly was given an opportunity, he would absolutely not let it go.
The Main Referee, seeing Fly's painful expression, also fell into a dilemma.
Generally, on the stage of a final, the Main Referee must be very cautious when issuing cards.
Especially since Sebastian Larsson had already received a yellow card at the beginning, any subsequent decisions involving him needed to be even more careful.
After all, if a player is sent off early in a final, it will only reduce the suspense and highlights of the final.
Making the process of the final more suspenseful and exciting is also something the Main Referee must consider.
Because football matches are ultimately a form of entertainment and commercial activity. Commercial value and entertainment are essential elements of football matches.
The Main Referee must certainly consider these two points when making decisions.
The current situation is that Arsenal is already leading by one goal. If Birmingham is reduced to ten men, then this final will lose its appeal...
Arsenal was already the dominant side, and now their advantage over the weaker side is even greater. The final result is completely predictable.
However, the Main Referee also remembered the task given to him by the higher-ups, which was that decisions concerning Fly must be fair and just, even biased towards him.
And now, the person who was maliciously fouled was Fly, which gave the Main Referee a headache...
Finally, listening to the intense pressure from the surrounding players, the Main Referee also felt a bit annoyed, so he directly decided to go all the way and send off Sebastian Larsson with a second yellow card, resulting in a red.
When this decision was announced, the stadium erupted into half cheers and half curses.
Arsenal fans were naturally delighted, as Birmingham being reduced to ten men meant their chances of winning the championship were even greater...
On the other hand, Birmingham fans were already shouting various accusations like "black whistle," "referee took money," and "Fly dived."
Fly realized his goal had been achieved, so he slowly stood up with the help of Wilshere, pretending to be in pain.
"Fly... are you okay? You're not faking it again, are you?"
Wilshere leaned in and whispered to Fly.
Fly secretly gave him a look, letting him figure it out for himself.
After all, he knew very well that the high-definition cameras on site could capture his lip movements unless he covered his mouth.
But covering his mouth while talking would make him appear very guilty, confirming that Fly was "diving."
So Fly directly signaled with his eyes, as Wilshere could understand anyway.
Sure enough, the moment Wilshere saw Fly's eyes, he realized that their main man was as tough as ever and completely fine.
Arsène Wenger on the sidelines, seeing Wilshere leaning in to whisper to Fly again, smiled slightly, having become accustomed to this scene.
He knew that his team's most precious ultimate weapon was not seriously injured.
After the match restarted, Arsenal immediately put intense pressure on Birmingham.
In the 46th minute of the match, which was the first minute of first-half stoppage time.
Just as the Main Referee was about to blow the whistle for the end of the first half, the "victim" Fly struck again...
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