Chapter 91: FA Cup Final [6]

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. Max sank to his knees, arms raised, soaked in sweat and blood but victorious, the roar of the Crawley faithful fueling his fire. His teammates swarmed him, faces alight with unbridled joy and relief. Around him, the air was electric, this was more than a goal, it was a statement. Chelsea’s players were not done yet. In those desperate final moments, they launched a furious counterattack. Lampard drove forward with fierce determination, his passes sharp, his runs relentless. Drogba fought tooth and nail, towering over defenders, begging for one last chance. The ball whipped into the box, but Crawley’s defense stood tall, bodies thrown on the line, blocks made in inches. Čech’s eyes darted, searching for openings as Crawley’s men held firm. Max, still limping but fearless, tracked back to cover, embodying the fight Crawley had shown all match. The seconds ticked down, Chelsea pushing harder, voices screaming from the stands, but Crawley’s resolve was steel. Niels barked instructions from the sideline, every player locked in a battle of wills. The tension was suffocating, hearts pounding in unison with the crowd’s breathless silence. Then...finally The referee’s whistle pierced the air. Fulltime: Crawley Town 2-1 Chelsea The stadium erupted but it was a roar split in two. The Crawleys faithful screamed in pure joy, their chants crashing like thunder: "Craw-ley! Craw-ley! Craw-ley!" Scarves waved wildly, tears streaming down faces lit with joy and disbelief. Every corner of the red section shook with the sheer force of their celebration. Meanwhile, the Chelsea fans were frozen caught in stunned silence at first, their cheers strangled by shock. Then, disbelief rippled through their ranks like a cold wave. Mouths hung open, eyes wide, some clutching their heads in frustration, others whispering, unable to grasp what had just happened. The mighty blue tide was stunned, their confident roar swallowed by the sudden silence of a dream slipping away. Max, still on his knees, was lifted by his teammates, a hero crowned in red and fire. His chest heaved, eyes burning, arms thrown around by swarming teammates Thiago, Luka, Jamal all of them shouting, laughing, crying. Niels clenched his fists on the sideline, eyes blazing, tears threatening but pride flooding every inch of him. His voice, cracked and raw from shouting all night, thundered above the chaos: "YES, LADS! WE DID IT! THIS IS OURS!" He spun toward the bench, arms raised to the sky, face lit with disbelief and pure, defiant joy. The staff leapt into each other’s arms. Milan was on his knees, fists to the ground, shouting, "CRAWLEY!" The red corner responded in kind a deafening wall of sound, a wave of triumph shaking Wembley to its core. It wasn’t just celebration. It was eruption. Years of struggle breaking loose in one red-hot roar. A young girl waved a sign high above her head, her hands trembling: "From League Two to Legends." tears streaked her cheeks as the red corner roared louder than ever. Grown men sobbed, clutching each other, scarves tangled in fists. Kids danced in the aisles, faces painted, voices cracking from hours of screaming. Mothers, fathers, lifelong fans, they all knew what they’d just witnessed. Wembley had witnessed greatness before, but never like this. Not from Crawley. Not from a team that wasn’t supposed to be here. A club from the fourth tier of English football, written off before the first whistle, dismissed by pundits, mocked by giants. A team without stars, without resources, but with heart more heart than anyone knew what to do with. Yet here they stood. League Two fighters who just got promoted to league one, now towering on football’s grandest stage. Red shirts soaked in sweat and tears. Faces that once filled conference rooms and lower-league grounds now frozen in disbelief, pride, and overwhelming joy. In the stands, strangers hugged like old friends, united in a story they never thought they’d see unfold. Fathers lifted their children onto their shoulders, pointing to the pitch with trembling fingers. "Remember this," they said, voices thick. "You’ll never see anything like it again." Chelsea’s players stood frozen, motionless statues on the lush Wembley grass. Their faces were etched with disbelief, frustration, and the hollow shock of dreams shattered in an instant. Drogba stared at the turf, hands on hips, sweat dripping from his brow. Lampard knelt, shaking his head slowly, trying to process the unthinkable. Čech looked to the sky, arms outstretched, as if searching for answers in the floodlights. They had thrown everything forward every ounce of strength, every tactic, every hope and still, it hadn’t been enough. The dream they had chased all season, the one they were supposed to claim, had slipped through their fingers in the final, cruel seconds. A script rewritten by Crawley, a team no one had believed in except themselves. And now, as the red half of Wembley erupted into wild celebration, Chelsea stood stunned, staring into a future suddenly emptied of glory. Max, hands on knees, chest rising in ragged gasps, looked up at the whirl of red above him. His teary eyes met Niels on the sideline. A nod passed between them no need for words. Tonight, all the sacrifice, pain, and belief had led to this. Thiago sank to his calves beside Max, head bowed, mind spinning. He finally dared to smile, the weight of what they’d done lifting his soul. Niels, arms pumping, clapped his bench into a frenzy each member shouting, embracing. "We did it!" he roared. "We fucking did it!" In the distance, Milan and Ollie danced and laughed, the same shock and relief carving lines on their faces. The red corner chants still pulsed like electricity through their blood. Chelsea gathered in a tight circle, heads bowed, hands on hips. Lampard, nostrils flaring, swallowed hard. "Could’ve been us," he muttered. Drogba put a hand on his shoulder, words failing but eyes speaking volumes. Čech stooped by the goal line, gloves clenched. He gazed down the tunnel, where the future suddenly loomed uncertain and unclaimed. Crawley had done more than win a match. They had shattered expectations, rewritten narratives, and taken Wembley by storm. Their legend had begun, not with a trophy lift, but with the roar of a team that refused to fade. Crawley had done the impossible. History had been made. [Author Note: To all the Chelsea fans, I know it’s pretty unrealistic for a League Two team to beat Chelsea. But I wanted to make the story exciting, emotional, and fun to follow. Thanks for understanding, it’s all about the passion of football.]