Toure rocket launches new era for Man City

At the start of the season, Manchester City coach Robert Mancini had been dismissed as a dreamer. The Italian had clearly stated that the club would be chasing two things: a place in the top four and the FA cup. Many had laughed then, but the manner in which the Italian has managed to make the Blues come good will have earned him many admirers as well. Now, with some silverware finally in their hands, City supporters will believe that their club has the potential to do so much better next season. The club has already indicated that they will be spending some big bucks in the transfer market so at least some big players will be rubbing their hands with glee. For now, though, next season is a long way off. And with all of Manchester partying away, it’s doubtful anything constructive will be done over the next few days. But no one’s going to complain after all, Yaya Toure’s ferocious shot sealed a deserved 1-0 win over Stoke City in the FA Cup final on Saturday and ended a 35-year wait for a trophy, Reuters reports. On the day Manchester United won a record 19th league title, City fans can finally hold their heads high at the end of a week in which they also secured a place in the Champions League qualifiers for the first time. City’s fifth FA Cup and first since 1969 was the first tangible reward for Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Al Nahyan, who bought the club in 2008 and has spent around 300 million pounds on new players. [caption id=“attachment_9939” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Manchester City skipper Carlos Tevez was exceptional. AFP/Andrew Yates”]  [/caption] “It means a lot to the players but even more to the fans,” midfielder Patrick Vieira told ITV. “They have been waiting a long time for this. There has been a lot of pressure on this team. It’s a really fantastic season for us.” The meeting of arguably the richest club in world soccer and one who have just one League Cup in well over a century of mediocrity summed up the romance of the Cup and helped produce a wonderful atmosphere. Appearing in their first final after thrashing Bolton Wanderers 5-0 in their semi, Stoke launched an attack from kick-off but then it was generally one-way traffic in the opposite direction. Thomas Sorensen made two diving saves to keep out shots from Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli, Toure sent a 30-metre screamer whistling inches past a post and David Silva bounced a volley over the bar as City took total control. Stoke were unrecogisable from the team who thrashed Bolton Wanderers 5-0 on the same ground to reach the final for the first time and when they finally got sight of goal after 62 minutes City keeper Joe Hart blocked Kenwyne Jones’s mis-hit close-range shot after a long ball caught out the City defence. It proved a costly miss as City quickly regained control and eventually found a way through. After a neat backheel by Balotelli and a half-cleared Silva shot the ball fell to Toure 12 metres out. The mighty Ivorian, who also scored the goal which knocked out Manchester United in the semi-finals, put all his considerable power into a sweetly-struck half-volley and the result was surely one of the hardest shots to grace any of the 130 finals in the world’s oldest cup competition. Stoke were unable to find a response and will have to settle for a place in the Europa League, a new adventure in itself. “It’s so disappointing. As a team we never really created any flowing play, we didn’t hold the ball up well,” Sorensen said. “The better team won and we didn’t play well.” City’s long-suffering fans have their eyes on bigger things and will hope Saturday’s success and their top-four finish are merely the launchpad for a new golden era to surpass their brief spell in the limelight more than 40 years ago. “This is the start. This is the most important one,” City defender Micah Richards told ITV as the club’s adopted anthem “Blue Moon” rolled down from the Wembley stands. “We’ll spend in the summer and we’ll get bigger each year.” With inputs from Reuters