Even though United's momentum had risen, that alone was not enough to turn the match around.
Momentum only improves confidence and condition, it does not directly increase skill.
And Ho-young was still strong.
[The ball goes up into the air! Ho-young charges after it!]
[Michael Carrick is tracking him!]
From the start of the match until now, City had consistently been winning the aerial battles.
That was thanks to Ho-young roaming all over the pitch and crazily winning aerial balls.
He was getting full value from Crushing Header (SU), the result of combining the Aerial Bomber's Heading (U) he had acquired from Andy Carroll with his existing Peerless Heading (S).
And this time was no different.
Tap!
[Once again, Ho-young wins the aerial ball. He lays it off accurately to the back. Carlos Tevez receives it and turns to the left.]
[Ah, Park Ji-sung is on him!!]
As if he had been waiting for it, Park Ji-sung appeared and stuck a foot out.
[Park Ji-sung cuts it out cleanly. The ball goes to United.]
[That was intelligent play. He read exactly what Tevez was going to do next.]
Carlos Tevez had been a United player before joining City.
And Park Ji-sung, who had been very close with him, knew very well the kind of play he preferred.
That was one of the reasons Ferguson had brought Park Ji-sung on.
In other words, Tevez's presence was actually becoming poison for Manchester City.
[Mind games, substitutions, tactics, tailored responses. You could say Ferguson has won in every area.]
[People say modern football is a manager's game, and Ferguson is showing that clearly right now. He really is a master.]
In football, the manager's role is absolute.
That is especially true in a match this big.
That was also why Ferguson had been so confident against Manchester City.
[Yaya Touré threads it through, Ferdinand steps up and cuts it out! Park Ji-sung clears it safely!]
United's defending had changed beyond recognition.
Balls played from City's midfield line into the forward line were being cut out again and again.
As Ho-young read the flow and searched for weaknesses, he had no choice but to change the route of attack.
[This time Ho-young carries the ball himself. He exchanges a one-two with David Silva on the right.]
[Ho-young breaks into the second line! And here comes Michael Carrick with a tackle from behind!]
[Ah, he avoided it!]
[But Ferdinand is charging in right in front of him!]
[Ahhh, a Marseille turn! He beats him too! Ho-young keeps going!]
[Now Park Ji-sung gets tight to him. He grabs the shirt and slows him down!]
A spectacular war broke out around Ho-young.
Every player kept a close eye on Ho-young and occupied the space around him.
Bang!
The moment Park Ji-sung joined the physical challenge and was sent flying helplessly.
[Wayne Rooney follows with a tackle!]
[But Ho-young keeps going! He's like a tank!!]
[But now John O'Shea steps in.]
[And now Ferdinand and Michael Carrick join in! Park Ji-sung is chasing back as well!]
Bang!
A four-way collision.
That was the limit.
But even that was enough.
Because so many players were focused only on Ho-young, huge gaps had opened up all over the pitch.
At that exact moment, Ho-young's pass went forward.
[A piercing through ball from Ho-young!]
[Tevez runs onto it!]
A perfect one-on-one chance.
But United's iron-wall defender Vidić tracked back at frightening speed and produced excellent defending.
"Hup!"
"Ghk!"
Man-marking worthy of his nickname, Wall-dić.
Tevez managed to force a shot, but it was stopped all too easily.
"Ahhh! Damn it! Damn it!"
[Manchester United escape the danger! Van der Sar gathers it safely. Vidić did brilliantly to block the shooting angle.]
[Ah, I have no words. It was like watching a horde of zombies trying to stop a superhero. That was a scene that will go down in history.]
Something unprecedented was happening.
About five players were taking turns clinging to him relentlessly.
From a distance, it almost looked like a group assault.
United no longer had any pride left to protect.
Even if it left gaps everywhere else, they had to stop Ho-young's dribble first.
And yet, absurdly enough, even using that method, they had still allowed Ho-young to dribble 30 meters.
[He really is a monster.]
[I said earlier that modern football is a manager's game, but it seems there is one exception after all.]
Even though Ho-young was fighting hard, United kept stopping him by the finest of margins and refused to allow a decisive chance.
Their level of play had improved dramatically compared to the first half.
Ferguson's halftime talk had clearly worked.
"Glory glory Man United~!"
United's fans were growing louder as well.
"Ooooooh!"
"Good! Keep pushing like this!"
"Glory glory Man United~!!"
People were going wild as hope slowly rose.
On the other hand, a completely different atmosphere was flowing through Manchester City.
[Manchester City are looking worse than they did in the first half. The players look very tense.]
[That's right. A few of them look like they have other things on their minds when they should be fully focused. At times like this, the captain needs to lead the players.]
They were wavering.
There were several reasons, but the biggest one was what had happened in the dressing room at halftime.
Robinho, who had not played in the first half, had finally exploded in the dressing room, and that had dragged the team's atmosphere down this far.
In other words, Ferguson's media play could be said to have worked.
A complete mess.
The poor atmosphere eventually began to interfere with the players' link-up play.
Mancini tried to change the mood by bringing on Zabaleta for the tired Micah Richards, but it was not easy to reverse the momentum once it had tilted so far to one side.
This is difficult.
Ho-young could feel it clearly.
They were dancing in the palm of Ferguson's hand.
He keeps changing the flow artificially.
So that Ho-young could not read the flow, Ferguson was constantly shouting and directly conducting the match in real time.
It would not have been an exaggeration to say the match was a battle between Ferguson and Ho-young.
And in the end, they both created results.
[Michael Carrick plays it deep to the left. Ryan Giggs drives onto it.]
[Ah, Zabaleta lost him!]
[Cross sent into the middle!]
Ryan Giggs' trademark left-footed cross.
Dimitar Berbatov, master of the first touch, ran onto it and brought the cross under control with the top of his foot.
It looked like the graceful dance of a swan.
And his finishing was superb as well.
Had he not already scored 25 league goals this season?
Swish!
United's equalizer came just like that.
It was around the 75th minute of the second half.
[Gooooooal! Berbatov scores his 26th of the season!]
[Manchester United finally find the equalizer. Ryan Giggs' fantastic left-footed cross stood out. And Berbatov's first touch goes without saying.]
[No doubt about it. They are world-class players who can create chances at any moment. Incredible. At this rate, United will win the title.]
A world-class cross.
Giggs' left-footed delivery was so good it could represent the Premier League itself.
His talent showed exactly that.
[Ryan Giggs]
[Possessed Talents: Magician of the Left Foot (T), Magician's Left-Footed Cross (SU), Astonishing Dribbling (SS-), Brilliant Tactical Understanding (S+), Creative Individual Skills (A+3), (More...)]
(You can acquire one talent if the conditions are met.)
(If you acquire a T-grade title, you can gain part of its senses. However, you must be over 18 years old to acquire it.)
(Talents of S grade or higher can only be acquired after achieving the hidden conditions.)
(Condition 1: Win the match)
(Condition 2: Do not concede 2 goals or more in the match)
(Condition 3: Score from a cross)
(Hidden condition: Opens when you acquire at least 1 talent)
Paul Scholes, sitting on the bench, still could not be acquired because of the condition involving doing something as a United player, but thankfully Giggs' talent was possible.
Still, it was little more than a pie in the sky.
The momentum had completely swung toward United, and the misfortune did not end there.
It was only 3 minutes later.
Tweet!
"Kraaagh!"
As City grew desperate and forced the attack, an accident happened.
It was a collision between Carlos Tevez and Nemanja Vidić.
[Their legs got tangled. It looks like they both hit each other.]
[It seems to be the area he injured before. Vidić doesn't look good either.]
A substitution was unavoidable.
Nemanja Vidić, who had suffered a serious injury, was immediately replaced by Jonny Evans.
Meanwhile, City could not make up their minds about their final substitution card.
Mancini was worried.
There were 10 minutes left.
If they were going to settle the match in that time, it was only right to bring on an attacker.
But if he was to put someone into the forward spot...
Only Robinho...
It seemed the best option was to move Ho-young further up and place Shaun Wright-Phillips on the wing.
But right then.
Ho-young hurried over to the bench and quietly spoke.
"Please put Robinho in on the left wing."
"What? You'd be better off asking for Shaun Wright-Phillips."
"No. There isn't much time. Right now, we need a technician who can beat the press. We need to create one clear chance."
"That may be true, but..."
"I'll go up and finish it."
"!"
A completely unexpected remark.
There was something Ho-young had learned while playing football.
If you get through a crisis well, it can become the best possible opportunity.
So he knew.
If used properly now, the best card was Robinho.
And a moment later.
[In the end, Robinho is coming on. It's been quite a while.]
[He hasn't played in matches for a while, so he must be lacking match sharpness.]
He did come on, but anyone could see that Robinho looked short on confidence.
But before the match restarted, one sentence from Ho-young slightly changed his attitude.
"Don't pay attention to Mancini, the media, or what other people think. You need to play football, not let other people drag you around. That's not the football you enjoy. Think about what is real, what you are best at, and what you love the most."
It was advice Cha Bum-kun had given Ho-young long ago.
And whether that sincerity truly got through, as if by magic, Robinho's performance slowly began to come alive.
Tap.
Tap!
"Robinho! Keep your eyes on the right! Silva's going to break through!"
In the middle, Ronaldinho took charge of the link-up and orchestrated the attack, while on the right,
Robinho handled the flank playmaking and targeted John O'Shea and Jonny Evans relentlessly.
Tap, tap.
It even seemed as though the team's chemistry was slowly coming together as well.
Of course, a person was not going to change completely just because of a few words.
Still, this was enough.
Because at the center of it all stood Ho-young, their dependable pillar.
Any other shortcomings could simply be forced into place through ability.
That was the kind of leadership Ho-young pursued.
And then, around the 85th minute of the second half.
[David Silva squares up against Evra and holds it up.]
[He looks at the busy-moving Ho-young up front! Is he going to send it in right away!]
No, David Silva's choice was not the center, but the opposite flank.
Boom!
[Left side, Robinho drives in. Robinho traps the ball safely! He's up against John O'Shea!]
[Ah, he beats him!!]
That was when Robinho sent in the cross.
Boom!
It was hardly a decisive chance, because United's defense had already formed up tightly.
On top of that, the quality of the cross was not good, so it did not look very threatening.
And yet.
[Ho-young, he runs! Ho-young! Aerial ball!]
Ho-young had a gift for making every situation dangerous.
In that instant, Ho-young used his outstanding dynamic vision to measure the distance to the ball perfectly as he jumped.
At the same time, Vidić and Ferdinand closed in, but the two of them were still not enough.
And the moment Ho-young's head met the ball.
Swish!
87th minute.
The comeback goal that turned the match around burst forth.
[Gooooooal!]
[It's in! Manchester City climb back to first place in the league!!]
Taken back.
United, now desperate, quickly poured forward in attack, but Manchester City were not fools who would collapse so easily.
All 10 outfield players joined the defense and successfully held out without conceding until the end.
It was the 95th minute of the second half.
Tweet!
Manchester City's Premier League title.
It was the moment a miracle happened.
(To be continued.)