The Carling Cup Final

Well it has been long overdue that one ought to have written on the Carling Cup Final between Arsenal FC and Birmingham City.
Prior to this match, many soccer followers including the writer had given the game to Arsenal FC. They thought that the match will just be an easy ride for Arsenal to capture the Carling Cup Trophy but this was not to be the case. All of us who are current in knowing the latest about soccer know the scores. The match ended 2-1 in favour of Birmingham City. Therefore Arsenal is yet to break the jinx of not winning a trophy since 2005.
From the start of that game, Birmingham City did not hide their desire to win the trophy. So they stunned Arsenal by scoring the first goal of the game. They enjoyed this lead until Van Persie equalized for Arsenal some few minutes before half-time.
Then came the second half. As usual, Arsenal kept piling up the pressure on Birmingham. Credit must be given to the Birmingham City goalkeeper who prevented Arsenal from scoring more goals. Nevertheless Arsenal's pressure on Birmingham almost paid off when Nasri's shot hit the cross-bar.
But not long after this Birmingham came out of their shell and started to pester Arsenal's defense. A striker of Birmingham also saw his shot hitting the upright.
Then came the dying minutes when the unexpected happened. The manager of Birmingham brought in Obafemi Martins in place of one of the strikers. About 3 minutes to the end of the game, Obafemi Martins taking advantage of the misunderstanding between the Arsenal goalkeeper and one of the central defenders of Arsenal scored Birmingham's winning goal and that was it.
From Arsenal's point of view, the Carling Cup was a glorious chance to win a trophy which was thrown to the winds. The only competition in which they have a chance to win a trophy is the English Premier League (EPL). If they win all their remaining games in the EPL, they will be crowned champions. But to do this they must overcome 2 strong opponents which are Man U and Liverpool FC. How they can achieve this remains to be seen.
Then to every Arsenal fan, the Carling Cup was an opportunity to win a trophy which was wasted.