Spurs Missed Kane, Missed Penalties, Miss Advancing to League Cup Final
It's gotta be written somewhere -- probably in the budget -- that each nation's football league needs to have a cup competition.
And in these modern times, everything that happens on or near the pitch needs to have a sponsor.
In Jolly Old, that would be Carabao adorning the League Cup.
As a public service for fans outside of England and Thailand, we're please to reveal that it's a popular way to reboot brains.
Just a guess, here, but when every national brand usually associated with football passed on shelling out dosh to be associated with this competition, Clive the Caribao stepped in.
And that's apparently cool with everyone.
Being real, it's also an indication of where the League Cup ranks in English football's priorities these days.
But, anytime London rivals Chelsea and Tottenham have a reason to get together, it's usually worth a couple of hours' attention.
This was the second leg of one semifinal -- in the other, Manchester City squeezed by those Fighting Brewers of Burton Albion, 10-0, on aggregate -- with Spurs protecting a 1-0 first-leg advantage.
The difference in that one was a penalty by none other than Harry Kane:
Putting it mildly, Kane's proclivity from the spot woulda be useful in the second leg.
Unfortunately for Tottenham, dude's still got an angry ankle.
As it was, Chelsea made up that one-goal deficit at Stamford Bridge, took it to extra time, and wound up advancing to the final after a 2-2 aggregate was decided on penalties that they converted and Spurs didn't:
After getting roasted in public by manager Maurizio Sarri for what he saw as an underwhelming effort at Arsenal on the weekend, one would think this result soothed frayed emotions in the Blues' camp.
According to Belgian international Eden Hazard ...
All everyone else knows is it'll be a Blues vs Sky Blues final at Wembley.
If Chelsea can prevail, Sarri will earn his first-ever major trophy.
OK, maybe it's just the League Cup. But it's major to Clive the Caribao.