After a series of stirring upsets this weekend, your FA Cup final four are.
Portsmouth
West Bromwich Albion
Cardiff City and
Barnsley
The 9th place team in the Premier League and three teams who are currently 4th, 14th, and 19th the Championship (aka Second Division).
Barnsley continued their Cinderella season by beating Chelsea 1-0 (after beating Liverpool a couple of weeks ago) and Portsmouth followed up by knocking off Manchester United 1-0. Then Cardiff City (who aren't even from England!) beat Middlesborough 2-0 today to continue the fairytale weekend. It was a great weekend for giant killers.
The last cup final that didn't have one of the EPL's "big four" (Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, or Chelsea) was in 1991, but none of those teams will be there this year. It's been the year of minnows and winnows (winnows?) in English soccer. This is why the FA Cup is so cool!
2 comments:
I watched that W. Bromwich/Bristol Rovers match at about 1AM on Monday (The Fox Soccer Channel is a godsend when you can't sleep!) and it was a blast. All the FA Cup matches i've seen this year have been scrappy and intense--great stuff. I wouldn't mind seeing more of W. Bromwich--they were an exciting bunch. Where the hell is West Bromwich anyway?
West Bromwich is in the West Midlands near Birmingham. Their local rivalries are Aston Villa and Birmingham City. I watched their game against Bristol without knowing anything about either side, and was enthralled. Bristol's goalkeeper couldn't stop anything in the second half.
I'd love to see a Bromwich/Barnsley cup final. WBA drew Portsmouth in the semifinals, so they have their work cut out for them to make it to the finals.
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