Monday, March 10, 2008

Unlikely Hot Favourites

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This year's FA Cup is looking set to be history in the making, as the only English Premier League team left in the tournament is Portsmouth, who knocked out hot favourites Manchester United on Saturday, thanks to a 78th minute penalty from Sulley Muntari.

Pompey not only knocked out the 11-time winners of the competition, but stole the hot favourites title from them as well, but the lesser clubs which remain should never be underestimated, as they have demonstrated the ability to knock out top flight teams like Liverpool, Chelsea and Middlesbrough.

The beauty of the FA Cup is definitely in the possibility of the bigger clubs being eliminated by the smaller clubs. This year's competition is living up to that beauty with so many upsets for the Premier League and so much joy for the lower league teams.

The first team to make fans sit up and take notice are non-leaguers Havant & Waterlooeville F.C., who beat League One side Swansea City 4-2 in a 3rd Round replay after initially drawing 1-1, and set up a 4th Round tie with Liverpool, shockingly going 2-0 up before going down 5-2.

The first EPL teams to be killed off were Derby County going out 4-1 to Preston North End (Championship), and Manchester City downed 2-1 by Sheffield United (Championship).

A bigger surprise was in store for the EPL fans as Liverpool were knocked out 2-1 by The Championship's Barnsley. Barnsley subsequently went on to knock out Chelsea 1-0 in the 6th Round to reach the Semi-Finals.

The remaining clubs who have qualified for the FA Cup Semi-Finals are Portsmouth and Cardiff City, who killed off Middlesbrough with two early goals within 25 minutes of the game which ended earlier this evening.

The only remaining League One side, Bristol Rovers, have avoided all top level opposition in their run to the 6th Round. They will face Championship side West Bromwich Albion, who are this close to repeating its unique feat of 1930/1931, when they won the FA Cup and promotion to the top flight in the same season, the only team to do so yet.

Out of all the teams which remain in the competition, only the Albion have tasted FA Cup glory more than once, winning the competition 5 times between 1888 and 1968.

The final 6th Round match will be played in just a few moments, and more updates on the FA Cup and early Semi-Final thoughts will come later.

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