Owen Hargreaves caught the smackdown from Alex Ferguson after Hargreaves said he still wants to play for England at the World Cup. This kind of goes hand-in-hand with the idea that bowing out of tournaments early gives you more time to focus on league matches that you still have control over. However, I don’t know if this is exactly the same because what we’re seeing is a guy who wants to play for country just being honest about it.
From the category archives:
FA Cup
FA Cup holders Chelsea will play Aston Villa in the semi-finals and Portsmouth will face either Tottenham or Fulham.
Chelsea easily overcame Stoke in their quarter-final tie, while Villa had to come from behind to beat Championship side Reading and reach the last four.
Crisis club Portsmouth will find out their opponents after the replay between Fulham and Spurs on 24 March.
The semi-finals will be played at Wembley on Saturday, 10 April and Sunday, 11 April.
FA Cup 6th Round Replay
24 March Spurs v Fulham – Spurs v Fulham FA Cup Replay Tickets
It is no longer a big surprise when Liverpool looses, considering they have lost 10 of their last 20 games.
But for a side already out of the Champions League and the title race, the FA Cup promised the best chance for silverware this season for Liverpool fans.
To add injury to insult for Rafa Benitez, he saw lost both Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres to injuries during the first half.
This is why the FA Cup is the best domestic club tournament in the world. It gives smaller clubs the opportunity to play the big teams, and to sometimes upset them.
Jermaine Beckford’s first-half goal gave third-tier Leeds United a 1-0 victory over bitter rivals Manchester united as Sir Alex Ferguson suffered his first FA Cup third-round defeat since taking the reins at Man United in 1986.
Beckford caused Wes Brown and Jonny Evans problems all game, and was rewarded when he latched onto Johnny Howson’s long pass in the first half and steered his shot across Tomasz Kuszczak.
photo credit: stella_gonzales2003
Jamie Carragher has now called for “character” to be shown in Anfield after another disappointing loss by the Reds this weekend. Like the title says, I don’t mean to harp on Liverpool but this is a club that not too many years ago won the Champion’s League in a shootout and now they can’t seem to buy a goal.
Liverpool is in 7th in the Premier League and they are double-digit points behind Chelsea (who is in first place.)
Chelsea recovered from conceding the quickest goal in the 128-year history of the FA Cup final to overcome Everton 2-1, strikes from Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard earning a fifth success for the London club.
The final has not seen a major upset since 1995, when Everton beat Manchester United 1-0 to claim their last piece of silverware, but the possibility of an upset improved greatly when Louis Saha scored after just 25 seconds at Wembley. Chelsea, under Guus Hiddink for the last time before he returns to his role as Russia coach, battled back, though, and claimed the trophy for the second time in three years with a goal in either half.
Tim Howard saved two spot-kicks as Everton ended Manchester United’s hopes of a quintuple of trophies, winning 4-2 on penalties after a goalless two hours at Wembley to reach their first FA Cup final since overcoming the Red Devils in the 1995 showpiece.
Tim Cahill missed first for Everton before Howard saved Dimitar Berbatov’s effort. The U.S. goalkeeper then did likewise from Rio Ferdinand, after Leighton Baines had scored, and both sides converted their subsequent kicks to leave Phil Jagielka with the honour of deciding the tie in favour of the Merseysiders.
Didier Drogba’s strike six minutes from time earned Chelsea a 2-1 victory against London rivals Arsenal in the first FA Cup semi-final at Wembley and ended the Gunners’ hopes of a first domestic trophy since 2005.
Having prevented Arsenal from falling behind early on when he raced back to clear Drogba’s goal-bound header, Kieran Gibbs teed up the opener for Theo Walcott on 18 minutes, floating a ball to the far post for the England striker to place a side-foot volley across Petr Čech. Chelsea had played their part in an open contest, though, and equalised a quarter of an hour later when Florent Malouda collected Frank Lampard’s raking crossfield pass, cut inside Emmanuel Eboué and beat Łukasz Fabiański at his near post. The pace was unrelenting and moments later Nicolas Anelka capitalised on Abou Diaby’s hesitancy and curled a shot against the post.
Arsenal came from behind to beat Hull City 2-1 at the Emirates and book an FA Cup semi-final date with Chelsea at Wembley. - Buy Arsenal – Chelsea Tickets
Furious Hull manager Phil Brown launched a blistering attack on referee Mike Riley as he claimed that Hull were robbed of their Wembley dream. The Tigers boss was livid after William Gallas headed an 84th-minute winner from a clearly offside position.
Yet linesman Andy Garratt, who had earlier ruled out a Nick Barmby effort for a much more marginal decision, kept his flag down.
Brown fumed:
Manchester United will face Everton in the FA Cup semi-finals next month. The other last-four tie will see Chelsea take on the winners of the one remaining quarter-final, Arsenal v Hull. Both games will take place at Wembley, one on April 18 and the other the following day.
The United-Everton tie will be a repeat of the 1995 final in which the Toffees recorded a shock 1-0 win thanks to a Paul Rideout goal. However, they have beaten United just once since that game 14 years ago. - Buy Manchester United – Everton Tickets
