Fabrice Muamba collapsed after suffering a cardiac arrest during the FA Cup tie at Spurs. Our thoughts and prayers are with Fabrice and his family. When something like this happens the world seems to stop. The game that unites the world, unites us all to support one man. Around the world fans and players showed their support.
Andrea Pirlo dedicated Juventus' 5-0 win over Fiorentina to Fabrice: "We wanted to dedicate our goals to Bolton's player Fabrice Muamba, who is fighting for his life."
"Spurs vs Bolton means nothing! FA Cup means nothing! Football means nothing! Right now Fabrice Muamba is everything!" - @Carroll9Fans
The London Chest Hospital: “As is normal medical practice, Fabrice remains anaesthetised in intensive care and will be for at least 24 hours. His condition continues to be closely monitored by the cardiac specialists at the hospital.”
Tottenham Chairman, Daniel Levy: "We are immensely proud and grateful to the medical teams at both clubs, their response was immediate and professional. Our thanks also to both sets of fans for their support and behaviour. Too often we read the negatives about football and yet last night, at a time of intense emergency and uncertainty, we saw the true humanity and empathy of the footballing family."
Ladies and Gentlemen, Fernando Torres has scored....Twice!
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| photo by Ian Wilson |
The year is 1971. The place, Villa Park. This was the 5th replay of Alvechurch and Oxford City's FA Cup 4th round tie. As Dave Stevens explained in an earlier post, The History of The FA Cup Replay, FA Cup replays would continue before the 90s when a penalty shootout decided the winner after the first replay. It took 11 hours of play over those 6 matches to decide the winner of this historic 4th round tie. The six matches were played at five different grounds over the span of 17 days:
- Saturday November 6th 1971 - FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round Alvechurch 2 - 2 Oxford City
- Tuesday November 9th 1971 - replay (aet) Oxford City 1 - 1 Alvechurch
- Monday November 15th 1971 - 2nd replay at St Andrews, Birmingham City FC (aet) Alvechurch 1 - 1 Oxford City
- Wednesday Nov 17th 1971 - 3rd replay at the Manor Ground, Oxford Un. FC (aet) Alvechurch 0 - 0 Oxford City
- Saturday November 20th 1971 - 4th replay at the Manor Ground, Oxford Un. FC (aet) Alvechurch 0 - 0 Oxford City
- Monday November 22nd 1971 - 5th replay at Villa Park, Aston Villa FC Alvechurch 1 - 0 Oxford City
Bobby Hope scored the winning goal at Villa Park. The goal came in the 588th minute. Jim Rosenthal described the goal: “Shocked that he had been given a chance of saving the attempt, (City goalkeeper) Peter Harris got his right hand to it, but the ball wriggled loose, hit him on the heel, and crawled like a scolded child just over the line.” Unfortunately I could not find a video of this historic goal.
Alvechurch had just won the longest FA Cup tie in history, a record that will never be broken. Two days later they faced Aldershot in the 5th round and would lost 4-2. This reminds me of the longest tennis match in history between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut. Isner defeated Mahut after 11+ hours of play, just like Alvechurch. Also like Alvechurch, Isner would go on to lose to Thiemo de Bakker in the next round.
Lewis Dunk's own goal during Brighton's FA Cup game against Liverpool
- by Fidel Leblanc, writing from Miami, FL
Its no surprise how badly we need an apt striker to partner or back up the absolutely amazing Robin van Persie. He has carried the goal-scoring burden willingly on his back, but there comes a point where one needs to rest with the confidence of your team-mates being able to carry on without you for a couple of games. Marouane Chamakh is bereft of any semblance of confidence when it comes to scoring goals and the fact that a 34-year old Thierry Henry was selected ahead of Park Chu-Young tells you all need to know about our striking options. Van Persie’s performance against Fulham was one which shows how badly in need of a rest he was.
There were many detractors and doubters about this loan move. There were those who said that it was a desperation move on Wenger’s part. Others said that it could tarnish Henry’s legacy if he were humiliatingly ineffective. He’s definitely on track to disprove that second one. In 11 minutes on the pitch, he showed that despite losing some of his physical attributes, namely his blistering pace, the man has still got it. His movement was more clever than Chamakh’s had been from the start. Leeds were forced to defend deeper because of a slower player than the one they had been facing until Henry came on. Such was the impact of the man’s presence.
This is a very smart move from Wenger, who has both solved a problem with depth, albeit temporarily, and galvanized the fans, players, and staff by bringing back a man who can be called nothing less than a true legend.
Welcome back, Thierry. Its like you never left.
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| 1893 FA Cup Final - Wolves vs Everton |
- by Dave Stevens, writing from Las Vegas, NV
In the modern age of multiple competitions and packed schedules, it might seem crazy that in the event of a tie, the game would be scheduled to be replayed at a later date prior to the next round of the competition as opposed to settling it on the night with extra time and penalties as we've come to see in other competitions.
But what some may not realize if they're younger or perhaps newer to the game is that the current format of replaying a tied game with the away team hosting the original home team for the second attempt at finding a winner, with this second game being decided by extra time and the dreaded penalty shootout in the event of another tie is actually a concession to the cluttered fixture list of the modern game.
For the majority of the FA Cup's long history, games were replayed multiple times until a winner was found during the course of a 90 minute regulation match. Until the 90s (91/92 season for the competition proper, 96/97 season for the qualifying rounds) it wasn't uncommon for a game to be replayed 3 or 4 times before a team emerged victorious. Oxford City and Alvechurch hold the dubious honor of having required the most replays to settle matters- after 5 replays - 6 games - 660 minutes of playing time- Alvechurch came away with a hard-fought 1-0 win to progress to the first round proper in 1971.
Replays originally took place just three or four days after the first tie, and when you consider the smaller squad sizes, fewer developed conditioning techniques and the fact that substitutes were not permitted in the competition until 1967, you will no doubt agree players were made of stronger stuff back then!
I can't help but feel this was a better age for the fan- more football, proper games to decide things rather than the lottery of aching legs battling through an extra thirty minutes or roulette from 12 yards... But of course we live in a different time. Think of the spectacle of the final these days - a grand affair. To think that until the year 2000, the final itself and the semi-finals were also replayed in the event of a tie...
So, the question I've been asked in the past is why they elected to keep one replay and not just do away with the format altogether.
The sentimental part of me likes to think it was a concession to tradition, a nod to a different time. But of course the realist has to look at the monetary aspect the replay format offers. Take, for example, last season's match between Notts County and Manchester City in the 4th round. The game was played at Notts County's ground and they managed to get a 1-1 draw. This meant the replay took place at Manchester City's ground and the far greater capacity, higher ticket prices and so on, all meant that the share of the gate receipts County received were a windfall for the struggling club.
Another financial benefit is that there are fewer replays than the round of games itself, and the replays often are the only games played on their respective dates, so there's a higher chance of tv coverage and the resulting payment.
But so as to not end on a sour note, talking about money, instead I'll end with a final motivation for clubs to want the preservation of the replay format: if you're the away team, warning a draw means you can take them back to your place where the "extra man" your home support might give you the edge to progress further in the competition.
And of course, it would be remiss to speak of replays without giving an example of why they are great value. Let's take a moment to remember the replayed 1981 final and this wonder goal from tottenham's Ricky Villa
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| [photo by Adam Bowie] |
- by Hiten Mandalia, writing from West London
An average game which had high expectations failed to live up to expectations. A first Manchester Derby at Wmebley in the FA Cup Semi Final. Man Utd aiming for the treble while Man City were aiming to get to their first final since 1976. On paper, it looked like a mouth-watering game, but in reality, it failed to live up to the hype.
Man Utd had dominated the first 30 minutes at Wembley with Berbatov having two great opportunites within as many minutes. His first chance was saved brilliantly by Joe Hart, who’s still proving why he’s England’s No.1. A minute later, Berbatov saw his shot fly over the bar from two yards out. It was a golden opportunity, and maybe that’s why Ferguson has relegated him to the bench in recent games. Had Rooney or Hernandez, or even Owen been in his posiiton, you could have bet your life that they would have scored. That proved to be Utd’s best chances of the game.
Since then, Man City got back into the game and started finding areas to shoot in.
Man City started the second half strongly, which led to a goal, ten minutes into the second half. A poor goal kick from Van Der Sar instantly pressurised the Utd defence, and then a moment of madness from Carrick allowed Yaya Toure to bust past two defenders and slot the ball past the goalkeeper. The celebrations from the players and the fans said how much that goal meant to them.
Carrick performed well against Chelsea in the champions league, but other then that, he’s been poor this season. It went to show as his mistake led to Man City’s goal. He passed straight to Toure and the the disappointment on Carrick’s face after the goal told the whole story. He hasn’t been the player he was two seasons ago. He’s proving to be a liability to Utd.
Man City then went onto dominate the second half, with Man Utd’s only real chance coming from a well struck Nani free kick, which was well saved by Hart. As much as Scholes will be rememberd for his goals and his passes, he’ll also be remembered for his poor tackling ability. He lashed in at Zabaletta’s leg, which resulted in Zabaletta bleeding and Scholes being sent off for a rational tackle.
Many die hard Utd supporters agreed that as good as Scholes is, his tackling ability is poor and he deserved that red card.
City dashed Utd’s chances of winning a treble, while City aim to win their first trophy since 1976. However, it could be argued that Man Utd’s main priorities lay in the Premiership and Champions League, while Mancini is re-paying the faith and millions of pounds the owners have booted into the club. Man City deserved to progress into the final, where they will face Stoke City, who beat Bolton 5-0.