FA Cup 6^th Round Review

Of course, there were only eight teams remaining in the FA Cup coming into Saturday’s matches and after this weekend’s action that number now sits at four. There were two cracking games and two fairly dull ones so here is what happened.

Birmingham 2-3 Bolton

Bolton continued their stretch of great games with a thriller at St. Andrews in Birmingham. Johan Elmander got the start over Danny Sturridge because Sturridge has already played with Chelsea in the Cup. Not only did Elmander got the start but also the opening goal in this one in the 21’ minute. Birmingham got the leveler through Cameron Jerome to make the halftime score 1-1. The score would remain that way until Kevin Davies was brought down in the box and then converted from the penalty spot to give Bolton the lead. It would again evaporate, however, when Kevin Phillips scored from the edge of the box on a falling down strike that was out of the keeper’s reach with ten minutes to play. Chung-Yong Lee had come on for Ivan Klasnic earlier in the second half and it would prove to be a master stroke by Owen Coyle as Lee headed home the winner in the 90’ minute to put Bolton in the semi-finals.

Manchester United 2-0 Arsenal

Two weeks ago Arsenal were still in all four competitions that they started in and after this loss they are only in one. They had the look of a team that had had some losses in the past few games, a team that didn’t totally believe anymore. United started Chicharito over Dimitar Berbatov again and the Da Silva twins, Fabio and Rafael, were playing as virtual wingers. The home side took the lead on a Fabio goal in the 28’ minute after a great build up including the two strikers. Wayne Rooney was dropping deep into the midfield to retrieve the ball all afternoon and was rewarded for his work rate when he scored on a header from a tight angle to double United’s lead early in the second half. It would stay that way the rest of the match and Arsenal couldn’t wait to get out of there. The Gunners did outshoot the Red Devils in the match but many of them came from outside the box after a string of passes that couldn’t break through. Also, Johan Djorou was injured to add insult to injury and he may be out for the season. I still believe Arsenal can win the Premier League title but it will take a very strong mental effort to do so.

 Stoke City 2-1 West Ham

The early game on Sunday saw two more Premier League clubs meet in what would turn out to be a pretty open game. Both teams looked hungry early but it was, what else, but a Rory Delap long thrown in that Robert Huth connected on to give Stoke the lead, typical. West Ham would fight back and Scotty Parker led a feisty bunch of Hammers who got into it with the Stoke backline a time or two. The pressure would pay off as Frederic Piquionne scored on the half hour mark. Early in the second half Stoke were given a soft penalty but Matthew Etherington’s attempt was saved by Robert Green. Stoke started to look the more likely to score and they were given a free kick from about 30 yards out that was blocked by Carlton Cole, but unfortunately for West Ham, it was with his hand. The ball was moved up to just outside the box and Danny Higginbotham’s low free kick was too close for Green to handle and Stoke had the lead. With rugged defending and long clearances, Stoke hung on to said lead to earn a place in the FA Cup semi-finals.

Manchester City 1-0 Reading

In what was probably the dullest of the four weekend matches, Man City did the job and advanced to the last four of the competition.  It wasn’t pretty in the first half and Reading did a decent job defending but City’s finishing was poor. They started to look better in the second half, however, and the goal finally came, oddly enough, through Micah Richards. It was a great header to be fair to the defender and it came from a David Silva corner in the 74’ minute. City held on for a 1-0 win and avoided a dreaded replay, which I’m sure they would not want with Chelsea coming up in the league next week.

So the English version of the Final Four is set and it is Manchester United v. Manchester City and Bolton v. Stoke City. The two matches will be played at Wembley next month.