| Arsenal and Manchester United will play in the FA Cup final For the first time since 1872, when the first football competition on earth, the FA Cup, began, both semi-final matches of the tournament took place outside the homeland of football. Football officials have decided to abandon the tradition, formed during the major reconstruction of Wembley, of holding matches at this stage in the country's largest arenas, Old Trafford and Villa Park, in favor of the beautiful Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The capital of Wales turned out to be happy for Arsenal, which defeated Blackburn (3:0), and Manchester United, which easily dealt with Newcastle - 4:1.
All four coaches of the semi-finalists spoke out against the games in Wales, and Sir Alex Ferguson even, out of old habit, blamed Arsene Wenger for this. Although the Frenchman himself categorically spoke out against the voyage to Wales. Nevertheless, the organizers refused to change their decision and, in the last season before returning to the now 90,000th Wembley, they decided to present a modest gift to Welsh football fans.
Both pairs had their clear favorites. Unable to keep up with Chelsea, which is rushing at full speed towards its first championship title in 50 years, Arsenal and Manchester can only hope for the Cup - both illustrious clubs have long since dropped out of the Champions League, and the complete absence This year's trophies may not be understood by fans.
The Gunners, who recently took the title of the country's most cup-winning team from Chelsea, were opposed by Blackburn. The difference in the class of the opponents was quite clearly visible. The "vagrants" were inferior to the Londoners in almost every respect - except that in rudeness they had no equal. It was in vain that Wenger did not listen to his colleague Jose Mourinho. When the Portuguese recently dubbed Mark Hughes' team the most brutal in the league, everyone criticized him, including the Frenchman. True, it didn’t take long for Wenger’s team to feel the wrath of their opponents. As soon as the referee of the match punished the Lancashire team with “mustard plasters” three times within a few minutes, they immediately calmed down. It was around then that Arsenal opened the scoring. Ivorian Kolo Toure made a slalom pass along the left flank and crossed into the penalty area, where Robert Pires could not miss the empty goal. And the main character of the meeting was 22-year-old Robin van Persie. The Dutch forward entered the field only seven minutes before the final whistle, but in the remaining time he scored twice, finally removing the question of the winner.
The Gunners reached the final for the fourth time in five years. They will be opposed on May 21 at the same beautiful stadium by the current trophy winner Manchester United. Mancunian coach Sir Alex has never lost in the semi-finals of the FA Cup in his long coaching career; how could his team spoil the statistics of their favorite coach? Before the fight, a funny story happened in the ranks of Newcastle. Doctors discovered that 18-year-old midfielder Charles N'Zogbia, who, by the way, according to everyone, should become a future star of French football, had a fractured collarbone. The team left the player at home and flew to Cardiff, but the youngster refused to accept the fate of an observer - he insisted on a second examination, which gave the opposite result. Charles got into his car and in 11 (!) hours covered a huge distance by British standards from the very north of England to the capital of Wales. But Graeme Souness did not appreciate the action of his ward, leaving him in reserve. He released the Frenchman only in the second half, when the fate of the match was actually decided. Manchester United beat Newcastle in all respects - 1:4. Ruud van Nistelrooy, who had finally reached his previous level, scored a double, and Paul Scholes and Cristiano Ronaldo also scored a goal each.
Meanwhile, the next round of the Premier League will take place tomorrow. In the most important, intriguing and unpredictable match, two representatives of the English capital, Chelsea and Arsenal, will compete. Even the optimists from the “red and white” camp don’t believe that the “gunners” are able to close the gap to “Chelsea” by 11 points in the last six rounds, but isn’t there a few examples in the history of football when something like this could be done? Arsene Wenger said roughly the same thing when asked about his team’s chances of repeating last year’s triumph: “We will fight until the very end. As long as we have at least one small chance to become champions.” Arthur PETROSIAN |
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