I’ve started looking forward to what may be the most eagerly-anticipated FA Cup Final in recent history: Cardiff vs Portsmouth on 17 May 2008. Mmmm….yum, the thought of it really gets me excited.
There is, however, something to be said about the state of the FA Cup. Sadly, it is about time the FA reviews the whole structure of the competition. Only the blindly sentimental will not see that the top Premier League teams have placed their priorities firmly on the league and Europe, and that the FA Cup has fallen drastically in esteem. There are UEFA Cup places to fight for, lucrative Champions League progression, and simply staying in the Premier League. The Carling Cup’s now for the reserves and the FA Cup for the second stringers. [One suggestion: get rid of the Carling Cup, raise the prize money for the FA Cup!]
Alas, what we have right now therefore is that the only teams who bother about the FA Cup are those in the Premier League who don’t have preoccupations with: (a) winning the league, (b) Europe and (c) staying afloat. In other words, Portsmouth. Hats off to them that their best hope for silverware ever is indeed the FA Cup, but that only means that only the mid-table dwellers who will continue to pay attention in the years to come.
So a word to the FA: start thinking about a real seeding system man! You’ve already got a pathetic prize money, so what the (neutral) fans are looking for are entertaining games between the big names, and with the lesser names – not games between the lesser names, deep into the competition. Can you imagine Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal playing in the third round of Wimbledon? Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in the second round of the World Matchplay? Even with seedings, you’ll still have the occasional non-seeded teams getting through, so we’ll lose no excitement there.
So I’ll be tuning out of the FA Cup for the first time in a long while – though I may watch the last couple of minutes to see Cardiff pull it off against crap Pompey. I think there’s gonna be more excitement in the Championship play-offs. Definitely more at stake there, and it should also bring us nicely into the first week of June and EURO 2008:
Saturday, 10 May 2008
Crystal Palace v Bristol City, Play-Offs Semi-Final, L1, 12:15
Sunday, 11 May 2008
Watford v Hull, Play-Offs Semi-Final, L1, 12:00
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Bristol City v Crystal Palace, Play-Offs Semi-Final, L2, 19:45
Wednesday, 14 May 2008
Hull v Watford, Play-Offs Semi-Final, L2, 19:45
Saturday, 24 May 2008
Winners 3rd v 6th v Winners 4th v 5th, Play-Offs Final, 15:00
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