F.A Cup Quarter-Final Time

Here We Go...
By Chris O'Brien
March 11 2005

2 wins from the Millennium Stadium, it's the Cup quarter-finals. A place in Cardiff's showpiece final is all the eight teams left in the great competition will be thinking about as they do battle this weekend. Long live the F.A Challenge Cup.

The Football Association can try and ruin the great competition, some can claim it means nothing anymore, but to many football fans up and down Great Britain the F.A Challenge Cup is the greatest competition in the world. It always will be. With the league slipping away, and European dreams ending in Milan, a 12th F.A Cup victory looks like being the only tonic for the Red Army in a season which could end without silverware.

This weekend, the quarter-finals are upon us. It's getting really serious now. The last eight, and every club left in the hat have aspirations that only extend to winning the competition. Passions will run high in the four ties over the weekend, with a place in Cardiff all that matters to supporters watching the games up and down the country.

Southampton v. Manchester United
Bolton Wanderers v. Arsenal
Newcastle United v. Spurs
Blackburn Rovers v. Leicester City

From Backwell United FC's Extra Preliminary Round victory over Odd Down FC watched by just 28 supporters back in August, to May's Millennium Stadium showdown in front of 72,000, there is nothing quite as special as an F.A Cup tie. Long live the illustrious tournament, and here's to the Red Devils retaining the Cup for the first time in the club's incredible history.