For May 13th I'm going back 15 years to 2006 and the 125th FA Cup Final.
Think about it. Most years you've tuned in to watch the FA Cup Final haven't you? You've probably watched 25 or more unless you're under 30. But how many of them would you say were classic matches that will linger in your memory? I'm talking about ding-dong basketball-like end-to-end matches full of goals and excitement. Since my first TV Cup Final which was the Arsenal-Liverpool Final of 1971 I reckon that there have been just three classics. The 1981 Spurs-Manchester City Replay, the 1987 Coventry-Spurs game and this one. By my reckoning that's three over the last half a century and I was lucky enough to be at two of them.
With Wembley out of action due to its reconstruction we were off to Cardiff once again which I, for one, was happy about. This was to be the sixth and last Final held in Cardiff because the new Wembley was almost ready. Forever after we would be contractually obliged to refer to each season's FA Cup as "The March to the Arch". Perhaps Finals in Wales should have been referred to as "The Hike over Offa's Dyke" after the ancient dyke which roughly delineates the Anglo-Welsh border that was constructed in the eighth century and named after Offa, the Anglo-Saxon King of Mercia?
Rafael Benitez's Liverpool finished third in the Premier League that season and therefore qualified for the following season's Champions League. Alan Pardew's West Ham United came a respectable ninth in the Premier League but, due to Liverpool's Champions League place, ended up with an automatic entry into the following season's UEFA Cup win-or-lose in the FA Cup Final. Lucky Hammers eh? Well their luck hadn't finished yet!
I can't even complain about the programme cover. It's a classic too! 674 clubs entered the FA Cup that season. York City's interest ended with an embarrassing home defeat to Grays Athletic in the First Round. Tottenham also fell at the first hurdle in the Third Round at Leicester City. Liverpool put paid to the hopes of Luton Town, Portsmouth, Manchester United, Birmingham City (that one was won 7-0 at St Andrews!) and Chelsea (in the Semi-Final at Old Trafford). On their path to the Final West Ham United had seen off Norwich City, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Manchester City and Middlesbrough (in the Semi-Final at Villa Park).
It was Liverpool's seventh visit to the Millennium Stadium in five years and they were red hot favourites. The match proved to be much closer than everyone thought! West Ham took the lead on 21 minutes thanks to Jamie Carragher's own goal and, astonishingly, Dean Ashton got their second seven minutes later following an error from Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina. Reina's chance to redeem himself would come later. Momentum swung back to Liverpool with a goal from Djibril Cisse on 32 minutes. Once Steven Gerrard equalised with a bullet of a half volley for the Reds after 54 minutes it felt like normal service had been resumed and we awaited their next goal to win the famous old trophy. But West Ham were about to have their third piece of outrageous good fortune of the afternoon. Paul Konchesky's attempted cross floated over everyone and into the net at the far post. The Hammers were in front 3-2 and with luck like that, surely their name was already written on the Cup? It looked all over for Liverpool but, with four added minutes being announced at the end of the ninety, the ball fell to Gerrard once again. This time he was 35 yards out when he launched an absolute exocet into West Ham's net. It was 3-3! Thirty minutes of extra time came and went without further goals and the game was down to penalty kicks. West Ham had no remaining reserves of luck and they proceeded to watch as Reina saved three out of four of their penalties. Liverpool didn't even need to take their fifth penalty. They had won the Cup!
CRB Match No. 1501
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