FA Cup
Hag and Guardiola boast ahead of a unique FA Cup final
Saturday sees the first-ever meeting of local rivals Manchester City and Manchester United in an FA Cup Final when the clubs face off at Wembley to decide the 2023 champions.
The clash also means that all England’s major cups will be in Manchester as Manchester United had earlier won the League Cup (Carabao) while city rivals, Manchester City are the Premier League champions.
What ever the outcome, the FA Cup shall be won by a team in Manchester. Both managers, Erik ten Hag and Pep Guardiola had worked together at German sides, Bayern Munich.
Ahead of this Saturday’s clash, both manager bared their minds in the official programme of the FA Cup final. Hear them:
Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola:

”This competition is so special. It’s the most historic domestic cup competition in the world. When we won this trophy in 2019, I can honestly say it was one of my favourite moments as City manager.
“We want to win it again and I can promise you we will do everything we can to try and make that happen.
”We are playing a top team today; we know this and we are ready. Manchester United know how to win and we will have to fight for absolutely everything today.
“However, I trust my players and I can see it in their eyes: they want to win this trophy.
”To be here as Premier League champions is amazing for us. To win the title five times in six years is something very special.
“We try to be consistent and work hard every day, but I never imagined we could win five in six, especially in this country where the standard is so high. Every single week it is so tough and so demanding.
“The consistency my players have shown is extraordinary, and I’m incredibly proud of all of them. I am the luckiest manager in the world!
”And next week we have a Champions League final to look forward to. To be playing Inter in Istanbul in the final of Europe’s most beautiful competition is going to be amazing for this football club”
.
Manchester United’s Erik ten Hag:
”Our aim today is the same as always: win the game. You do not fight through round after round to reach cup finals just so you can enjoy a nice day out; once you reach one then you have to give every single bit of your energy to make sure you leave Wembley with the trophy.
”This is a fantastic opportunity for this group of players and staff to win our second piece of silverware and create a new moment of history for this great football club.
“If we stick to our gameplan, follow our own rules and draw extra strength from our amazing supporters, then I have every confidence that we can achieve our aim today and take another big step forward in our journey together.
”The strong bond that has developed between this team and our fans is one of the most pleasing things about the season, and this connection will be more important than ever at Wembley as we contest the Emirates FA Cup Final with Pep Guardiola and Manchester City.
”We know that we will have to be at our very best against an excellent opponent.
“We have already shown that we are capable of this, because our Premier League win over City in January was one of our best performances so far this season. So, we know what is required, we know the standards we have to reach.
”I can say with certainty that Pep will not be expecting an easy fixture this afternoon because we have shown repeatedly that we have the ability to cause problems for every team.”
FA Cup
Haaland suffers another Wembley blank after turning down penalty

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola admitted he was surprised that Norwegian striker Erling Haaland declined to take a penalty for his side in Saturday’s FA Cup final against Crystal Palace with the kick subsequently being missed by Omar Marmoush.
Trailing 1-0 to Eberechi Eze’s goal, City were awarded a penalty in the first half when Palace defender Tyrick Mitchell tripped Bernardo Silva who had burst into the area.
Haaland, who had failed to score in his first five Wembley appearances for City, looked poised to break that duck, but handed the ball to Marmoush whose first-ever penalty for City was superbly saved by Dean Henderson.
“I thought he would want to take it but they didn’t speak,” said Guardiola. “That moment for the penalty, it’s the feeling and how they feel. They decided Omar was ready to take it.
“Omar took a lot of time when the ball was stopped, so it put more pressure on him, and Henderson made a good save.”
Former Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, working as a TV pundit for the BBC, said he felt the occasion might have got to Haaland.
“He’s a world-class forward, but when we are talking about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, there is no way they are giving that ball away,” Rooney said.
“That is what separates them two players from Erling Haaland or Kylian Mbappe and these players. They are selfish and they want to score every game.
“When (Haaland) misses chances I think you can see it gets to him and it does affect him. Maybe the thought of taking a penalty at Wembley might have been too much for him. You never know, he is a human being.”
Haaland has scored 30 goals for City this season in all competitions but has missed three of his seven penalties.
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
FA Cup
Palace fans head to FA Cup final still hurting from 1990

Crystal Palace face Manchester City at Wembley on Saturday hoping to lift the FA Cup for the first time and it is guaranteed that high on the pre-match agenda will be the club’s extraordinary and eventually heartbreaking 1990 campaign.
The semi-finals and final(s) that year were arguably the most dramatic in the competition’s long and storied history and remain the emotional high and low point of every Palace fan who watched them.
Palace were struggling in the top flight after promotion and had been humiliated 9-0 by Liverpool early in the season.
In the Cup they were hardly pulling up trees either, beating lower league Portsmouth, Huddersfield Town, Rochdale and Cambridge United to reach the semi-finals for the first time since they lost to Southampton as a third division team in 1976.
Facing runaway champions-elect and FA Cup holders Liverpool again in the semis look an insurmountable barrier and an Ian Rush goal had the Reds ahead at halftime at Villa Park.
Things then went crazy as Mark Bright and Gary O’Reilly gave Palace a shock lead. Two goals in two minutes put Liverpool back in front, only for Andy Gray to stun the odds-on favourites in the 88th minute to force extra time.
Amazingly, it was Palace who snatched victory in the 109th minute via Alan Pardew, who would later manage the club.
It was the first year that both semi-finals were live on TV and barely had the excitement abated when similarly unfancied Oldham ran out to face Manchester United at Maine Road.
The second division team had not beaten top-flight opposition in 66 years but accounted for four that season in a double cup run that caught the nation’s imagination.
Playing vibrant, attacking football under Joe Royle, Oldham twice came from behind to draw 3-3 after extra time – meaning a remarkable 13 goals had been scored on a day of unimaginable drama. United ended Oldham’s dream when they snatched a 2-1 victory six minutes from the end of extra time in the replay.
ALL-ENGLISH TEAM
The Palace side who lined up at Wembley were the last all-English team to play in the final while United’s were the last all-UK lineup to win it.
United manager Alex Ferguson was under huge pressure to deliver a trophy four years after arriving at Old Trafford, but Palace struck first through O’Reilly.
Bryan Robson and Mark Hughes turned it round and United seemed on course for victory, only for Ian Wright to come off the bench for the most wonderful 20 minutes of his life.
The former non-league striker had been sidelined for much of the season with a twice-broken leg, but exploded into action to equalise with virtually his first touch and then put the Londoners ahead early in extra time.
“It’s still the greatest moment I’ve had in my career – easily – simply because of everything that it had entailed up to that point,” Wright told the Palace website on Friday.
“My emergence at Palace, and to reach the biggest stage in English football, and all of a sudden I’m on the Wembley pitch.
“And then what happened after that was the stuff of fairytales. It really, really was.”
However, as the Palace fans sang in dreamland, Hughes broke their hearts with a late equaliser.
The replay five days later could not live up to everything that had gone before and though Palace battled gamely, United won it 1-0 with a goal by Lee Martin.
It was a victory that launched Ferguson and United on their dizzying journey of success – that included another extra-time FA Cup final win over Palace in 2016 after the Scot had retired – but one that left a gaping hole in the hearts of the losers.
“I would have loved to have won that FA Cup, and we were only seven minutes away,” said Wright, who went on to win multiple trophies, including two FA Cups with Arsenal. “Seven minutes. Honestly, I still can’t take it.”
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
FA Cup
Eight-minute VAR check at Bournemouth is new English record

The first weekend of semi-automated offside decisions in English soccer descended into confusion on Saturday as Bournemouth had a goal ruled out after a record eight-minute VAR check.
Bournemouth, who eventually beat Premier League rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers on penalties in the FA Cup fifth round after a 1-1 draw, thought they had doubled their lead when defender Milos Kerkez scored in the 35th-minute goal.
However, new technology could not be used because the six-yard area was too crowded and VAR officials had to revert to manually drawing lines before disallowing the goal.
Fellow defender Dean Huijsen was adjudged to have been in an offside position as Kerkez’s effort brushed his shoulder before going in to the net.
The VAR check was further complicated as VAR officials Timothy Wood and Darren England also had to also examine the possibility of hand balls prior to the tight offside call.
Both sets of fans voiced their disapproval at the interminable wait, chanting “it’s not football any more” and “this is embarrassing”.
Referee Sam Barrott, who eventually announced the decision to the crowd via a microphone, had to explain to the respective managers and players what was happening during the delay.
-Reuters
Follow the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
- OBITUARY2 days ago
BREAKING: Nigerian Goalkeeping Legend Peter Rufai is dead
- Nigerian Football2 days ago
Football Agent John Shittu Demands Retraction and ₦250 Million Damages from Samson Siasia Over Bribery Allegation
- WAFCON1 week ago
Super Falcons Land in Morocco, Eye Historic ‘La Decima’ Women’s AFCON Title
- FEDERATION CUP1 week ago
Kwara United Clinch Historic First Title as President Federation Cup Final Goes to Penalties for the 18th time
- FEDERATION CUP1 week ago
Rivers Angels Crowned 2025 Female Federation Cup Champions After Penalty Shootout Thriller
- OBITUARY2 days ago
Peter Rufai looked lean when I last saw him, says mourning NFF President, Gusau
- OBITUARY2 days ago
Family issues statement on Peter Rufai
- IMMEMORIAL1 day ago
Peter Rufai’s Death Adds to Long List of July Tragedies in Nigerian Football