The 2011 FA Cup final: Manchester City v Stoke City – live! | Scott Murray

• Hit F5 or use the auto-refresh tool for the latest updates • Send your hot soccer chat to scott.murray@guardian.co.uk • It’s a No Premier League zone here. But not here! 7 min: Stoke haven’t put a thing together up front yet. I’m not sure they’ll be too bothered about that, the team look happy enough to find their feet, while snapping repeatedly at Manchester City’s heels. “I wonder: will Man City have the Sheiks here today?” asks Mark Judd. “I’ll get my coat.” And there ends the stand-up boom. 5 min: Manchester City enjoying the lion’s share of the possession. Tevez tucks inside from the left and takes this final’s first shot in anger, sending a very decent effort from the edge of the area sailing towards the right-hand side of the goal. It’s at a good height for the keeper, though, and Sorensen palms confidently out. The ball’s hacked clear. “All this talk of how the FA Cup has lost it’s shine, ruined by money, blah-der-dee-blah – you English are just spoiled with an embarrassment of riches, yearning for the past and not seeing how fantastic it is that you can’t throw a rock without hitting a fantastic football match,” opines Linda Howard. “There. I said it.” 3 min: Manchester City earn the first corner down the left. The ball’s swung into the box towards Richards at the near post, but the defender fails to connect properly. 2 min: All at bit scrappy at the moment, both on pitch and off. Both sets of fans suddenly sound a bit nervous, and the volume’s dropped dramatically. You can’t blame them. They’ll get their gamefaces on again soon. “Here in Scotland we don’t even get the FA Cup final live on telly, being saddled with a Kevin Costner movie instead,” reports poor Ryan Dunne. “Given that people play excessive TV coverage for the decline in the FA Cup’s prestige, will this mean a resurgence in its popularity north of the border?” 3pm, a traditional kick-off time for the FA Cup final which the suits in charge would be STUPID BASTARDS to change : Tony Pulis has changed out of his fancy suit, and is now sporting his usual tracksuit-and-cap ned combo. And we’re off! Stoke set the ball rolling, Walters bombing down the inside-right channel and into the box, but Hart is out quickly to pluck the long ball the striker’s chasing from the air. 2.58pm: Shakety hands, swappity pennants. 2.55pm: The teams wait in the tunnel, Manchester City zipped up in their retro tracksuit tops, Stoke City in their red-and-white-striped shirts, a sign maybe that they’re not planning to fanny about. Like anybody expects Tony Pulis’s Stoke City to fanny about. And then, with spectacular jets of fire blasting at them from pitchside, and wild cheering rolling down from the stands, the teams take to the pitch. It is on! 2.50pm: Time for the traditional FA Cup final hymn: Nice to abide with him, to abide with him, nice. And tonight’s the night the darkness deepens. 2.45pm: The atmosphere at Wembley is fantastic. Half of the stadium a sea of powder blue, the other bathed in red and white. There are a lot of flags floating around. These are two sets of fans who are really grabbing the opportunity to enjoy themselves with both hands, and are squeezing every drop out of it. Of course, for one of them it won’t last, with bitter misery awaiting, but at the moment that’s not the point. 2.30pm: “Has anyone named Rory ever won a trophy?” wonders Tony Campisi. Of course, if we’re looking for ridiculous omens, it’s not good news for Mr Delap and pals, 2011 not having been the best of years so far for Rories chasing glory . I don’t know why I keep talking about these preposterous omens. Oh yes, that’s right: it’s because I’ve got nothing else to say. Don’t worry, teams are out soon. 2.15pm: In the Premier League (and yes I know I said I wouldn’t mention it) Blackpool are currently leading Bolton Wanderers 4-3. It’s a facsimile scoreline of arguably the greatest FA Cup final of them all, the 1953 Matthews final. Could this be a sign that we’re in for a classic today? Well, no, obviously it has no bearing on events whatsoever. But to hell with logic! Could this be a sign that we’re in for a classic today? All signs point to yes! Matthew Etherington starts for Stoke City: Sorensen, Wilkinson, Shawcross, Huth, Wilson, Pennant, Whelan, Delap, Etherington, Walters, Jones. Carlos Tevez starts for Manchester City: Hart, Richards, Kolarov, Kompany, Lescott, De Jong, Barry, Yaya, Silva, Balotelli, Tevez. Today’s final promises to be: A cracker, as both teams are desperate to end their major trophy drought. Not for them the snooty attitude of the big clubs. It’s the FA Cup Final! Stoke City’s previous FA Cup finals: None; this is their first. Before this season’s romp to the final, their roll of honour in the competition amounted to three semi-final defeats: to Derby County in 1899, and to Arsenal in 1971 and 1972. The 1971 run was perhaps their most famous: only a last-minute Peter Storey penalty denied them a place at Wembley, they lost the replay, but beat Everton 3-2 in a third/fourth place play-off in front of a whopping Selhurst Park crowd of 5,031. Manchester City’s previous FA Cup finals: There have been eight of them. City beat Bolton Wanderers in 1904, Portsmouth in 1934, Birmingham City in 1956, and Leicester City in 1969. They lost to Bolton in 1926, Everton in 1933, Newcastle in 1955, and Tottenham Hotspur in 1981. Anyway, one thing that remains traditional (for now at least) is the kick-off time: 3pm. But a new snook to tradition appears to have been cocked this year, with the match being played on the same day as regular league fixtures. This shouldn’t cause too much heartache to traditionalists, however: back in the pre-war era, it used to happen all the time. When Manchester City were getting spanked 3-0 by Dixie Dean’s Everton in 1933, for example, in the first-ever cup final to feature numbered shirts (Everton wore 1-11, City 12-22), the First Division classifieds read: Arsenal 2-2 Huddersfield Town Birmingham City 0-4 Leicester City Blackburn Rovers 0-5 Aston Villa Blackpool 2-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers Derby County 3-2 Newcastle United Leeds United 0-1 Middlesbrough Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 Bolton Wanderers Sunderland 0-3 Portsmouth West Bromwich Albion 2-1 Liverpool Man City fans may like to note that, in the Second Division, Manchester United lost 3-2 away at Lincoln City. Stoke’s rivals Port Vale won 4-1 at home to Plymouth Argyle. I’ve gone well off piste here already. Welcome to the 130th FA Cup final, contested at Wembley Stadium between Manchester City and Stoke City. Now, don’t listen to the haters talking the big match down. It’s the Cup Final. The Cup Final!!! THE CUP FINAL. No matter what indignities the clowns at the FA have visited upon this event over the years – the abolition of replays, the imposition of penalty shoot-outs, exclusive terrestrial transmission rights for ITV – the old trophy’s lustre lingers on. And there’s the proof, in that burning you’re feeling right now, wishing for all the world that your team was competing today. FA Cup Manchester City Stoke City Scott Murray guardian.co.uk

Posted by on May 14, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.