The FA Cup is down to four sides. Contrary to early-season projections, they're not Arsenal, Liverpool Stadiennes, CSKA Kensington, and the Manchester Buccaneers. Instead, the four sides are Portsmouth (I), Barnsley (II), Westbromwich (II), and Cardiff (II). It's the first time none of the current top four has been in the semi-finals since 1987, when the line-up was Coventry, Leeds, Tottenham, Watford. We also note there have been just six replays in the last 61 ties of the competition, a record low.
The first two of these sides have never appeared in a full UEFA competition (with the possible exception of the Anglo-Italian or the British Cups). Under the rules negotiated between England's FA and the FAW, Welsh sides can only enter Europe through FAW contests, thus ensuring that Cardiff can't qualify through the FA Cup. (Or, thanks to UEFA's rejection of Welsh sides competing in the English league, any contest). Only Westbromwich has a full European pedigree.
In 1966, Westbrom was seeded to the second round of the Fairs Cup (subsequently the UEFA), easily beat DOS Utrecht, but was soundly beaten by Bologna. In 1968, the side made the Cup-Winners' Cup, beat Brugge on away goals and Dinamo Bucharest handily, but lost the quarter-final by the only goal to Dunfermline. The next appearance was in the 1978 UEFA Cup: Galatasaray, Braga, and Valencia proved little opposition, but Red Star Belgrade proved just too difficult in the last eight. It was all downhill from there: 1979's contest say a heavy defeat by Carl Zeiss Jena of the GDR, and 1981 a loss in both legs to Grasshoppers Zürich.
The most remarkable fact about Westbromwich's appearances in Europe is that in eleven contests, the side has always been drawn to play away in the first leg, at an improbability factor of 211.
The draw for the semi-finals pits Barnsley against Cardiff, and Westbromwich against Portsmouth. The FA has not confirmed venues for these ties; given the fixture list for 5 April, and the fact that Aston Villa is playing at home, we assume they will take place at the Coventry Arena and either White Hart Lane or Stamford Bridge.
The other results
League matches in England saw Arsenal draw 0:0 at Wigan; the result allows the Buccaneers a chance to take top spot if they can beat Bolton. A major surprise in Spain, as Barcelona fall 2:1 to Villarreal; Real Madrid had their expected win, but Atlético lost to Bilbao. France's match of the week ended in a 4:2 win for Lyon over Bordeaux, the defending champions are now six points clear of their only realistic rivals. Germany's match of the day turned out to be Stuttgart -v- Werder Bremen, which ended in a tennis score, Stuttgart winning 6:3. Finally, the Dutch match of the week-end had a most tiresome result, the police struck in Amsterdam forcing the postponement of the Ajax - PSV tie. The same thing happened during the reverse fixture last year, and Ajax are asking the police to pay the cost of re-arranging the tie.
On-the-pitch upsets
53 Barnsley - CSKA Kensington 1:0 41 Manchester Buccaneers - Portsmouth 0:1 40 Guimares - Sporting Lisbon 2:0 38 Siena - Fiorentina 1:0 37 Middlesbrough - Cardiff 0:2 35 Barcelona - Villarreal 1:2 34 Real Zaragosa - Atlético Madrid 2:1 33 VfB Stuttgart - Werden Bremen SV 6:3 33 Rennes - Paris Saint Germain 2:0 33 Charlton Athletic - Preston North End 1:2 31 Sheffield Wednesday - Queen's Park Rangers 2:1 31 Coventry City - Norwich City 1:0 19 Wigan Athletic - Arsenal 0:0 15 Nurnberg - Hamburger SV 0:0
