An FA Cup last-16 tie between Premier League leaders Manchester City and Championship promotion hopefuls Swansea took on significant importance stateside on Wednesday as USMNT No. 1 Zack Steffen started in goal for City while Seattle Sounders loanee Jordan Morris got his first Swansea start and D.C. United loanee Paul Arriola made his debut off the bench.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær is in hot pursuit of his first trophy as Manchester United manager after the Red Devils tepidly advanced to the quarterfinals of the FA Cup following a 1-0 extra time victory over West Ham.
United couldn’t generate a whole lot with Fred, Nemanja Matić and Donny van de Beek handed the keys to midfield, but West Ham failed to land a shot on target until the 114th-minute.
The opening half produced this nice Zidane turn from Marcus Rashford…
Soccer is one of the very few sports that boasts competitions where small, local sides are able to face off against the best teams in the country. These matchups capture the imagination while providing a sense of hope and magic to a small group of supporters.
Domestic cups have long provided smaller clubs with the opportunity to prove their mettle by facing nationally recognized sides, and while major upsets are rare, just the slightest hope of an improbable win is enough to cause local pandemonium and stir significant interest among neutral supporters.
One week after Manchester United and Liverpool delivered a 0-0 Premier League stalemate that’s already been largely forgotten, the eternal rivals more than made up for that shit on a stick performance with a roaring FA Cup fourth round match that saw the Red Devils ultimately prevail 3-2 at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Most expected to see fireworks when Manchester City visited third-division Cheltenham Town in the FA Cup on Saturday. Few expected they would be literal fireworks.
The FA Cup fourth-round match, which the Premier League side rallied to win 3-1, was suspended for five minutes late in the first half as a fireworks spewed above Jonny-Rocks Stadium on Saturday. The referee halted proceedings as some of the sparks actually landed on the pitch. Fortunately, nothing caught on fire, even if players were left bemused by the display.
Manchester City players will be getting changed in the bar at Cheltenham Town's stadium when they visit for an FA Cup clash on Saturday, but their fourth-tier hosts aim to make Pep Guardiola's men as comfortable as possible, manager Michael Duff said.
City, whose market value is estimated at over 950 million pounds ($1.3 billion) by specialist website Transfermarkt, play its fourth-round clash at the Jonny-Rocks Stadium where away teams have used the Victory Bar as a changing room during the COVID-19 crisis.
The FA Cup is one of football's most prominent cup competitions due to the tournament's proclivity for surprise upsets and underdog stories. Despite the absence of fan support, this season's FA Cup has still seen its share of upsets.
Four non-league clubs reached the FA Cup Third Round, but only one progressed to the next step in the competition
In its most basic form, soccer is a simple game of kicking a sphere into a designated rectangle. Despite the simplicity, this elementary sport possesses the capability to capture an infinite range of emotions and moments. This magic of the game is why we love it so much.
One of these heartwarming moments took place during Saturday’s FA Cup tie between Sheffield Wednesday and Exeter City.
Manchester United will host Liverpool in the fourth round of the FA Cup after the two arch rivals were drawn together on Monday, with the game set to be played a week after their Premier League summit clash.
The two sides, who are both top of the Premier League table and go head-to-head in the league on Sunday, meet in the cup for the first time since Dirk Kuyt scored a late winner as Liverpool beat United 2-1 in January 2012. United have not beaten Liverpool since March 2018, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer yet to taste victory against Jürgen Klopp's side in four attempts.