Cardiff, West Brom reach FA Cup semis
LONDON: The FA Cup will boast one Premier League side in the last four after Cardiff City continued a weekend of shocks by beating Middlesbrough 2-0 on Sunday.
First-half goals from Peter Whittingham and Roger Johnson handed the Championship (second division) side a deserved win at the Riverside and a place in the semifinals alongside Portsmouth, Barnsley and five-time winner West Bromwich Albion, which last lifted the trophy in 1968.
The last time there was only one top-flight team in the FA Cup semifinals was 1908.
West Brom restored some order to the competition after the Championship promotion challenger ended the run of League One (third division) outfit Bristol Rovers with a 5-1 victory, Ishmael Miller hitting a hat-trick.
On Saturday, Barnsley stunned holder Chelsea with a 1-0 win at Oakwell while Portsmouth ousted Premier League champion and last season's beaten finalist Manchester United with a 1-0 success at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Portsmouth is now favorite to win a second FA Cup, 69 years after its first triumph.
Cardiff is the only non-English FA Cup winner after lifting the trophy in 1927 and manager Dave Jones said he hoped his modern-day side could achieve its own slice of history.
"It's important for us as a football club. I get it rammed down my throat... 1927 every time... so we're trying to make our own history, and these boys deserve it and I'm sure the plane (home) will be rocking, not with the wind but with us on it tonight," Jones told BBC Sport.
Cardiff rocked Middlesbrough by taking a ninth-minute lead - Whittingham producing some trickery inside the penalty box before unleashing a curling shot into the top right-hand corner past a flailing Mark Schwarzer.
Since the Football League began in 1888-89 there has never been a final between two clubs from outside the top division.
Agencies
(China Daily 03/11/2008 page24)
