English football is revered due in large part to its history and tradition. No competition has more of those qualities than the FA (Football Association Challenge) Cup - the oldest knockout cup competition in the world.
The competition is a fascinating spectacle, as entry is open to teams in all of the professional leagues in England, and to many semi-professional teams as well. This season’s field included 736 teams.The 2015 FA Cup Final is the 134th edition of the tournament’s finale and will see the current cup holders Arsenal from London look to retain the cup against Aston Villa from Birmingham on Saturday, May 30th at Wembley Stadium. As usual, the 2015 final will have a lot on the line.
Arsenal will move above Manchester United and become the competition’s winningest club if they manage to win for the 12th time, while an Aston Villa victory would see them move into a tie for third-most wins all time with eight and would be their first win since 1957.
As there are no seeds in the FA Cup and the draw for each round is random, the tournament allows for some of the smallest clubs in England to go head-to-head with the largest. The David and Goliath scenarios the cup inherently creates make it irresistible to fans who know the underdogs need just 90 minutes of magic to cement themselves in football lore forever.
Each year fans and pundits ask the question of whether the “magic of the FA Cup” still exists like it did in past decades.
Even though this season’s finalists are both from the top league in England, this year’s tournament saw fans of Middlesbrough F.C. of the second tier of English football in absolute dreamland after eliminating one of the richest clubs in the world in Manchester City.
Bradford City, from England’s third league, overcame a two-goal deficit to defeat Chelsea 4-2 at Stamford Bridge, when Chelsea had only lost one home game in the Premier League over the past two seasons. The evidence from this season clearly suggests that the magic and mystique of the FA Cup are alive and well.
Arsenal finished the year in third place in the Premier League and their route to the FA Cup final benefited from a series of favorable draws, beating Hull City, Brighton and Middlesbrough in their first three games.
Many thought their defense of the FA Cup would come to an end when they were drawn to play at Manchester United in the quarterfinal, a place they had not won in their last ten visits. The Gunners turned in one of their best performances of the season and beat United 2-1 behind a game winner from former Red Devil Danny Welbeck.
Arsenal again was the benefactor of a favorable draw in the semi-final where they faced Reading from the second tier of English football, needing extra-time and a glaring error from the Reading keeper to advance to the final.
The entire soccer world expected Liverpool to beat Aston Villa in the other semifinal to set up a heavyweight match up in the final, but one last stroke of luck for Arsenal saw the Villains beat Liverpool to make Arsenal favorites in the final.
Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger has an interesting selection headache in deciding who should start for the team’s biggest game of the season.
Times were much simpler for Wenger a few weeks ago when Arsenal had won eight straight league games in a row for the first time since their undefeated season of 2003-2004. In the games during and after that streak, Wenger named the same starting 11 six times in a row, the longest streak of its type during Wenger’s tenure as Arsenal coach.
That lineup featured Ospina in goal with a back-four of Monreal, Koscielny, Mertesacker and Bellerin. Cazorla and Coquelin were at the base of the midfield while Alexis, Ozil and Ramsey were deployed as attacking midfielders and Giroud was the lone striker.
This 11 looked like world-beaters for a while, but they eventually tired and ran out of ideas. Their winning streak came to an end, they failed to score during three consecutive home games and their play became too narrow with wingers Alexis and Ramsey both consistently drifting inside, making the team’s attack too predictable.
Wenger has a habit of playing his second-choice keeper in the FA Cup, which means the out of favor Wojciech Szczesny is likely to start, even though he has not played since the FA Cup semifinal on April 17th in which he did not impress.
The more interesting question is the right-wing position, where four players can make a strong case to start.
Aaron Ramsey will feel he deserves to keep his place, particularly having scored the winning goal in the 2014 FA Cup final.
Theo Walcott is finally fully fit and will feel entitled to his usual right-wing position after scoring a hat-trick in the first 36 minutes of Arsenal’s final league game of the year, though he would prefer the less likely scenario of starting at striker in place of Giroud.
Jack Wilshere is also fully-fit at last and has featured as a right-wing in his last few appearances, where he has often looked like Arsenal’s most dangerous midfielder.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain returned from injury for Arsenal’s last game and will hope he can slot back into the right-wing, where he was first-choice for most of the season, but will likely accept being left on the bench as he lacks match fitness.
Wenger has remained tight-lipped on his starters but stressed the role of substitutes, saying, “I just think it is important to focus as a whole squad on winning the trophy. Most of the time the heroes are the people who come on in an FA Cup final - they make the difference.”
Finding the right balance in his team selection could make or break the game and ultimately the season for Wenger.
Aston Villa looked like a certain relegation casualty for much of the year, but were able to drag themselves out of the relegation zone and finished the season in 17th place, with the turning point being when new manager Tim Sherwood took over the reins in February.
Their path to the final has been impressive, defeating Blackpool, Bournemouth, Leicester City, and West Brom leading to the semifinal where they authored one of the biggest upsets of the English soccer season.
Villa drew Liverpool in the semifinal and everyone expected them to gracefully bow out of the competition and allow Steven Gerrard to play in one more FA Cup final with Liverpool before moving to the MLS, with the final conveniently falling on Gerrard’s 35th birthday.
Everything was going as expected when Liverpool took a 1-0 lead, but Villa struck back through Christian Benteke before Fabian Delph grabbed the winner by finishing off a superb team goal as Villa shocked the world and ran out as deserved winners.
Any hopes Villa has of grabbing another upset of one of the Premier League’s top guns hinge on striker Christian Benteke. The Belgian striker is not quite a household name, but he will be soon, with reports heavily linking him with a move to Liverpool in the summer.
His height, pace and finishing make him one of the most dangerous forwards in England and he is in spectacular form, having scored 12 times in his last 12 games. It is no coincidence that Villa’s early struggles this season were when Benteke was recovering from an Achilles injury.
The other key to Villa lifting the Cup is their Captain, Fabian Delph. Delph, like Benteke, is not yet a household name, but will be very soon. The 25-year-old midfielder has recently become a regular starter for the English national team due to his pace, passing, tenacity and stamina. Villa will be relying on the versatile Delph to disrupt Arsenal’s wizards in midfield and ensure the possession statistic is not too heavily in Arsenal’s favor.
With strong players such as Tom Cleverly, Andreas Weimann and Gabby Agbonlahor available to support their anchors of Benteke and Delph, Villa certainly has a squad that can trouble Arsenal going forward.
Defense remains their larger issue. It figures to be a busy day for U.S. international Brad Guzan in the Villa goal. The heavy traffic in front of his net could be the perfect chance for Guzan to make his claim to remain the American number one even when Tim Howard returns from his sabbatical from the national team.
Arsenal has outscored Aston Villa 8-0 in their two meetings this season, with some scintillating football being on display throughout, and are heavy favorites to retain the cup for only the fifth time in the last 100 years and the first time since Chelsea won in 2010 and 2011.
Even though Villa enjoy massive support, Arsenal are the far bigger club and coupled with the fact that the game will be played in London, it will have the feel of a home game for the Gunners.
However, those who think an Arsenal win is a formality are badly mistaken. Arsenal has been averse to winning trophies as of late, winning only one in the past nine seasons, and have made things particularly difficult for themselves in their three cup finals during that time.
First, there was goalie Jens Lehmann getting red carded after 18 minutes during Arsenal’s loss in the 2006 Champions League final.
Then, in the 2011 League Cup final, Koscielny and Szczesny shockingly conspired to lose the game in the 90th minute (Arsenal fans, please don’t click that link).
Finally, Arsenal fell behind by two goals inside of 8 minutes in the 2014 FA Cup final against Hull before recovering to win 3-2 and break their nine year trophy drought.
A comfortable Arsenal win seems a likely scenario on paper, but the game is played on grass. Arsenal will be under massive pressure to win against a team 14 places below them in the Premier League and Villa will be loose, knowing they are playing with house money.
If Arsenal fails to win, a once promising season will end without a trophy and the calls for Wenger’s head will be louder than ever. Furthermore, a loss could hinder their ability to sign top talent in the summer, thus hurting their prospects for next season. This pressure will surely be felt by the Arsenal players, and with Villa boss Tim Sherwood claiming his team will not park the bus, but instead will play an attacking game as they did against Liverpool, the 2015 FA Cup final is a mouth-watering spectacle from the neutral perspective.
It may well come down to who can find that little bit of magic.
