The FA Cup has been subjected to much criticism as of late. The final is now played at 5.15pm the week before the domestic season has even ended. To make matters worse, it is currently sponsored by American beer brand Budweiser, leaving many football fans feeling the integrity of the competition has been compromised.
Nevertheless, such concerns would hardly have been at the forefront of Ben Watson’s mind when he headed the ball into the net against Manchester City in the final minute to secure immortal status for the Wigan Athletic players – a true ‘cupset’ that epitomises what the FA Cup is all about.
The game was meant to be City’s for the taking. This was Roberto Mancini’s last chance of silverware for the season, and Wigan are still in the midst of a relegation dogfight in which it is unlikely they will survive (although, if anyone can fight relegation successfully, it’s Wigan).
The Wigan starting eleven barely cost over £9 million, whilst Gareth Barry, just one eleventh of the City side, cost £12 million alone. Surely City had their hands on the cup before Dave Whelan, the proud Wigan Chairman, and Roberto Mancini had even led their respective teams onto the pitch.
The first half wasn’t an entertaining affair. Wigan were making City work very hard, and Callum McManaman, a player who has been in the press for both positive and negative reasons in recent weeks, had a couple of chances he would have been disappointed not to capitalise upon.
Joel Robles, Wigan’s new first choice goalkeeper, ousting Ali Al-Habsi, made an absolutely outrageous save from Carlos Tevez to keep the score goalless before half time. Joel is only on loan at Wigan from Atletico Madrid, but with saves like that, Roberto Martinez will surely be hoping that the move becomes permanent.
As the second half progressed, Wigan kept growing in confidence, believing this game was theirs for the taking. Mancini confused his supporters with some of the substitutions he made – sending Carlos Tevez off for Jack Rodwell would have taken some convincing even for the most ardent of Rodwell fans.
The final ten minutes featured a couple of incidents that would shape the destiny of this year’s cup final. On 81 minutes, Ben Watson, a player who had endured a frustrating year as a result of breaking his leg was thrown into the lion’s den to replace the creative Jordi Gomez.
Then, with six minutes to go, City’s influential full back Pablo Zabaleta received his marching orders from Andre Marriner for a second yellow card. Could Wigan use this to their advantage and snatch the most of unlikely of wins? As it turned out, yes, they could.
As the fourth official’s board revealed there was to be three minutes of stoppage time, Ben Watson met a Shaun Maloney corner at the near post to send the ball past England #1 Joe Hart. Pandemonium ensued; this wasn’t in the script.
Ben Watson is the sort of player who wasn’t meant to score a winner in the FA Cup final, and Wigan Athletic certainly were not meant to be winners. Then again, as people forget, this is the FA Cup. Dreams can come true. David can beat Goliath. The FA Cup hasn’t lost it’s magic.
As for the ramifications of the match, Roberto Mancini is now set to get sacked and be replaced by current Malaga ‘gaffer’ Manuel Pellegrini. How very different an ending to his City managerial career compared to Sir Alex Ferguson’s send out at Old Trafford on Sunday. Manchester is still very much red.
But what about Martinez’s men? Well it is simple for them – they must fight the drop, and that starts with trying to get three points against on Arsenal on Tuesday. It’s going to be tough for the Latics, and their two remaining matches will be likened to cup finals. Then again, they seem to be quite good at winning those.
Joe Alexander
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