Soccer Update

Last weekend they played the quarter-finals of the F.A. Cup.  Here's what happened (home teams listed first):

Bournemouth 0 - 3 Southampton

Everton 0 - 2 Manchester City

Chelsea 2 - 0 Sheffield Utd

Leicester 3 - 1 Manchester Utd

So we can't have a Manchester Derby in the final.  But we have some pretty good teams left.  Manchester City is going to win the Premier League.  Leicester is in third place in the League.  Chelsea is in fourth place.  Southampton is in 14th.  So we can't complain that the big clubs didn't take the Cup seriously.

For most of its history, the F.A. Cup semi-finals were played at neutral grounds that were close to the clubs involved.  Arsenal might host a game featuring Spurs and Southampton, or Man City might host a game between Liverpool and Leeds.  But now the semi-finals are played at Wembley, which sort of defeats the thrill of going to Wembley for the finals.  It's a classic example of how the businesspeople who run sports today don't really understand their customers.

Anyway, this year they probably won't have fans at Wembley anyway, so it's really silly to go there.  But here are your semi-final matchups:

April 17:  Chelsea v. Manchester City

April 18:  Leicester City v. Southampton

To win the double, therefore, City will probably have to beat the third and fourth best teams in the league.  Seems fair.

Meanwhile, we have the draws for the quarter-finals in the UEFA Champions' League.  These will be two-leg matches, with the first legs played on April 6 and 7, and the second legs played on April 13 and 14.  Here are the match-ups (the team listed first hosts the first leg):

Manchester City (ENG) v. Borussia Dortmund (GER)

Porto (POR) v. Chelsea (ENG)

Bayern Munich (GER) v. Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)

Real Madrid (ESP) v. Liverpool (ENG)

I'm happy that the English teams didn't draw each other.