The FA Challenge Cup was first held in 1871-1872. The Wanderers, pictured below, were the first Cup winners, beating the Engineers 1-0 (see picture for victors of that inaugural challenge).
Open to teams in the Premier League, The Football League (Championship Division, League One, League Two - 2nd through 4th divisions of English football) and the National League System (professional on down to amateur sides), this year's cup involved over 700 teams. Thus, while many are just beginning to focus on the action, games have actually been going on since August 17, when Worksop Parramore beat AFC Blackpool 2-0 in front of an announced crowd of 101. By my count, over 600 matches have been played and there are just 64 to go.
The format takes a bit of explaining. There is no seeding within any of the 14 rounds, but higher division teams don't have to start playing until the later rounds. Competition starts with an "Extra Preliminaries Round" followed by a "Preliminaries Round." Next there are Qualifying Rounds, 1st through 4th; professional sides from the lower divisions start entering in these rounds. Thirty-two teams emerge from the qualifying rounds and are added to the 48 teams from League One and League Two (3rd and 4th divisions) to make an 80 team field. First and Second Round "Proper" (as opposed to Qualifying) play narrows this down to 20 teams. Then we throw in the 20 Premier League teams and the 24 Championship Division teams and, voila, we have a neat 64 team tournament, which is where we pick up the action this weekend. This probably is as clear as mud; more simply put, imagine the NCAA basketball tournament if it was open to any college or community college that fielded a basketball team, started in November, then added the big schools in March for the last legs. Something like that.
This is a knockout tournament, or one and done as we say over here. Except that sometimes the match ends in a draw. No overtime, at least not yet; instead they replay the match at a later date. If the replay ends in a draw, teams proceed to extra time then penalty kicks, if necessary, to get a winner. In the past, if the replay ended in a tie, there would be a third, fourth or however many replays were necessary. They gave this up a few years ago, probably because schedulers couldn't figure out how to fit Cup games in around league matches with all the replays. Play continues through the rounds until a winner is crowned, usually on the first Saturday after the Premier League action wraps up in May.
Part of the magic, much like the NCAA basketball tournament, is that the one and done format allows for "giant killers" (cinderellas in NCAA-speak) to emerge. And it is fun to follow the lower level teams that are exceeding expectations. But, the reality is that in the cup's long history only 8 teams outside the first division have won the cup. Entering third round play this weekend, there are just three teams left from the 5th division (Kidderminster, Macclesfield, and Grimsby Town) and none from any division lower than that.
The randomness of the draw (remember no seeding within a round) has produced an additional derby match (see post entitled Derby for an explanation of a derby) this year between Arsenal and Tottenham. Man United host Swansea, Aston Villa host Sheffield United (not Wednesday) and Newcastle will play Cardiff City at St. James' Park. Other key matches include Man City at Blackburn, Liverpool hosting Oldham, and Everton playing Queens Park Rangers at Goodison Park. The aforementioned 5th division sides got a bit of a break in the draw - they all got home matches and none drew a Premier League team. Hopefully one will make it to the Fourth Round.
Third round play does not start without some controversy. Over the years, there has been much discussion of the importance of competitions like the FA Cup relative to league play. Some managers have made it clear the chase for league points comes first. Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert is the latest to wade into that swamp. He not only stated that most Premier League managers would prefer to skip the FA Cup ("because survival in the league is vital"), he suggested that any manager who said differently "was not being entirely truthful." He will get pilloried for the remarks but I can't say I disagree. Check out Newcastle's lineup tomorrow; I'll bet Pardew will slip in some of the players he can't afford to use in a league fixture.
I don't plan to spend too much time commenting on the January transfer window news as that could be a full-time occupation. However, I will make three comments from the Newcastle perspective.
1. That's nice of Arsene Wenger to say he will not pursue Yohan Cabaye
2. It would also be nice of him to leave Loic Remy alone; it's bad enough that it's looking like this won't be anything more than a one year loan.
3. Remy Cabella (who is, surprise, French!) would look good up top
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