Heartache for Liverpool: The Reds Fall to The Blues in the FA Cup Final

Chelsea 2:1 Liverpool

Ramires (11'), Drogba (52'); Carroll (64')

Liverpool's hopes for a double this season were high as they arrived at Wembley ahead of the FA Cup Final clash with Chelsea. The two sides met for the 31st time since the start of the 2004-2005 season.

Kenny sent out a solid starting XI, electing to leave Andy Carroll and Dirk Kuyt on the bench, but providing skipper Steven Gerrard as support for Luis Suarez.

The Reds were in for a wake up call early on as Chelsea's Mata sent a ball past Jose Enrique to Ramires, who was able to slip away from the full back. Pepe Reina dove too soon for anyone's taste, rather than waiting for the shot, and could only watch as the ball went in easily at the near post at the 11th minute.

Craig Bellamy wasted no time, sending in a strong shot on the counter attack, only to have it blocked by Ivanovic.

Liverpool's midfield finally began to work after the half hour mark, with Steven Gerrard finding himself farther and farther up the pitch. Jordan Henderson was able to send in a marvelous header to Luis Suarez, who was only able to send it wide.  Any momentum the Reds were able to build was stopped at the half.

Chelsea Secure FA Cup Final Appearance

The Blues played an outstanding match against The Spurs and won it with nothing short of style.  With their impressive 5-1 rout over the Spurs, the Blue crew secured their 4^th FA cup final since the opening of the new Wembley, setting up a match against Liverpool on May 5th.

The first half initially was dominated by the away team and it seemed as if deadlock would have to be broken until after intermission, but just three minutes before the half, Didier Drogba would score the game’s first goal with a trademark strike, which flew past Carlo Cudicini.  Not long after the clock started again after the half, it would be Juan Mata that would give our boys in blue the 2-nil advantage with a rather controversial strike but nevertheless the replays would be inconclusive and the goal would count.

Andy to the Rescue: Liverpool Through to FA Cup Final

Liverpool 2:1 Everton

Suarez (62'), Carroll (87'); Jelavic (24')

The name "Howard Webb" is enough to strike fear into the hearts of many a fan, however Liverpool had few complaints in their FA Cup semi final against an Everton side that has showed excellent form in the past few weeks.

Prior to kick-off, Wembley observed a minute of silence out of respect for the 96 Liverpool fans that lost their lives at Hillsbourough ahead of the 23rd anniversary on Sunday. Captains Steven Gerrard and Phil Neville touchingly presented flowers to the families of the 96 killed.

The Reds Return to Wembley: Liverpool Defeat Stoke City in FA Cup Quarter-Finals

Liverpool 2-1 Stoke City

Suarez (23'), Crouch (26'), Dowing (57')

Stoke City arrived at Anfield for the FA Cup Quarter-Final tie, facing a Liverpool side fresh off a 3-0 Merseyside Derby win.

Dalglish only made one change to his side that defeated Everton, Maxi Rodriguez starting for Jordan Henderson.

The match kicked off after a round of applause for midfielder Fabrice Muamba, who, as of Sunday, remains in intensive care. Fans from both teams showed their continued support for the Bolton player, chanting his name throughout the game.

Maxi Rodriguez made the first shot, sending a cross from Steven Gerrard just above the bar in the 3'.

Play started to slow after a few touches from Peter Crouch, but before this writer could finish her complaint about the dullness of things, Luis Suarez found the ball in Stoke's half in the 23rd minute, finding Maxi before Maxi returned the pass. Suarez controlled the ball expertly and sent the ball soaring into the back of the net, putting Liverpool in the lead.

Breaking News: Bolton's Fabrice Muamba Suffers Cardiac Incident

At the 42' minute mark, Bolton's Fabrice Muamba collapsed in the middle of pitch.  From the grave tone of ESPN commentator Jon Champion and the body language of the players, one could see that it was extremely serious.  The look of complete shock said it all.  The 23-year-old went down, no one near him.  The whole crowd grew silent as medical staff from both teams gathered around Muamba.  The attempts to resuscitate him were still ongoing to the point a defibrillator was brought out.  He was taken off pitch on a stretcher, ESPN reporting that he was not breathing as he was taken down the tunnel.

The game has officially been abandoned.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Muamba and his loved ones. 

UPDATE: Muamba is still receiving CPR on route to the hospital. 
UPDATE 656PM: Bolton releases official statement to confirm the incident.

"Bolton Wanderers can confirm that Fabrice Muamba has been taken to hospital following his collapse at White Hart Lane this evening during the FA Cup quarter-final.
There is no further information at this stage."

written by Gail Hidalgo

Tottenham Advances to FA Cup Quarterfinal

Spurs fans have a lot of rejoicing to do as striker Jermaine Defoe finally broke the Spurs' losing streak this Wednesday as he and his team finally ran out 3-1 winners in their FA Cup fifth round replay against Stevenage at White Hart Lane.

The game, however, started poorly for Hotspur.  Four minutes Shortly before the half hour mark, Defoe ranged home with his left foot from 20 yards to level at 1-1 after Stevenage took an early lead from the penalty spot scored by Joel Byrom.

In between Defoe's goals, substitute Emmanuel Adebayor slotted home a vital penalty right past Chris Day's feet 10 minutes after half time when Gareth Bale was fouled by Mark Roberts.

Defoe was there yet again to make the tie safe with another clinical goal which came after quick thinking from Bale, who found Defoe's run in behind with a long throw. This finish made it 3-1 in at the stroke of the 74th minute.

Despite Gary Smith's men put in effort throughout the match, they fell short on numerous occasions.  This is exemplified when seeing Stevenage come close to leveling on 65 minutes when Scott Laird rose to dominate Byrom's corner onto the underside of the crossbar and out to safety.

Arsenal Out

The Gunners took a tough blow on Saturday against Sunderland at The Stadium of Light, dropping their second straight match.  Falling 2-0, Arsenal faced their second shutout of the week—their first coming at the hands of A.C. Milan, who put up four unanswered goals on Wednesday.  With this loss, Arsenal find themselves out of the FA cup in the fifth round.  To add to their woes, being 17 points behind table leader Manchester City, Arsenal will see their seventh consecutive season without a trophy.

Tottenham Find Success in FA Cup

Harry Redknapp should have something to rejoice about after his Tottenham Hotspurs  progressed to the FA Cup fifth round earlier this week.  After taking a break from denying two counts of cheating the public revenue, the club’s 1-0 victory against Watford should have Harry at ease for the time being.  Tottenham fielded 11 strong players that included the likes of Luka Modric, Scott Parker, Emmanuel Adebayor, Jermain Defoe, Rafael Van der Vaart, and Michael Dawson.  Van der Vaart, however, was the one to score the team’s lone goal after receiving a beautiful pass from Kyle Walker just before half-time.  The strike was at range and caught the keeper off guard.  Watford plunged onto the field vigorously after the Spurs first goal, but was unable to find an equalizer.