Stoke City booked its place in the FA Cup final after thrashing Bolton Wanderers 5-0 at Wembley today. The final will be the first in the Northwest club's 148-year history as they are set to clash with Manchester City after Yaya Toure's goal gave the Blues a win over cross-town rivals Manchester United.
Matthew Etherington opened scoring with Robert Huth, Kenwyne Jones and a brace from Jonathon Walters added to the biggest FA Cup thumping in 72 years.
The victory over the Trotters now means, win or lose, Stoke City will be playing Europa League soccer next season, provided Manchester City obtain a Champions League spot.
Here are some other stories from Sunday:
LIVERPOOL GRAB POINT DEEP IN STOPPAGE TIME AT THE EMIRATES
Liverpool snagged a late point with a penalty 10 minutes into stoppage time against Arsenal in London after Emmanuel Eboue brought Lucas to the ground with the last kick of the game. The penalty decision came minutes after Arsenal were awarded a penalty of their own when Cesc Fabregas was felled by Jay Spearing.
The draw looks to put a nail in Arsenal's coffin in terms of continuing their title challenge, and Arsene Wenger let his frustration show in a brief argument with Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish after the Merseyside club's penalty was converted by Dirk Kuyt.
The London club are now six points adrift Manchester United having played the same number of games, while Liverpool sit four points behind 5th-placed Tottenham, who have two matches in hand.
SV HAMBURG'S VAN NISTELROOY OUT FOR SEASON
The Dutch striker seems set to have played his last match for German side, Hamburg, after he suffered an injury to his left calf in the club's nil-nil draw with Hannover today.
The former Manchester United and Real Madrid hitman has made no secret of his displeasure with Hamburg after they refused to let him return to Madrid this January and has opted not to extend his contract.
There is interest from England in Blackburn Rovers, as manager Steve Kean has stated publicly, however the striker is said to be demanding £4 million a year in wages. The Dutchman turned down a move to Rovers in January 2010, the same transfer window when he chose to join SV Hamburg over the English club.
Van Nistelrooy has netted 12 goals, including seven this season, in 35 Bundesliga appearances for the club since joining the club last January.
STUDY SAYS BRAZIL'S AIRPORT SITUATION IS "WORRISOME"
Despite the fact that the World Cup won't be hosted by the South American nation for another three-and-a-half years, the Brazilian government released a study last Thursday stated that Brazil's airports will not be ready in time unless there are changes in the investment plans made by Brazil's airport authority.
Ten of Brazil's airports would be running in "critical" condition, while the study also added that 14 of the nation's 20 biggest airports are already operating at over capacity.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff stated that the upgrades currently being worked on will be opened up to private investment to make sure that the renovations are finished in time. With an estimated 600,000 visitors coming to Brazil in 2014, $3 billion will be spent on the airport upgrades.
The South Americans will also host the 2013 Confederations Cup and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
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What do you think of these stories? See Stoke having a chance in the FA Cup final? Think the referee botched the Arsenal-Liverpool match?
Share your thoughts below.
The FA Cup winner gets a spot in Europa. If the winner qualifies for Europe via their league finish, then that spot goes to the runner up. If the runner up also qualifies via their league finish, THEN that spot goes to the 6th place finisher in the Premiership.
Carragher got knocked out (literally) and was down for about 6 minutes. The stoppage time was actually 8, but given the two penalties it carried to about 10.
i missed the game, there was 10 minutes of stoppage time?!?!
I think I heard yesterday that as long as City holds onto its CL spot, Stoke will be in the Europa league even if they lose the FA cup.
Wait, if Man City wins the FA Cup and finishes fourth or higher, doesn’t that just mean that the sixth place team in the final EPL standings qualifies for Europa competition? I don’t think Stoke would qualify as the FA Cup runner up …
The Liverpool/Arsenal game was very odd. I’m a Liverpool supporter, but don’t necessarily hate Arsenal. That being said, I absolutely HATE how they have the incessant need to pass their way into the net. Whatever happened to having a few shots from distance, as Walcott did (and guess what – that was arguably their best chance of the first half, outside the header). You can see their opponents’ mentality – pack it in the 18 when Arsenal get close, and they’ll run themselves into the ground trying to make the wonder goal. All goals count the same.
As for the penalty….soft, but Eboue needs to understand that he can’t give the ref any reason to make a call in that situation. Liverpool’s most limited offensive player was chasing the ball away from the goal – no need to get close enough to make it interesting. And Wenger’s lack of class with Dalglish was absurd.
Hannover v. Hamburg was Saturday, not Sunday.
Get those airports fixed.
We’re coming!
As an arsenal fan I hated today’s result but am not to terribly mad. In my opinion we lost the title 2 weeks ago when we had 3 draws in a row. Even a win today and I doubt we would have won the title.
Kenwyne Jones! Go TNT