Soccer Betting Upsets Dominate F.A. Cup Action - 03-09-08
March 9 - The English F.A. Cup has a reputation for "giant-killing" results that are major soccer betting upsets, but what went down yesterday was so implausible it almost defied belief. First Manchester United at full strength were beaten by Portsmouth, and then in an even bigger upset Barnsley defied the 10/1 odds against them to beat Chelsea.
Both underdog victories were astonishing. Portsmouth beat Manchester United at Old Trafford despite being comprehensively outplayed for most of the game. Ronaldo had a clear-cut penalty shout disalllowed early in the match, probably because he has earned a warranted reputation as a histrionic manipulator who constantly plays for the ref's whistle. He should familiarize himself with the boy who cried wolf, or whatever the Portuguese equivalent is ("the boy who cried there were too many bones in his salt cod"?) and move along.
In a lovely little twist Portsmouth won the game on a penalty kick of their own and knocked out United 1-0. It couldn't happen to a nicer team, unless of course you want to count Chelsea who were humiliated by Barnsley.
At least Portsmouth play in the Premiership. Barnsley play in the Championship division, or "Division Two" in plainspeak. They have now knocked out Liverpool at Anfield and then beaten the defending champions who earn more in a combined week than the entire town of Barnsley makes doing whatever working-class stuff it is that they do in an entire year (figures may have been exaggerated for reasons of poetic license).
Manchester United and Chelsea are unstoppable in European Champion League games, and almost as tough to beat in the Premier League. These results would seem to signify that the F.A. Cup really is a third-thought amongst the game's elite players.
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