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63 min: Cherki jinks his way into the Saints box from the right and whistles another promising ball through the six-yard box. Marmoush, telescoping a leg, isn’t able to connect. City are getting closer and closer and closer.
62 min: Saints make their own double change, replacing Stewart and Bragg with Larin and the quarter-final hero Charles.
60 min: Savinho bursts down the right and wins a corner. The set piece is worked long to Doku on the other flank. Doku advances down the wing, then cuts back, before slipping Ait-Nouri in on the overlap. Ait-Nouri rolls across to Marmoush, who leans back and skies a shot over the bar. That would have been an outrageously good team goal. Shame for everyone, apart from Saints of course.
59 min: A bit of space for Reijnders, 25 yards out on the left. He takes a touch infield before whipping a violent curler towards the top right. The ball flies just wide of the post, which is just as well for Peretz, because the keeper wasn’t getting to that. Reijnders close to a fine goal.
58 min: City make the first swaps of the afternoon. Foden and Kovacic are replaced by Doku and Savinho.
57 min: Wood makes two big blocks in the space of a couple of seconds, from Nunes and Cherki. City are cranking up the pressure.
56 min: Stewart tries a curler towards the top right. He doesn’t get any oomph behind the shot, and it’s easy pickings for Trafford. Southampton haven’t shown any of their first-half sparkle in this second period yet.
55 min: Kovavic takes a cute touch to turn into space in the middle, then releases Marmoush down the left. Marmoush turns Harwood-Bellis inside out, and is brought down clumsily. The Saints defender should go into the book, but somehow escapes. Then the free kick is worked back to Foden, who opens his body to curl a shot into the top left, but gets it all wrong. High and wide. Goal kick.
53 min: City have looked sharper and quicker since the restart. Pep appears to have issued some beneficial advice during the break.
52 min: A couple of passes down the City left nearly open Southampton up. Foden and Aki take turns to dilly-dally over their cross, and the ball’s cleared easily on both occasions. Then Cherki bursts down the right and fizzes a delightful low ball through the six-yard box. Everyone in sky blue is on the back foot, and a glorious chance to tap City into the lead is spurned.
50 min: Marmoush gets on the end of a long pass down the inside-left channel and enters the Saints box. He shoots. Harwood-Bellis blocks, deflecting over the bar. Saints deal with the resulting corner easily enough.
48 min: City get back into their usual groove of stroking the ball around. Saints sit back and challenge them to break through.
46 min: Azaz nicks the ball off Ake and sends Fellows scampering clear down the inside right. Fellows enters the area, but doesn’t get his shot away quickly enough, allowing the recovering Ake to block and cushion the ball into the arms of Trafford. Big chance.
Southampton get the second half underway. No changes. Nunes is fine to continue, which is good to see. No serious harm done. “I’ll give Kari Tulinius (14 min) When the Saints,” begins Richard Hirst, “but the dirge-like Blue Moon? Never. Which opposition team has not been cowed when coming to Craven Cottage to be greeted by London Calling, bellowed by the massed ranks of, oh, at least 200 fans?”
THE HALF-TIME SHOW starring Jim McCalliog. “Jim McCalliog!” yelps Simon McMahon, having skimmed the pre-match bumf. “Come on, Scott, get the Wembley ‘67 highlights up, you know you want to.”
Well, if I must. McCalliog’s goal, which proved to be the winner, comes just after the six-minute mark of the video below. He was making his Scotland debut as a 21-year-old that day, though he’d already scored at Wembley, as part of the Sheffield Wednesday team that lost the FA Cup final from two goals up a year earlier. His opener, scored four minutes into that match, comes just after the three-minute mark of this.
(In the interests of balance and full disclosure, what happened to Scotland after McCalliog’s goal in 1967 is covered by the first two harrowing paragraphs of this. Oh Scotland!)
HALF TIME: Manchester City 0-0 Southampton
It’s been good fun. City have been slightly undercooked but won’t be fretting yet, though it’s Southampton who’ll be the happier. The Championship side have acquitted themselves very well against the hot favourites.
45 min +1: Cherki nearly jinks his way past Welington down the right, but the Saints full-back sticks to his shoulder before nicking the ball off him. That’s magnificent defending from the Brazilian.
45 min: There will be a minimum of two additional first-half minutes.
44 min: Nunes still doesn’t look comfortable, but he’s OK to see things through to the break at least. That’s a relief.
42 min: Khusanov prepares to come on, but there’s a hold up as Nunes gets back up onto his feet. That’s good to see: for a moment, thoughts turned to poor Hugo Ekitike against PSG the other week, who went down in similar fashion, with nobody near him. Thankfully this doesn’t look anywhere near as serious.
41 min: Nunes goes down with nobody around him. He’s in some distress. On come the physios.
40 min: City with the probing again. Saints holding their shape as ever. Kovacic loses patience and tries to force things with a wedge down the right. Too high, over everyone’s head, and out for a goal kick.
38 min: Now it’s Southampton’s turn to calm things down a bit with a little patient possession at the back.
36 min: … and suddenly City spring into life, Kovacic fizzing a pass down the inside left for Marmoush, who enters the area and whistles a low drive towards the bottom left. Peretz kicks clear for a corner. And from the resulting set play, which is worked from left to right, Cherki crosses long for Reijnders who attempts a bicycle kick and … let’s just award full marks for ambition. To be fair to Reijnders, as the Saints fans chortle, he has the good grace to have a laugh at himself upon getting back up.
34 min: On the touchline, Pep dictates some technical orders in the no-nonsense fashion. He’s not gone full fidgety yet, but he’s stirring, beginning to prowl.
32 min: City pass and probe, but there’s no way through. Southampton will be as happy with their defensive display so far as their verve in attack.
30 min: Bree curls a long free kick from the right flank to the far stick. Harwood-Bellis can’t quite get to the ball as it floats out for a goal kick. Southampton will be more than happy with the way this is panning out.
29 min: Southampton are gaining in confidence, stroking the ball around nicely. Fellows draws another foul, this time from Ait-Nouri out on the right, and here comes another chance to deliver a free kick into the City mixer.
28 min: Azaz slips Bree into space down the right. The ball’s cut back towards Stewart, but Kovacic is on point to intercept and clear. Southampton not shy in coming forward.
26 min: … but then leaves it for Welington, whose floated delivery is easily dealt with by Ake.
25 min: Cherki carelessly skittles Fellows, who was going nowhere down the inside-left channel. Suddenly this is an opportunity for Saints, a free kick in a dangerous position, 30 yards out. Scienza prepares to swing it in.
24 min: Foden finds himself in a pocket of space on the edge of the Saints D. He could shoot, but tees up Cherki to his right instead. Cherki, slightly surprised by the generosity, can’t get a shot away in the face of Jander’s pressure. Southampton clear their lines.
22 min: Welington delivers another fine ball, this time down the left to release Scienza into space. Scienza stops, opens his body and crosses long for Stewart, who heads harmlessly over the bar. And then the flag pops up belatedly for offside. Both teams giving it plenty. A cup semi in the sun!
20 min: Saints don’t take it lying down, and Welington looks for Stewart with a pass down the middle. Not quite.
19 min: Cherki isn’t far away from releasing the lively Reijnders down the inside-right channel. But Welington has his wits about him, intercepting just in time and flicking clear. City are beginning to turn the screw. And then Kovacic jinks at high speed down the same channel, a run reminiscent of Gazza in his prime. Kovacic reaches the right-hand corner of the six-yard box and swivels to shoot across the face of goal and out for a goal kick. What a solo goal that would have been!
17 min: … and now Marmoush dribbles with purpose into the Saints box from the left. But there’s no getting past Harwood-Bellis. This is such a fast, fun match.
16 min: The game having started in end-to-end fashion, City attempt to establish some control. But their creativity can’t be reined in forever. Or indeed for more than 60 seconds. Cherki and Kovacic take turns to spin elegantly down the inside-left channel, but neither are able to get the better of Bree. This game won’t end goalless. It can’t. It surely can’t.
14 min: Southampton have shown their intent already. They’re clearly going to take the game to Manchester City. No point dying wondering, and hats off to them for that. “Are these the two English teams with the best club anthems?” wonders Kári Tulinius. “A beloved gospel song on the one hand and a Rodgers and effing Hart on the other hand, North London Forever doesn’t stand a chance, and I say that as an Arsenal fan.”
12 min: Offside drama at both ends. First up, Marmoush breaks clear down the right, only for Wood to extend a leg and block the shot out for a corner. Then the flag goes up. And then, Stewart releases Scienza down the inside-left channel. He’s clear, enters the box, draws Trafford and slots confidently across the keeper and into the bottom right. Bedlam in the Saints end, but the flag goes up correctly for another offside. Good fun this!
10 min: The Saints fans, unperturbed, channel their inner Satchmo again. What support. Determined to enjoy Wembley. And then they nearly get something to seriously sing about, Fellows making good down the right and cutting back for Jander, who goes over Reijnders’ leg on the edge of the box. A muffled shout for a penalty, but nobody’s really serious about the call. The ball deflects out for a City goal kick.
8 min: Reijnders wins a corner off Welington down the right. Nothing comes of the resulting set piece. But this is quite some pressure from City, and Welington has already broken out in a sweat, worried beads dotted across his furrowed brow.
7 min: Amid that stramash, Foden tried to poke into the bottom right, only for Harwood-Bellis to hoick off the line. Fine defending, but of course that Marmoush offside would have ruled any goal out.
5 min: … and City quickly show how dangerous they can be. Marmoush is sprung clear down the right. He cuts back for Reijnders, who lashes a shot off the right-hand upright. In fact Peretz got a touch, and that’s a fine save. Saints somehow hack clear, then the flag goes up for offside, Marmoush having gone too early. It was close, though.
4 min: Should Saints win this, they’d become the first team from outside the Premier League side to make the final since Cardiff City beat Barnsley in 2008. They’d also become the first lower-division team to beat a top-flight side in the semi since Sunderland saw off Norwich City in 1992. It’s a big ask, but Arsenal have receipts.
2 min: Saints finally get a touch, and there’s instant hope. Scienza makes good ground down the left but his cross is no use. Electric run, though. The underdogs with a statement of intent of their own.
1 min: City waste no time in establishing how they plan to go about this. A lot of patient possession. Saints yet to have a touch.
Manchester City get the ball rolling. April. Wembley. Sun. It’s that time of year. What’s not to love?
The teams are out! Manchester City in first-choice sky blue with white sash, Saints in their 1976-inspired yellow and blue. Wembley is bouncing, and Southampton’s fans are winning the pre-match singing exchanges. They’re making a rare old racket with their New Orleans-infused spiritual. Blue Moon barely getting a note in edgeways. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes.
Southampton will wear yellow and blue this afternoon, as they have done in the FA Cup all season, commemorating the 50th anniversary of their victory in the 1976 final. Those were the colours they sported at Wembley as Bobby Stokes scored late on for Lawrie McMenemy’s second-division side, shocking hot favourites Manchester United. The commemorative shirt has the signatures of all the players in the cup-winning team woven into the fabric, and rather cutely, only 1,976 individually numbered replica shirts have been produced.
Jim McCalliog, whose precision lob down the middle sent Stokes through for the 83rd-minute winner, has just told TNT Sports that what remained of the match that day were “the fastest seven minutes … when the referee blew the whistle I didn’t think it was time. We felt very comfortable out there. We were handing the game, controlling the game. I didn’t have a worry.”
Pep’s counterpart Tonda Eckert turns his laser gaze towards TNT Sports. “Focus … we know about the occasion … we have prepared all week and will be ready … [Southampton’s long unbeaten run] gives you confidence going into every game … combined as always with a good sense of humility … we are going to need both today … you need to be brave … they will push us closer to our goal … we know we will need to suffer … when we do have the ball we have to be brave to have some spells on it … we have played some big names in the last weeks … so we will be fully focused … it is a big occasion for our supporters.”
Pep Guardiola talks to TNT Sports. “There is potential, obviously … happy to be back … Wembley is always special … a question of performing … [Southampton are] 19 games unbeaten … when that happens, we have to be alert because something is going on in that team … you don’t make 19 games unbeaten if they don’t have something … we spent time to try to discover how we have to do it … [a place in today’s City starting XI] is not a gift … we need energy … bring energy … rhythm … Pep [Lijnders] brings us something new … Liverpool [with Lijnders and Jurgen Klopp] was incredible … I learn a lot and am a better manager because of him … [John Stones] on and off the pitch is just adorable.”
Manchester City have made eight changes to their starting XI following the Premier League win at Burnley. John Stones returns from injury to captain the side, while Erling Haaland, Bernardo Silva, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Marc Guehi, Nico O’Reilly, Antoine Semenyo, Jeremy Doku and Abdukodir Khusanov drop to the bench, rested ahead of the league run-in, but awaiting the call if required.
Southampton make six changes after their eventful Championship draw with Bristol City during the week. Leo Scienza and Ross Stewart, two heroes of the quarter-final win over Arsenal, are among those who return. Taylor Harwood-Bellis captains against his old club, while Flynn Downes is suspended. Shea Charles, who scored the winner against Arsenal, is on the bench.
The teams
Manchester City: Trafford, Nunes, Stones, Ake, Ait-Nouri, Gonzalez, Kovacic, Reijnders, Cherki, Foden, Marmoush.
Subs: Donnarumma, Haaland, Doku, Guéhi, Bernardo, Savinho, O’Reilly, Khusanov, Lewis.
Southampton: Peretz, Bree, Harwood-Bellis, Wood, Wellington, Jander, Bragg, Fellows, Azaz, Scienza, Stewart.
Subs: Long, Quarshie, Jelert, Charles, Matsuki, Robinson, Edozie, Archer, Larin.
… so yes, this is Manchester City’s eighth consecutive season in the FA Cup semi-finals. Their overall hit-rate is pretty good, too: they’ve reached this stage on 20 previous occasions, making it to the final 14 times. But Southampton are pretty prolific as a semi-final concern too: this will be their 14th appearance, and though their success ratio isn’t quite as impressive, they have reached the final four times: 1976 of course, as a Second Division side; 2003 when in the Premier League; and 1900 and 1902 as a Southern League outfit. A pair of semi-final grandees, then, Saints from all the way back to the Victorian era, City relative newcomers as they had to wait for the Edwardian era for their first appearance in 1904. And yes I am killing time until the team news drops.
Preamble
Manchester City have had the bit between their teeth in the FA Cup this season. In the third round, they put ten goals past Exeter City, becoming the first top-flight club to notch double figures in the competition since Bill Nicholson’s famous Tottenham Hotspur side scored 13 times against Crewe in 1960. They’ve since gone to Newcastle and found the net three times, thrashed Liverpool, the reigning champions of England, by four goals, and … well, they only managed two against fourth-tier Salford in the fourth round, but let’s not spoil the effect. They’re UP FOR THE CUP, and what’s more, this will be their eighth consecutive FA Cup semi-final in a period which covers 21 matches against lower-league teams, City winning them all to the cumulative scoreline of 84-11. Eight in a row! 84-11! Southampton could be forgiven for not turning up.
But Southampton will turn up, and with good reason. Saints held City at St Mary’s towards the tail end of last season, having given Pep Guardiola’s men a good game at the Etihad earlier in the campaign. And then there was that Nathan Jones inspired League Cup victory early in 2023. So this is not necessarily a dream match-up for City, never mind a shoo-in, and that’s before one considers the emphasis they’ll surely, understandably, be putting on their pursuit of the Premier League, with Rodri unlikely to be risked this afternoon … and that Pep is not immune to being unceremoniously cashiered from the grand old competition, just ask Wigan. Oh, and there’s also the manner in which Saints majestically swiped aside Arsenal in the quarters: they’re UP FOR THE CUP too, and if Tonda Eckert’s team play like that again, City will have a few problems to solve.
So this is set up deliciously, with both clubs and their fans daring to dream. City have their eye on becoming the first team in history to reach four consecutive FA Cup finals, en route to their third FA Cup lift in eight seasons, and a possible domestic treble. Saints meanwhile want to mark the 50th anniversary of their proudest day with their second FA Cup win, and reaching a first final since 2003 is the necessary next step. Could be a cracker; let’s hope so. Kick-off is at 5.15pm BST. It’s on!
