Source: Daily_Mail
Martin Samuel: Why we're better off with a winner from out of the blue
The best team lost but the better team won. How so? Well, ManchesterUnited were the best team for the duration of the match and should havehad a penalty which would have dispensed with the need for extra time,let alone penalties.[LNB]Yet it was better that Everton returned toWembley, for all sorts of reasons, but mainly because winning the FACup means more to a club labouring in the slipstream of the elite thanit does to the overachieving champions of England, Europe and the world.[LNB] King James: Vaughan enjoys Everton'svictory[LNB]And while history will not, after all, be made this season, it is also desirable that there will be no Manchester United quintuple. It is good for football to be left with new worlds to conquer.[LNB]The proliferation of daft hats told the story. Plenty on the blue side, few on the red. For one half of the stadium this was the biggest outing since 1995, when Everton became the last club from outside the quartet of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool to defeat one of the elite in an FA Cup final.[LNB] Fever pitch: Wembley not fit for my stars to play on, blasts fuming FergieMan Utd 0 Everton 0 (2-4 on pens): Jagielka wins the lottery as defender samples penalty joy after referee Riley ignores tripManchester United v Everton: All the action as it unfolded at Wembley[LNB]By contrast, Manchester United appeared not to have sold out their section, red seats dotted around the red shirts as supporters who may yet have to find money for an end-of-season trip to Rome expressed disapproval at being dragged all the way to London for a game that would once have been played at Villa Park.[LNB]They had a point but the horse has long bolted on the subject of the use of Wembley for weddings, funerals, bar mitzvahs and semifinals, and seeing the joy victory brought to Evertonians, it was hard to advocate an arrangement that would have denied some of them the opportunity to see their team in a genuine moment of triumph.[LNB]And, no, nothing is won yet; but glory is a revised commodity these days when the prizes are shared among such a tiny number. The Seventies produced nine different FA Cup winners, the Eighties accounted for seven, the Nineties six, and this decade has only had five so far, making it the most predictable since the 1870s.[LNB]In this climate, to defeat Manchester United in an FA Cup semifinal - the first loss at this stage of the tournament that Sir Alex Ferguson has experienced and the first for Manchester United in 39 years - counts as a big day out, a vivid memory for all that were here.[LNB]There is no medal at the end of it and Manchester United supporters and the uncommitted may soon struggle to recall the details at all, but from the way the blue half of the stadium erupted when Phil Jagielka's winning penalty hit the net, it was obvious that, for the Joe Schmos of the Premier League, glory must be grabbed when it can.[LNB] Victory salute: Everton chairman Bill Kenwright (right) celebrates in the stands with culture secretary Andy Burnham (left)[LNB]Before the game, Ferguson had used Rafael Benitez's description of Everton as a small club as an excuse to take another swipe at the Liverpool manager. He accused him of being disrespectful, which is ironic considering that Manchester United yesterday fielded a team which made it perfectly clear where the FA Cup final, and therefore beating Everton, sat in their list of priorities.[LNB]There were only two guaranteed first-team players in the starting line-up, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, and Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney were not even left as options on the substitutes' bench. This will be seen in some quarters as an outrage, but fighting on so many fronts, and with a crucial match against Portsmouth on Wednesday, it would seem Ferguson had little option. So mitigation, yes, but sympathy no. United are a big club, with vast ambition and there will be consequences. [LNB]And Benitez was right: compared to those clubs who compete regularly in the Champions League, Everton are small. Not in support, or history, but in resources and reputation in the modern game.[LNB]The only chance a club such as Everton have against one the size of Manchester United is that the big club may be overstretched in a crucial game. That is what happened yesterday and it drew neutrals to root and hope for Everton, too.[LNB] Perhaps Ferguson's decision to rest so many players had an intimidating effect. Everton went from being underdogs to favourites in the eyes of many the moment the team sheet appeared, yet in the shootout they held their nerve well and scored four from five, despite Tim Cahill's initial miss.[LNB]Against his old club, goalkeeper Tim Howard saved twice as well. Order will quite probably be restored when Chelsea arrive for the final, particularly if coach Guus Hiddink, in what he says will be his last game in charge, goes with his first team, but Everton manager David Moyes has more than a month to get his game plan right and he is good at that.[LNB]Chelsea may have played in a European Cup final in Rome just three days previously, if all goes well against Barcelona. Certainly nobody at Everton will be joining the complainants on the subject of under-strength teams if that is what awaits. These days, for those staring up at the Premier League's bejewelled select few, it is probably for the best.[LNB] Fever pitch: Wembley not fit for my stars to play on, blasts fuming FergieMan Utd 0 Everton 0 (2-4 on pens): Jagielka wins the lottery as defender samples penalty joy after referee Riley ignores tripManchester United v Everton: All the action as it unfolded at Wembley [LNB] [LNB]
