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| The FA Cup trophy |
A near constant in my conversations with casual soccer fans and non-fans alike is the confusion cup competitions cause when trying to understand international soccer. To most American sports fans, a cup competition is an alien concept. Most sports (baseball, football, basketball and ice hockey) in America compete against teams in their league for the league title and that's it. Other than during the preseason, when was the last time the Red Sox played the Yankees with anything other than a trip to the World Series on the line? Matches like the recent clash between Manchester United and Liverpool (check out the highlights here), or Arsenal'sstunning comeback against Aston Villa just wouldn't happen outside of the league in US sports.
In an effort to help the uninitiated begin to understand the craziness that is the soccer fixture list in other parts of the world (and America's domestic soccer scene for that matter), here's a brief history/explanation of the FA Cup:
