Broadsheet Views: FA Cup Semi-Final, 5th April 2008, WBA Versus Pompey

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/apr/07/sport.portsmouth
Pompey handle Baggies' challenge but do little to quicken the pulse
FA Cup Semi-Final West Brom 0 Portsmouth 1
Kanu 54 By David Lacey at Wembley Stadium, The Guardian,
Monday April 7 2008
Perhaps Portsmouth are saving their best till last. Having won a place in the FA Cup semi-finals through doughty defending at Old Trafford, backed by a penalty and a bit of luck, they reached their first final for 69 years after a largely turgid performance and a bit more luck, since the winning goal should have been disallowed for handball.


That said, the return of Harry Redknapp's team to Wembley on May 17 will bring some much-needed novelty to an occasion dominated for the past 17 years by Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea. For thirtysomethings such as Sol Campbell and Nwankwo Kanu, both of whom helped Arsenal win the FA Cup in Cardiff, there will be an opportunity to collect winners' medals at Wembley, and David James, 37, whose goalkeeping this season has been sufficiently inspired to regain him his England place, will get a chance to add an honour to a career which has been more colossal than calamitous.


West Bromwich Albion, the most prolific team in the four divisions, came to Wembley on Saturday having scored 99 times in all competitions this season but lost, paradoxically, because they did not start shooting until they had fallen behind despite dominating the first half with their precise passing. At least they can now concentrate on regaining the Premier League place they lost two seasons ago. As it is, reaching the last four has seen them taking an eye off the ball in the Championship so that where they once appeared to be heading for automatic promotion they are now hanging on for a place in the play-offs.


Not that Tony Mowbray and his team would return to Wembley for a play-off final with an extra spring in their step. Saturday's defeat followed the pattern of the way Albion lost last season's deciding play-off against Derby County when they were beaten by a solitary goal after having had most of the play.


Mowbray felt Saturday's display proved his team's ability to compete in the higher division. "In the Championship, teams do not allow you the space Portsmouth did here," he said. "That was not a rise-to-the-occasion performance you saw today. We've been doing this week by week."
Mowbray may be right. If West Bromwich do go up they may, like Reading or Ipswich, surprise opponents with the quality of their passing and movement, not to mention their finishing. Nevertheless it was noticeable on Saturday that free scorers such as the Czech international Roman Bednar and his replacement, Ishmael Miller, made little impression on the first Premier League defence they had encountered in this season's FA Cup, and that the experienced Kevin Phillips, for all his subtle touches, enjoyed few glimpses of goal past Campbell and Sylvain Distin.
Not that Portsmouth looked any more like scoring before they went ahead nine minutes into the second half. "Play up Pompey, Pompey play up," sang their supporters dutifully but for most of the first half Redknapp's side failed to move with the chimes.


Not only does Redknapp share the matey style of Terry Venables, he has a similar knack of spotting when something is not right and making the necessary adjustments. "In the first half they were passing the ball better than us," he explained, "and we had problems getting close to anybody. It was difficult making contact with them. So we changed things at half-time. We pushed Kanu up and brought in Niko Kranjcar and Papa Diop from the flanks to play a bit narrower."


Certainly Jonathan Greening and Robert Koren found the space they had exploited so well in the first half more elusive in the second and when Albion did threaten to bring the scores level late in the match the danger to Portsmouth came more from Carl Hoefkens and Paul Robinson advancing from full-back. By that time the contest should have been put beyond West Brom's reach, Milan Baros and David Nugent, who replaced him, fluffing opportunities set up by Kranjcar's perceptive passes.


At first sight Portsmouth's winner appeared to be down to a slick piece of work by Baros, who chested down a ball from Glen Johnson on the right, turning past Martin Albrechtsen as he did so. Dean Kiely managed to push away the Czech striker's shot but the goalkeeper's attempt to gather the ball was impeded by Zoltan Gera's lunge back to clear it. Amid the confusion Kanu, restored to the Portsmouth attack because Jermain Defoe was cup-tied, tapped the ball into the net.


Television replays showed that Baros, in taking the ball on his chest, had controlled it with an arm. In the immediate and bitter aftermath of losing a semi-final Phillips accused the referee, Howard Webb, of a dereliction of duty. "You know what these officials are like," he said. "They tend to bottle it a little bit in big games." The truth surely was that Webb had not seen the incident. It happens.


Astute low crosses from Hoefkens led to Koren glancing a shot off the Portsmouth crossbar with James looking beaten and Miller putting Albion's best chance of the game wide. After that Baggies became saggies but at least Mowbray's team had done enough to give the winners of the other semi-final more than a glimmer of hope.


Portsmouth, underdogs when they first won the FA Cup by beating Wolves in 1939, are hot favourites now. Not that they will hold the trophy for quite so long if they do win it - unless of course Germany decides to invade Poland again this September.


Man of the match Niko Kranjcar
whose vision and passing brought life to a previously lifeless attack after half-time.
Best moment Kranjcar's cleverly angled through-ball to Milan Baros just past the hour which the Czech striker should have turned into a second goal for Portsmouth

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/apr/06/sport.facup
Kanu claims treasure thanks to plunderer Baros
Observer report, FA Cup Semi-Final West Brom 0 Portsmouth 1
Kanu 54 By Paul Wilson at Wembley, The Observer, Sunday April 6 2008


Harry Redknapp is going to the FA Cup final, Portsmouth have a great chance of their first significant silver for over half a century, and it must be the city's maritime heritage that prompted the stadium DJ to play the Pirates of the Caribbean theme in celebration.

Portsmouth Pirates is perfect. Not because they stole this semi - one-paced West Bromwich were there for the taking - but if Captain Jack Sparrow had joined Redknapp, Tony Adams and Joe Jordan on the Pompey bench he would not have looked wholly out of place.

And there is definitely a piratical gleam in the eye of Nwankwo Kanu, now lining up an improbable third FA Cup winner's medal to add to a bulging treasure chest that also includes Champions League and Uefa Cup winner's medals, titles in Nigeria, Holland and England and an Olympic gold medal. This final hurrah could not be envisaged when the Kanu career was petering out at West Bromwich, though anything is possible for a player who made FA Cup history at the very first attempt. It was Kanu of Arsenal, if you recall, who inadvertently took advantage of a sporting gesture by Sheffield United on his English debut in 1999 to create a situation where Arsène Wenger even more sportingly offered a replay.

'We asked him to play 25 games to earn a new contract, but I'll give him one anyway,' Redknapp said, after Kanu's 26th game of the season. 'We've been relying on Jermain Defoe and I knew we would need someone to weigh in today.'

Albion have history too. They are still the only team ever to win the 'double' of promotion and FA Cup in the same season. They went into this game in a position to repeat their feat of 1931, and ended up sounding as though the promotion part is uppermost in their minds. 'We were good for 75 yards, but never threatened their goalkeeper enough,' manager Tony Mowbray said. 'We showed we could play, though, and if we take that attitude into our next six matches we could be playing in the Premier League next year.'

Albion were responsible for most of the early attacking without making any impression on the Portsmouth defence. Kevin Phillips had a couple of shots blocked, but only Zoltan Gera appeared to have the guile to outwit defenders. The Hungarian brought the first save of the game from David James, though after keeping Manchester United at bay for 90 minutes at Old Trafford in the last round Pompey were not about to be intimidated by a Championship strike force.

Instead, Redknapp's players kept their shape and bided their time, waiting for opportunities to launch Milan Baros on the break. Any Liverpool fan could point out a flaw in that strategy, however, and while Baros had a couple of promising openings it was no great surprise that half time arrived with the game still scoreless. Baros's most conspicuous contribution before the break was to get himself booked for bringing down the ball with a hand to leave himself a clear shooting chance, and even then he put his shot over the bar. Baros also failed to capitalise when Kanu offered him a half-chance in front of goal after 40 minutes, leaving a 30-yard free-kick from Sulley Muntari that flew straight at Dean Kiely as Portsmouth's only attempt on target in the first 45 minutes.

West Bromwich failed to cause James any further palpitations either, though a back header from Glen Johnson had him scurrying when a fumbled pick-up gave James Morrison a glimpse. It was a pity the game was proving so uneventful, since the atmosphere beforehand had been a real throwback.

For the record, Pompey fans kept up the noise for longer, partly because they have such a good tune and partly because from the 54th minute they had something to sing about. There was no real surprise in Kanu scoring against his former club - such things are written in the stars, like Peter Crouch scoring when Liverpool finally give him a start - though it was doubly ironic that the architect should be Baros. Because while the Czech did well to turn Martin Albrechtsen when Johnson launched a ball into the area, and even better to force a save from Kiely, replays suggested he again used an arm in controlling the ball. This time it was less blatant and was not spotted - if it had been, Portsmouth would have been down to 10 men - and Albion compounded their bad luck when Gera hacked the ball out of Kiely's clutches to present Kanu with a tap-in. Without Gera's intervention, Kiely would probably have saved at the second attempt, held the ball on the line or flicked it to safety.

That opened up the game and in an enjoyable last half-hour there were chances at both ends. Pompey ought to have made the game safe when Nico Kranjcar's through pass released Baros, though in a reversion to type the striker showed too much of the ball to Kiely. Robert Koren crashed a shot against James's bar in the best attack Albion had so far managed, then Ishmael Miller wasted a good opportunity by crossing too close to James, with Phillips waiting unmarked at the far post. David Nugent had a shot saved at the other end before Miller passed up perhaps the clearest chance of an equaliser, meeting Carl Hoefkens's low cross at the near post, but failing to keep his shot on target.

Right at the death, Nugent had an opportunity to double Portsmouth's lead, only to waft his shot unconvincingly over the bar. 17 May cannot come quickly enough for Redknapp. After that date Jermain Defoe will no longer be cup-tied.

Man of the match: Sol Campbell
Sulley Muntari was the liveliest of Portsmouth's offensive players but, like the Manchester United encounter, this result was based on defensive solidity. Campbell and Sylvain Distin formed an impenetrable barrier at centre-back, Albion could not get a look-in, and the 33-year-old captain led by example.

THE FANS' PLAYER RATINGS AND VERDICT
Terry Wills, Observer reader We didn't expect to win, but at the end we felt we should have done - whether Baros handled or not in the build-up for their goal. You couldn't tell which was the Premier League side, though we played the ball around too much, with one pass too many. But at least we know we'll be able to compete if we gain promotion. The whole of our defence played well, Koren hit the bar and Miller should have scored late on. It was a great day out, we did our share of the shouting and did the Championship proud. Now for Blackpool in the League on Tuesday - that's far more important.
The Fan's Player Ratings Kiely 7; Hoefkens 7, Albrechtsen 8, Clement 8, Robinson 8; Morrison 6 (Brunt 5), Koren 6, Gera 7 (Kim 5), Greening 7; Bednar 6 (Miller 5), Phillips 7
Rick Jewell, Observer reader I'm absolutely delighted, but it was a far tougher game than we thought. All credit to West Brom. They made us look second-best after half time, though without looking too threatening, and they will do better than Derby and Fulham if they make it to the Premier League. Thank goodness for Kanu - he's such a cool predator, unlike Baros and Nugent, who always seemed to need half a yard more thinking time. Our central defenders were impressive, particularly Sol. It's a pity about the Wembley allocation. We could half-fill the place. We've been waiting 69 years, after all.
The Fan's Player Ratings James 6; Johnson 6, Campbell 7, Distin 6, Hreidarsson 6; Diarra 6, Diop 7, Muntari 7, Kranjcar 6; Kanu 6 (Davis 6), Baros 6 (Nugent 6)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article3694648.ece
April 7, 2008
Harry Redknapp is so much more than ’Appy ’Arry
West Bromwich Albion 0 Portsmouth 1
Martin Samuel, Chief Football Correspondent, at Wembley Stadium
If all there was to Harry Redknapp was a quick wit and an easygoing manner, he would not have lasted two minutes in this sport, let alone to the age of 61. There is a saying in sport about where nice guys finish and it is not at Wembley in May or in a respectable position in the league.
The familiar line is that Redknapp is treated generously by press and public because he is good company and a lovable rogue, but that analysis is as shallow as the suggestion that his teams are solely about acumen in the transfer market and the throwing together of disparate elements in the hope that it works.

Tony Mowbray, the manager of West Bromwich Albion, who are pushing for promotion to the Barclays Premier League, knew why his team lost and there was nothing random about it. “Portsmouth have built their team on strong defence,” he said. “They are sixth in the Premier League on the back of defensive organisation. I take heart that not every team up there is as solid as they are.”

Hear that? Discipline, tactical acumen, order - the sort of qualities often overlooked in Redknapp, masked by a one-liner or a funny story. And, yes, it makes him a popular figure, but that will get a man only so far. Had Portsmouth lost at Wembley on Saturday, had Redknapp thrown away perhaps the best opportunity he will have to lift a leading trophy in English football, he could not have walked away from the calamity with a shrug of his shoulders and a quip.

There would have been a moment of reckoning and it would have been noted that, when it mattered, the Portsmouth manager could not rise to the occasion. And while no one would say that Saturday’s win was a peak performance – the match being won by a scrappy goal from Kanu after 54 minutes – Portsmouth kept it tight, stood up to a lively first-half assault from the Coca-Cola Championship team and improved considerably after half-time when Redknapp made tactical adjustments.

He had a lot to lose, taking over Portsmouth, leaving for Southampton, their fierce rivals, and then going back. Now the money made available by Alexandre Gaydamak, the owner, has begun to have an effect, some may believe that Redknapp had it easy. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Reflecting on his time at the club, he spelt out the journey he has taken.
“The first time here, when I was director of football and Milan Mandaric [the chairman at the time] asked me to take over as manager, I refused,” he said. “I really didn’t want it. They had finished just off the bottom five years running – twentieth, nineteenth, eighteenth, twentieth, seventeenth – and I thought, ‘No way do you turn this lot around.’ But he talked me into it and we won promotion as champions. Then I went to Southampton, left a really good team behind and when I returned they had a terrible one.

“First day at the training ground Dejan Stefanovic, who was the captain and a good player before I left, said to me, ‘Gaffer, you’ve got no chance here. This is the worst team I have seen. You must be mad.’ After one morning’s training I realised he was right. I thought, ‘What am I going to do with this lot?’ Where they found some of them, God knows. It was a poor side, bottom of the league and rightly so.

“I remember going to Wigan Athletic, knowing that if we had gone down that day it would have been hard for me to carry on. People forget, I did not come back here with everyone welcoming me, out on the pitch, arms in the air, waving to the crowd. They all say they did now, but when I walked off at Aston Villa after the first game all the banners said ‘Judas bastard’, stuff like that. If I had not got them out of relegation, they would have slaughtered me.”

And that is the side of Redknapp that is often ignored – the one in which he plays the unremarkable role of the damn fine manager, getting his head down, getting on with the job and building useful, often entertaining teams. Why? Because everyone prefers the colour and charm of ’Appy ’Arry, the cheerful Cockney cliché. And he exists, too, just not at the expense of the other guy.

Still, for lovers of light entertainment, here is a true Harry story from the week before the semi-final. He gets a letter, the sort that managers receive all the time. Bloke says he follows Portsmouth home and away with his wife, been to every round of the FA Cup but can’t get a ticket for Wembley. Doesn’t know how the internet works, can’t get to the ground as he lives in Wales.

Harry, being Harry, takes him at face value, phones, leaves a message, says he will call back. It is April 1, but Harry doesn’t remember that. When they finally speak, the bloke says he has been rowing with his mates for two days, thinking it was a wind-up. Anyway, Harry sorts him out. Two together, good seats, too. Now, Arsène Wenger, the manager of Arsenal, seems a charming man also, but can you imagine him doing that?

Redknapp’s secret is that he is not frightened. Not frightened to phone a supporter out of the blue in an act of kindness (because that really does open Pandora’s box with an FA Cup Final around the corner) and not afraid either to make Tony Adams his assistant, when many saw the former Arsenal and England captain as a stalking horse, a threat if things went wrong, rather than a useful colleague.

“I never worried about his presence for one minute,” Redknapp said. “I love having Tony with me. What a player he was. I want Tony to be manager here when my time is up.”
And if, because Redknapp has the confidence to put strong personalities and one of England’s greatest defenders on his staff, Portsmouth have got to a Wembley final by winning four of their five FA Cup ties 1-0, doesn’t that make him a clever old stick? If Fabio Capello were to do that he would be hailed a tactical genius; only because it is Redknapp does anyone think that it happens by accident.
How they rated
West Bromwich Albion (4-4-2): D Kiely 6 C Hoefkens 6 M Albrechtsen 6 N Clement 6 P Robinson 6 Z Gera 6 R Koren 7 J Greening 6 J Morrison 6 R Bednar 5 K Phillips 7 Substitutes: I Miller 6 (for Bednar, 60min), C Brunt 5 (for Morrison, 60), Kim Do Heon (for Gera, 74). Not used: M Danek, Pele.
Portsmouth (4-4-2): D James 6 G Johnson 6 S Campbell 7 S Distin 7 H Hreidarsson 7 P Bouba Diop 6 L Diarra 8 S Muntari 7 N Kranjcar 6 M Baros Y 6 Kanu 7 Substitutes: D Nugent (for Baros, 71min), S Davis (for Kanu, 80). Not used: J Ashdown, Lauren, P Mendes.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=A1YourView&xml=/sport/2008/04/05/ufnfacup105.xml
Portsmouth book FA Cup final spot
By Vicki Hodges and agencies
West Brom (0) 0 Portsmouth (0) 1
Man-of-the-match: Paul Robinson (West Brom) 8/10. Made seven tackles and completed 88 per cent of his passes
A close-range strike from former West Brom striker Kanu was enough to book Portsmouth's place in this season's FA Cup final with a narrow win at Wembley. The Championship side had taken the game to their Premier League opponents and dominated much of the first half.

Kevin Phillips impressed in attack for Tony Mowbray's underdogs and signalled West Brom's intent with the first effort on goal after five minutes, but his 25-yard shot flew over David James' crossbar.

Two minutes later Zoltan Gera stung James' palms with another effort from outside the area. Although the England goalkeeper failed to hold Gera's fiercely struck shot, Sol Campbell was able to clear the danger.

Portsmouth, who failed to get their game going, emerged from the interval with renewed vigour and broke the deadlock inside 10 minutes of the restart through Kanu.

Milan Baros cushioned Glen Johnson's right-wing cross on his chest - albeit with a hint of handball - inside the area and struck a right-foot volley from the angle of the six-yard box.

Den Kiely produced a fine one-handed save diving to his right, but could only take the pace off Baros' shot and the ball continued to roll agonisingly towards the goalline where Kanu was lurking to score from three yards.

While Mowbray's response was to make a double substitution in the 61st minute, Portsmouth went close to doubling their lead when Baros was put through on goal by Niko Kranjcar.
Despite being well placed, the Czech striker was indecisive as he bared down on Kiely and allowed the Albion goalkeeper to rush from his line and make the save.

Portsmouth will face the winners of tomorrow's all-Championship tie between Cardiff and Barnsley at Wembley. Defeat for West Brom, meanwhile, leaves them concentrating on their bid to win promotion back to the top-flight.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=A1YourView&xml=/sport/2008/04/05/ufnfaquotes105.xml
Phillips blames officials for West Brom defeat
By Vicki Hodges and agencies

Portsmouth's Baros appeared to have used his arm to help control Glen Johnson's pass but his shot was saved by Dean Kiely before Kanu tapped in the loose ball for the only goal at Wembley.

Gutted: Phillips disappointed with referee following defeat
"You know what these officials are like, they tend to bottle it a little bit in these big games," Phillips said.

"We can hold our heads up high, Portsmouth have been very lucky today if we found that goal when we dominated in the first half."

The former Aston Villa and Sunderland striker was impressive throughout in leading the line for Tony Mowbray's side and he didn't feel West Brom deserved to finish on the losing side.
"We just couldn't find that goal but we've shown we are a quality footballing team," he said.

Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp was delighted after seeing his side battle past West Brom to reach the final where they will face the winners of tomorrow's tie between Cardiff and Barnsley.
"It's fantastic to be going to a cup final," Redknapp said.
"Full credit to West Brom, they made a game of it but it's a great day for the club. It's great for the support, I'm delighted for everybody.
"We didn't pass the ball as we can and they passed it better than us for long spells, they are a good team and I think they'll come up this year."
Portsmouth goalkeeper David James said: "I thought we dominated the game, they had a minimal amount of chances.
"It's typical of Portsmouth in the FA Cup this season, we seem to struggle first half but we were confident we were going to win the game."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=A1YourView&xml=/sport/2008/04/05/ufnfacup205.xml
Portsmouth book FA Cup final spot
By Duncan White at Wembley

West Brom (0) 0 Portsmouth (0) 1
Man-of-the-match: Paul Robinson (West Brom) 8/10. Made seven tackles and completed 88 per cent of his passes

One year short of the Biblical three score and ten Pompey are back in the FA Cup final.
In front of a record crowd for a semi-final in this competition, Harry Redknapp's side squeezed past their Championship opponents to earn a return to this stadium on May 17.

Occasions like this occur only once in the life cycle of a Portsmouth fan and, judging by the jubilation at the final whistle, there was little danger of it being underappreciated. Redknapp was dignified in victory, extending immediate condolence to his rival Tony Mowbray. However, his adrenaline must have been pumping – winning this tournament would be the pinnacle of a remarkable managerial performance on the South Coast. In two spells at the club he has taken them from second-tier mediocrity to Premier League force.

With these two sets of fans among the most voluble and passionate in the country, the game was never going to want for atmosphere and commitment but, excluding a thrilling final quarter of an hour, this was a niggly, twitchy game, not aided by the poverty of the pitch.

Portsmouth’s winner, scored by the veteran Kanu, was not without its share of controversy.
All game Portsmouth had been hitting long balls down the channels for Milan Baros and finally one of these hopeful passes paid off.

Glen Johnson found him in the box, but in trapping the ball the Czech striker seemed to use as much arm as chest. His subsequent shot was well saved by a diving Dean Kiely only for the ball to squirt loose along the goal line. With Hermann Hreidarsson thundering in, Zoltan Gera hooked the ball away, arguably preventing Kiely from gathering. The ball went straight to Kanu and the gangling Nigerian tapped it into the empty net.

Redknapp claimed that "it never entered my head that it might be hand-ball", but with Baros having already been cautioned in the first half for deliberately using his arm to control the ball, West Brom’s players were furious.

Had the decision gone their way, the Portsmouth striker could even have been sent off.
Still Albion might have clawed their way back to parity. Carl Hoefkens, breaking from right back, twice set up team-mates with excellent opportunities. After a strong run and neat pass by the Dutchman on 75 minutes, Robert Koren sent a powerful shot rattling back off the Portsmouth bar. Ten minutes later Hoefkens’s low cross was hit wide of the near post by substitute Ishmael Miller. By then Portsmouth should have been coasting. With Albion increasingly desperate, huge gaps were opening on the counter- attack.

Midway through the second half Baros was played in by an elegant Niko Kranjcar pass only to take an unnecessary second touch. Kiely had already gone to ground but he managed to seize on Baros’s hesitancy to block the striker’s progress. The hard-running Czech was replaced shortly after, Redknapp calling on David Nugent. In between running offside, the man impersonating a £6 million England international contrived to botch two fine chances to get that important second goal. First he shot straight down Kiely’s throat when well-positioned and then, with just moments left in the game, he nailed a text-book conversion after being set up by the excellent Lassana Diarra.

Aside from Koren hitting the bar, Albion struggled to prise open Portsmouth’s wrought-iron rearguard. Sol Campbell and Sylvain Distin are so brutally stingy at the heart of the back four that even the wiles of Kevin Phillips, the Championship’s player of the season, did not really trouble them.

David James, the England goalkeeper, was less obdurate however. In the first half, with Albion passing and moving with fluidity, he twice spilled the ball. With just six minutes gone Gera’s shot dipped late and James could only push the ball loose. Campbell was there to police the situation.
Even more worrying was when, with half-time approaching, James somehow managed to fumble a straightforward claim, giving the lurking Phillips a sniff of a goal from nothing, not to mention raising the communal heart-rate.

It had not been much of a half. Redknapp felt that his players were struggling to get in amongst their opponents and it was true that the Championship side did look the more technically adept in the opening stages.

"We had problems getting close to people, what with Gera moving off the wing and Phillips coming short," Redknapp explained.
"We changed at half-time, getting Kanu to drop deeper, pushing Kranjcar further up and getting Papa Bouba Diop to come narrower."

Diop had been stationed on the right wing and at 6 ft 7 he is no natural winger. With the midfield tightening up, Portsmouth could impose their physical superiority on their opponents. Cardiff and Barnsley will not have watched this act of suffocation with comfort – it will take a mighty effort to prevent Pompey captain Campbell from lifting that jug-eared trophy next month.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=A1YourView&xml=/sport/2008/04/06/sfnfro106.xml
Harry Redknapp relishes a Wembley victory
By Duncan White

Harry Redknapp has not won a cup in more than 1,000 games as a manager and Portsmouth have not won this prestigious trophy since the onset of the Second World War. But after defeating West Bromwich Albion 1-0 at Wembley yesterday, the charismatic Cockney and his Fratton Park brigade are now overwhelming favourites to win the FA Cup on May 17.

With a controversial second-half goal from Kanu, scored after Milan Baros had used his arm in the build-up, Portsmouth overcame a shaky start to defeat their Championship opponents and give Redknapp the chance to win his first major trophy. Should his side triumph over either Barnsley or Cardiff in the final, he will become the first English manager to take home the old pot since Everton's Joe Royle in 1995.

"It was fantastic, a good day," Redknapp said. "It's great for the fans to look forward to a Cup final. It's great for everyone at the club. I look at where we were two years ago [almost relegated from the Premier League], or five years ago when we were near the bottom of the Championship and now we are sixth in the Premier League and in a Cup final."

Redknapp was quick to concede that his side had struggled against West Bromwich Albion in the first half. "They set off better than us," Redknapp said. "They're the best footballing team in the Championship. They get the ball down and they're confident.

"We knew we were never going to get a better chance to get to the Cup final, though. We'll be rightly favourites in the final but on the day, anything can happen."

West Brom striker Kevin Phillips was furious with referee Mark Clattenburg for failing to spot a handball by Baros in the move that led to Portsmouth's goal. "You know what these officials are like, they tend to bottle it a little bit in these big games," Phillips said. "We can hold our heads up high. Portsmouth have been very lucky today. I don't think we deserved to lose."

Unsurprisingly, Albion manager Tony Mowbray was swift to shift the emphasis back to his club's pursuit of promotion and they could well be back at Wembley in the play-off final. "It was important to come out of this game with belief and confidence," Mowbray said. "It would have been very disappointing if we'd failed to perform. The message coming out of the dressing room is that there are six games to go, let's go and earn the right to play teams like Portsmouth every week."

For Portsmouth, a Cup final win would take them into Europe for the first time but Redknapp refused to get ahead of himself: "Europe? Yeah, that'd be nice," he said. "I don't give a monkey's really. I just want to win the FA Cup."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/04/06/sfgpor106.xml
Portsmouth victory ends long FA Cup wait
By Duncan White at Wembley Stadium
West Bromwich Albion (0) 0 Portsmouth (0) 1
One year short of the Biblical three score and ten Pompey are back in the FA Cup final. In front of a record crowd for a semi-final in this competition, Harry Redknapp's side squeezed past their Championship opponents to earn a return to this stadium on May 17. Occasions like this occur only once in the life cycle of a Portsmouth fan and, judging by the jubilation at the final whistle, there was little danger of it being underappreciated.

Redknapp was dignified in victory, extending immediate condolence to his rival Tony Mowbray. However, his adrenaline must have been pumping - winning this tournament would be the pinnacle of a remarkable managerial performance on the South Coast. In two spells at the club he has taken them from second-tier mediocrity to a Premier League force.

With these two sets of fans among the most voluble and passionate in the country, the game was never going to want for atmosphere and commitment but, excluding a thrilling final quarter of an hour, this was a niggly, twitchy game, not aided by the poverty of the pitch.

Portsmouth's winner, scored by the veteran Kanu, was not without its share of controversy. All game Portsmouth had been hitting long balls down the channels for Milan Baros and finally one of these hopeful passes paid off. Glen Johnson found him in the box, but in trapping the ball the Czech striker seemed to use as much arm as chest. His subsequent shot was well saved by a diving Dean Kiely only for the ball to squirt loose along the goal line. With Hermann Hreidarsson thundering in, Zoltan Gera hooked the ball away, arguably preventing Kiely from gathering.

The ball went straight to Kanu and the gangling Nigerian tapped it into the empty net. Redknapp claimed that "it never entered my head that it might be hand-ball", but with Baros having already been cautioned in the first half for deliberately using his arm to control the ball, West Brom's players were furious. Had the decision gone their way, the Portsmouth striker could even have been sent off.
Still Albion might have clawed their way back to parity. Carl Hoefkens, breaking from right back, twice set up team-mates with excellent opportunities. After a strong run and neat pass by the Dutchman on 75 minutes, Robert Koren sent a powerful shot rattling back off the Portsmouth bar. Ten minutes later Hoefkens's low cross was hit wide of the near post by substitute Ishmael Miller.

By then Portsmouth should have been coasting. With Albion increasingly desperate, huge gaps were opening on the counter- attack. Midway through the second half Baros was played in by an elegant Niko Kranjcar pass only to take an unnecessary second touch. Kiely had already gone to ground but he managed to seize on Baros's hesitancy to block the striker's progress.

The hard-running Czech was replaced shortly after, Redknapp calling on David Nugent. In between running offside, the man impersonating a £6?million England international contrived to botch two fine chances to get that important second goal. First he shot straight down Kiely's throat when well-positioned and then, with just moments left in the game, he nailed a text-book conversion after being set up by the excellent Lassana Diarra.

Aside from Koren hitting the bar, Albion struggled to prise open Portsmouth's wrought-iron rearguard. Sol Campbell and Sylvain Distin are so brutally stingy at the heart of the back four that even the wiles of Kevin Phillips, the Championship's player of the season, did not really trouble them.

David James, the England goalkeeper, was less obdurate however. In the first half, with Albion passing and moving with fluidity, he twice spilled the ball. With just six minutes gone Gera's shot dipped late and James could only push the ball loose. Campbell was there to police the situation.
Even more worrying was when, with half-time approaching, James somehow managed to fumble a straightforward claim, giving the lurking Phillips a sniff of a goal from nothing, not to mention raising the communal heart-rate. It had not been much of a half.

Redknapp felt that his players were struggling to get in amongst their opponents and it was true that the Championship side did look the more technically adept in the opening stages.
"We had problems getting close to people, what with Gera moving off the wing and Phillips coming short," Redknapp explained. "We changed at half-time, getting Kanu to drop deeper, pushing Kranjcar further up and getting Papa Bouba Diop to come narrower."

Diop had been stationed on the right wing and at 6 ft 7in he is no natural winger. With the midfield tightening up, Portsmouth could impose their physical superiority on their opponents. Cardiff and Barnsley will not have watched this act of suffocation with comfort - it will take a mighty effort to prevent Pompey captain Campbell from lifting that jug-eared trophy next month.

Best moment: Robert Koren could not have struck his second half shot any more cleanly, David James unable to do anything but watch the ball fly past him. Unfortunately for the Slovenian and his team-mates, the ball slapped against the bar and went over.Worst moment: He was Portsmouth’s only real attacking threat all afternoon, but Milan Baros was guilty of the worst miss of the game. Put clean through by a neat Niko Kranjcar through ball, he dithered on the ball until Dean Kiely.

Man of the match
Paul Robinson (West Brom) 8
 Made seven tackles
 Completed 88 per cent of his distribution

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=A1YourView&xml=/sport/2008/04/06/sfnkan106.xml
FA Cup win a timely reminder of Kanu's can-do
By Roy Collins

The longer Kanu plays, the fewer boxes remain unticked. A list of achievements that began with the Under-17 World Cup and continued when he came on as a teenage substitute in Ajax's Champions League triumph over Milan in 1995 - Patrick Kluivert scored the winner and Clarence Seedorf and Edgar Davids also contradicted Alan Hansen's assertion that you win nothing with kids - seems certain to be extended when the rangy Nigerian starts an FA Cup final for the first time on May 17. What a career. What an advertisement for Italian heart surgery. A few months short of his 32nd birthday, Kanu would have been all but guaranteed a place in Portsmouth's line-up for the final even if he had not claimed the only goal of this disappointing match.

With Jermain Defoe ineligible because he played for Spurs in the Cup this season and the squad's other striker, David Nugent, still struggling to look anything but a £6 m blot on Harry Redknapp's transfer-market copybook, Kanu and Milan Baros can expect to face notionally less formidable Championship opponents back here next month.

Poor West Bromwich, the club to whom Kanu went on a free transfer after his Arsenal years ended in 2004, had reason to feel aggrieved about the goal because Baros, who had already been shown the yellow card for handling a long ball from Lassana Diarra, used an arm to tame one from Glen Johnson before getting in the shot Dean Kiely could only parry during the prelude to Kanu's tap-in.

But that was the responsibility of the referee, Howard Webb, and his assistants, not Kanu, whose FA Cup fortunes have been a strange mixture since he made his Highbury debut in a tie against Sheffield United nine years ago. On that occasion, collecting a Ray Parlour throw intended for the visiting goalkeeper, who had put the ball out so an injury could be treated, Kanu set up a winner for Marc Overmars; Arsenal, acknowledging their newcomer's innocent error, sportingly offered to play the match again, and again won.

Twice Kanu went to FA Cup finals with Arsenal and, although he received winner's medals, played a mere nine minutes as substitute for Thierry Henry against Chelsea in 2002 and never got off the bench against Southampton a year later. Now, having found his way to the south coast in one of Redknapp's smarter moves - again no fee was involved when he arrived in the wheeler-dealer summer of 2006 - Kanu is the man of the hour. Actually he lasted an hour and 20 minutes before giving way to Sean Davis.

Such a useful player to have at the front - Henry once said all you had to do was hang around Kanu and sooner or later he would slip you a chance - he seemed the ideal foil for the less crafty but quicker Baros. Afterwards, Redknapp disclosed that Kanu's contract stipulated he must play 25 matches to earn another year at the club. That requirement has now been reached, but the manager said: "He was going to get another year whatever happened. He hasn't scored for a while and we've been relying on Defoe for goals. I remember thinking we'd need someone to weigh in."

And so Africa's most decorated footballer ambles on. Even as a youngster, Kanu was deceptive, so tall he had to put up with the usual jibes about having lost his birth certificate, but he did well enough in picking up a trio of Dutch titles for Internazionale to sign him and, by leading his country to a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics, became a serious figure on the world stage. His progress was interrupted by the diagnosis of a heart defect and, after being out for six months following an operation to replace a valve, he had played a mere dozen matches for Inter - even if one was a successful Uefa Cup final - when Arsene Wenger paid £4 m for him.

Here his curriculum vitae has grown to embrace two Premier League titles and that pair of FA Cups. What price the hat-trick? Portsmouth will retrace their steps to Wembley as red-hot favourites, for all the luck they enjoyed yesterday against a Championship side who played the majority of such passing football as could be contrived on a pitch that, while not quite English football's answer to Terminal Five, is hardly worthy of its national theatre. Portsmouth played the longer game and were, I suppose, vindicated. But the likes of Kanu, Niko Kranjcar, Sulley Muntari and, for that matter, the more technically significant representatives of whichever club prevails today deserve a less cloying surface. Let's hope six weeks is enough to provide one.

Kanu factfile
Born: Aug 1 1976 (Owerri) Clubs: Fed Works, Iwuanyanwu Nationale, Ajax, Inter Milan, Arsenal, West Brom, PortsmouthInternational caps: 69 (Nigeria) Goals: 13 Honours: 1993 U-17 World Cup, Nigerian Premier League, 1994, 95, 96 Dutch Eredivisie, 1995 Champions League, 1996 Olympic gold,1998 UEFA Cup, 2002, 2004 Premier League, 2002, 2003 FA Cup, 2004 Community Shield 1996, 1999 African Footballer of the Year

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=A1YourView&xml=/sport/2008/04/07/sfnjim107.xml
Harry Redknapp's Portsmouth in FA Cup final
By Jim White
Last Updated: 1:20am BST 07/04/2008
Portsmouth fans celebrated victory with the traditional chant of those on the cusp of the final: "Que sera sera/Whatever will be will be/We're going to Wember-lee." The fact they were actually already there, singing at Wembley, didn't seem to strike any of them as odd. Maybe, to reflect these credit-crunch times when the Football Association require the semis to be played at the traditional final venue in order to meet the payments on the mortgage, it is time to rewrite the Cup song book. Though "we're coming back again in a month's time to Wemberlee" doesn't really scan.

For most of the 83,584 in attendance, any breach of custom mattered little. This was a record crowd for a game at this stage of the competition and they were determined to enjoy it. After all, it had been a long time since either set of supporters were anywhere near the Cup's conclusion. On the train to the ground, a bunch of West Brom fans suddenly realised that their noisy ditties about Wolves were being conducted in the quiet carriage.

"Please excuse us," said one of them. "Only we're a bit over-excited. See, we've not been here for 40 years."

For Portsmouth it was even longer -1939 was the last time and a lot had happened in those 69 years. Though according to their manager, Harry Redknapp, most of it had occurred in the last three. Reflecting on his victory, Redknapp recalled returning to the club after his ill-starred trip along the coast to Southampton. "The first time at the training ground, Dejan Stefanovic, who was the captain, said to me: 'Gaffer, you've got no chance here. This is the worst team I have ever seen. You must be mad.' After a morning's training I realised he was right. I thought: 'What am I going to do with this lot?' Where they found some of them, God knows."

Things have changed a bit since then. After a total rebuild of his side, Redknapp is now within 90 minutes of altering the direction of Cup history. Not just by becoming the first English manager since 1995 to lift the trophy, but in breaking the recent stranglehold of the big four. Though no one could accuse Portsmouth of not being big. As West Brom's Kevin Phillips and Zoltan Gera made their way along the Pompey line-up before the game, shaking hands with David James, Papa Bouba Diop and the rest, it looked like men against boys. And the Championship's leading scorers simply found Portsmouth's giant back-line too sizeable an obstacle to outmanoeuvre.
However well they kept possession in the first half, the Baggies never looked remotely threatening; Jonathan Greening, their best player, did most of his neat, controlled passing in the centre circle. Portsmouth contained and held, and then administered the sucker punch. Thus have Redknapp's side arrived at the final without ever once playing as fluently as they can. Though, as the chants ringing around Wembley suggested, no one associated with the club particularly minded.

"The owner was here. He's delighted," Redknapp said. "He sent me a text from the League Cup final, which said: 'My dream is to go to Wembley for a Cup final, can you take your team to Wembley?' And I thought, 'oh no, someone else wants a ticket', so I read it again and it was Sacha [Gaydamak]." No wonder Redknapp was smiling. In a year in which lurid allegations had buzzed round him like a particularly irritating fly, here was vindication. Something he was keen to seize with both hands. "I signed a new contract at the start of the year," he said. "The owner has backed me.New stadium, new training ground. The club is in great shape. When I get in that car tonight, I will go ' get in there!' Two glasses of red and I'll be singing. Then drive home."
After saying that, the architect of Portsmouth's revival paused for a moment to consider. Did he really need any more negative attention this year?
"Nah, you're right," Redknapp said. "I won't be driving."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=A1YourView&xml=/sport/2008/04/07/sfnpor107.xml
Kanu keeps Portsmouth FA Cup fairytale alive
By Martin Smith
West Bromwich Albion (0) 0 Portsmouth (0) 1
It had to be Kanu. Free transfer scores against his old club: the FA Cup didn't really need to extend itself to come up with that story. Sometimes the best plot-lines are the most blindingly obvious. "For 'The King', it couldn't have been written any better," said David James, the Portsmouth goalkeeper, Kanu's long-time nickname no longer sounding pretentious, but royally deserved.

Reign supreme: Kanu is mobbed by team-mates after scoring Portsmouth's winner at Wembley
Yet when Dean Kiely - also against a former club, the mischievous script-writers would have noted - scooped the ball away from his goal-line for the second time following Milan Baros's shot, it would have been Kanu that West Bromwich fans wanted to see closing in on the rebound.
It was while wearing an Albion shirt 3½ years ago that Kanu contrived to miss one of the easiest chances ever. Two-one down, a minute to play, the ball came over low in front of the Smethwick End, Kanu stretched and, from a yard out, ballooned the ball over Middlesbrough's crossbar.
If they were hoping he would do something similar under the Wembley Arch they had misjudged their man. From almost three times the distance he kept his composure and tucked the ball neatly past the fallen bodies on the line. Sixty-nine years of FA Cup frustration in Portsmouth were released in that one moment. "Everyone was coming to me [before the game], telling me I was going to score," Kanu said. "I believed in it. I didn't know how it was going to come. And the way it came was a lucky one, but I will take it."

For all the gap-toothed grin and trademark lopsided cap off the field and the long-legged, languid, almost awkward style on it, Kanu is a central figure in manager Harry Redknapp's south coast renaissance.

"Kanu is an inspiration," midfielder Niko Kranjcar said. "It's great to play with him. When you don't know where to give the ball, you give it to him and you get it back. It looks like the ball sticks to his foot; he's got glue on his boots."

He has had a wonderful career. It would be prosaic to suggest that an appearance in the final next month would be the peak; it will, after all, be his third, and he already has two winner's medals, plus assorted others from the Champions League, Uefa Cup, Premier League and Olympic Games.

However, Kanu said: "It would be nice to get a hat-trick [of FA Cup wins], especially at a team like Portsmouth where nobody gave us a chance. Yes, we feel there's a lack of respect. With the players we've got, a lot of people under-rate us. "But we, the players, know what we can do within ourselves. We are not afraid of any team."

Despite a quarter-final victory at Old Trafford, it has been a less than serene journey through the five rounds for Portsmouth. In beating four Championship teams, they have ridden their luck, weathering storms and benefitting from last-minute own goals. At Wembley, it was a case of West Bromwich losing it more than Portsmouth winning it. "We have found it hard," Redknapp admitted. "One of the problems is like today, I had a bit of a dilemma. We have played our best stuff with 4-5-1. We went to Newcastle: ripped them to pieces; Aston Villa: beat them three. We won 12 away games playing 4-5-1 and that system suits us perfectly.
"Today I thought, 'I'm playing Championship opposition at Wembley, do I stick one up there? Does it send out a negative vibe?' So I stick two-up, but we ain't as fluent when we play 4-4-2."
West Bromwich dominated midfield in the first half. Jonathan Greening, Zoltan Gera and Robert Koren tied Portsmouth in knots with their intricate passing, and determination. However, for all their possession - and it was running at 68 per cent at one stage - they did not hurt Portsmouth.
Kevin Phillips and Roman Bednar have scored 39 of West Bromwich's 99 goals between them this season, yet they seemed overawed by the prospect of taking on Sol Campbell and Sylvain Distin in the Portsmouth defence. Phillips dropped too deep - at one point having five team-mates ahead of him - and Bednar too wide; they had one shot between them all afternoon.
Greening was forced back into his own half during a second half when Lassana Diarra, Sulley Muntari and Papa Bouba Diop imposed their muscularity on the game. West Bromwich had chances after Kanu's goal, Koren hitting the crossbar, Ishmael Miller skewing just wide, without looking as if they were going to equalise.

There was more than a suggestion of handball by Baros in the build-up to Kanu's goal. "We're not going to bellyache about it," Kiely said. "We put up a good display and lost."
Tomorrow night's game at Blackpool is more important: a win might take Albion top of the table. Unlike Portsmouth, they want to avoid another visit to Wembley. "I don't want to come here again [for the play-off final]," Phillips said. Kanu and his new chums cannot wait to return.

Talking point
Tony Adams believes there will be more winners of the FA Cup from outside the 'Big Four'. "Why?" Portsmouth's assistant manager said. "Because of the Champions League. We are getting stronger and stronger in that. Players will be keeping their eyes on that and it may have a knock-on effect. "


http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/fa-league-cups/portsmouth-back-in-fa-cup-final-after-69-years-805032.html
Portsmouth back in FA Cup final after 69 years
By Mike Collett, Saturday, 5 April 2008
Portsmouth reached the FA Cup final for the first time in 69 years on Saturday when a 54th minute goal from Nwankwo Kanu gave them a 1-0 semi-final win over West Bromwich Albion at Wembley Stadium.

The Premier League team's slender victory over their Championship (second division) opponents ended the chance of this year's final being the first to be contested by two teams from outside the top flight since league football started in England in 1888-89. Portsmouth will now play either Cardiff City or Barnsley, who meet in an all-Championship semi-final on Sunday, in the final at Wembley on May 17.

West Brom, who were the better team for much of the first half, went close to an equaliser when Robert Koren hit the bar after 75 minutes, but Portsmouth held on to reach the final for the first since they won the cup for the only time in 1939.

With so much at stake for both clubs who were chasing a rare appearance in the showpiece of the English game, the match was a typically tense semi-final that only really came to life in the second half.

Portsmouth, who had largely been outplayed in the opening 45 minutes, broke the deadlock against the run of play when West Brom failed to deal with a long, speculative ball played deep into their box by Glen Johnson. Milan Baros collected the ball between his chest and upper arm then turned and fired in a low shot which goalkeeper Dean Kiely failed to hold.

As the ball ran across the face of the goal Zoltan Gera attempted to clear the ball to safety but could only find Kanu who made no mistake from three metres out to score against his former club.

Baros then had a great chance to wrap up the match for Pompey after 66 minutes but squandered his effort and was substituted five minutes later.

West Brom went forward in search of an equaliser and almost drew level when Koren's well-struck 20-metre shot flew back off the bar with 15 minutes to play.

NO THREAT
Neither side posed any real attacking threat in a poor first half, although West Brom, seeking a place in the final for the first time since they won the FA Cup in 1968, looked the livelier of the two sides.
With Kevin Phillips dropping deep into midfield and both James Morrison and Gera looking to get forward when they could down the flanks, West Brom at least appeared to be looking to score wheras Portsmouth were content to absorb pressure.
Gera had the only dangerous shot on target in the opening half too, and caused some momentary panic in the Portsmouth defence when David James fumbled his well struck sixth minute shot before recovering to save it.
Portsmouth's one direct attempt of the opening half came after 30 minutes when Sulley Muntari sent a 30-metre free kick directly into Kiely's arms.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/fa-league-cups/west-bromwich-0-portsmouth-1-trickster-works-his-magic-for-pompey-805460.html
West Bromwich 0 Portsmouth 1: Trickster works his magic for Pompey
By Glenn Moore at Wembley StadiumMonday, 7 April 2008

Harry Redknapp was in his element: holding court in the bowels of Wembley, talking football, cracking gags, and reminding everyone what a basket case Portsmouth were before he rescued them six years ago.

He should not have to keep repeating this but, perhaps due to his cheeky-chappie, wheeler-dealer image, Redknapp has never been granted the respect he feels his achievements warrant. He may never have won a title or a cup, but since Brian Little and Roy Hodgson are the only English managers currently in work who have, he is far from alone there. Turning Portsmouth from perennial Championship stragglers to Premier League respectability, and steering them to a first trip to the FA Cup final in 69 years, is no mean feat.

Portsmouth's performance on Saturday underlined that, behind the laughter a smart football brain is whirring. They did not play well. Indeed, Redknapp admitted, they have not played well at any stage in their Cup run. But Portsmouth never looked like being beaten. Redknapp spoke afterwards of playing 4-4-2 instead of his preferred 4-5-1 so as not to appear negative, but it did look as if Portsmouth's game-plan revolved around defending deep to suffocate West Bromwich Albion's free-scoring attack in the safe knowledge that the Championship club's notoriously porous defence would eventually leave a hole. Redknapp's reputation may be built on attractive football, on indulging flair players like Eyal Berkovic, Lomana Lua Lua and Kanu, but the reality is he builds the tricksters' platform first.

Look at Saturday's defence. In goal was the England No 1 making his 778th senior appearance. The back four have played more than 1,700 matches between them, including 131 internationals. They have pace in Glenn Johnson and Sylvain Distin and are physically imposing with an average height of 6ft 2in. Not many teams are going to beat this quartet in the air. Nor are they easy to get behind. So you have to play through them.

Albion tried. They dominated first-half possession with Jonathan Greening pulling the strings but Lassana Diarra is hard to evade and only once, when a flowing move ended with Zoltan Gera worrying James from the edge of the box, did they threaten.

From less possession Portsmouth had looked more dangerous and early in the second half Milan Baros turned Martin Albrechtsen and, though Dean Kiely saved his shot, Kanu tapped in. The Czech probably handled in the process, but it was not a Maradona-type offence. Tony Mowbray, Albion's impressive manager, did not make a fuss.

Though Robert Koren hit the bar, and Ishmael Miller missed from close-in, Albion may not have got that near had Carl Hoefkens not been able to take advantage of an injury-hampered Hermann Hreidarsson.

While Albion turned their thoughts to Blackpool away tomorrow, and the resumption of their promotion campaign, Redknapp's wandered down Memory Lane. He recalled, "When Milan [Mandaric] asked me to take over [in May 2002] I refused. I really didn't want to be the manager. They'd finished 20th, 19th, 18th, 20th, 17th.

"I thought well, you ain't going to turn this round. But we did, we got a new team and we won the Championship. We've never really looked back." He then remembered the infamous walkout to join Southampton. "There was a blip. I left a really good team behind and came back and took over a terrible one. They bought a load of oddmarks. Dejan Stefanovic, who was the captain, said to me, 'Gaffer, you've got no chance here. This is the worst team I have ever seen. You must be mad'. I thought, 'Well, let's see'. After a morning's training I realised he was right."

Redknapp wheeled and dealed and Pompey stayed up – to his considerable relief. "It would have been hard for me if we'd got relegated. I did not walk back in here with everyone welcoming me back. It's no good them all saying, 'Oh yeah, we did'. There was banners up, 'Judas' and all that, from our supporters. It was, 'I've got to do it here, or they'll slaughter me.'" Then Mandaric sold to Alexandre Gaydamak. This year the Russian went to the Carling Cup final with Roman Abramovich. "He sent me a text," said Redknapp. "It said, 'My dream is to go to Wembley for a cup final,' and I thought, 'Someone else wants a ticket'. Then I realised it was Sacha. I thought, 'Hold on, we've got Manchester United away in the next round'.

"When that draw came out I was playing golf with Jamie [Redknapp], some old Etonian and Alastair Campbell. Peter Storrie [Portsmouth's chief executive] was describing the draw on the phone. When he went 'Man United... Portsmouth', I threw my eight-iron further than the ball. They all looked at me thinking, 'What is he doing?'

"We got through, then I get a letter from a fella who says he had been to every round but he couldn't get a ticket. He'd moved to Wales and wasn't sure how to work the internet. So I phoned him and left a message, 'Hello Geoff, it's Harry Redknapp. Ring you later'.

"Of course, it's April 1, but I'd forgotten that. I get him the next day and he says, 'I've had a row with all my mates thinking they was on the wind up'."
Geoff will be on the phone again now. "Two together please Harry, 17 May, Wembley."

Goal: Kanu (54) 0-1
West Bromwich Albion (4-4-2): Kiely; Hoefkens, Albrechtsen, Clement, Robinson; Gera (Kim, 73), Koren, Greening, Morrison (Brunt, 60); Bednar (Miller, 60), Phillips. Substitutes not used: Danek (gk), Pele.
Portsmouth (4-4-2): James; Johnson, Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson; Diop, Muntari, Diarra, Kranjcar; Kanu (Davis, 80), Baros (Nugent, 71). Substitutes not used: Ashdown (gk), Lauren, Pedro Mendes.
Referee: H Webb (Yorkshire).
Booked: Portsmouth Baros.
Man of the match: Johnson.
Attendance: 83,584.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/fa-league-cups/portsmouth-1-west-bromwich-0-portsmouth-and-kanu-make-most-of-helping-hand-805189.html
Portsmouth 1 West Bromwich 0: Portsmouth and Kanu make most of helping hand
West Bromwich outplay Premier League opponents but arm of Baros and Albion old boy send Redknapp's side into the final
By Steve Tongue at Wembley Sunday, 6 April 2008
Five years ago, as Portsmouth's director of football, Harry Redknapp cringed with embarrassment as his team went in at half-time 4-0 down to West Bromwich Albion. His club's sense of satisfaction at reaching the FA Cup final while sitting sixth in the Premier League is therefore understandable, as well as offering hope to all those suffering dark days in the doldrums. Redknapp must take most of the credit for the transformation, though true satisfaction will only come through finishing the job against either Barnsley or Cardiff City to win his first major trophy in 25 years of management.

West Bromwich may be, in Redknapp's words, "the best footballing team in the Championship by a mile" but the way Portsmouth struggled against them in the first 45 minutes confirmed that they cannot take a first FA Cup win since 1939 for granted. Albion's bright movement and neat passing was undermined by a failure to make sufficient chances, which always had the potential to cost them dearly. So it proved 10 minutes into the second half, when their former striker Nwankwo Kanu scrambled in a goal that should have been disallowed for a handling offence by Milan Baros.

If beaten FA Cup semi-finalists can rarely manage to look on the bright side of life, the losing dressing-room yesterday was less of a morguethan normal, as the players immediately resolved to put bitter disappointment behind them and achieve the season's true priority of promotion back to the Premier League. Last season they knew the despair of losing a play-off final here, and with six games to play the target must be to avoid risking a similar fate.

"Let's hope there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow," said Tony Mowbray, a manager whose lugubrious mien makes Avram Grant look like Tommy Cooper. "The message coming out of the dressing-room is, 'Let's go and earn the right to go and play teams like Portsmouth every week'. On the balance of play and chances created, there was nothing in it."

Redknapp admitted that the first half had not gone as planned. "They passed the ball better than us and we had problems," he said. "At half-time we dropped Kanu a bit deeper and had bodies in the middle of the park, and it worked better for us. If we play as we can, we've got a fantastic chance of winning the FA Cup, but we all know that on the day anything can happen."
On 17 May Portsmouth will have to go about their work more successfully than in the first half yesterday. By half-time the two goalkeepers had made one save apiece, though Dean Kiely's for Albion was nothing more than a straightforward catch from Sully Muntari's optimistic 35-yard free-kick. David James, being David James, made harderwork of keeping out a shot by Zoltan Gera, who had been neatly set up by Kevin Phillips. The manner in which Phillips dropped off into midfield to link up the play offered the Championship side much promise, but once they moved the ball closer to goal, Portsmouth's excellent back-four provided a formidable barrier.
Luck ran their way for the goal, however, Baros, who had already been booked, using his arm to control Glen Johnson's pass before hitting a shot that Kiely did well to keep out. The goalkeeper might then have reached the loose ball but for the presence of Gera, who hacked at it, allowing Kanu to tap in. Ports-mouth's best spell followed, during which Baros should have secured victory. Played in by Niko Kranjcar, he delayed and was denied by Kiely.

A proper Cup tie had at last broken out, the ball flying from end to end at greater pace as players tired. Albion, seeking their 100th goal of the season, might have had it when Gera won possession back and shot high, or when Robert Koren took Carl Hoefkens' pass and hit the bar with James beaten. Ishmael Miller took the wrong option in crossing towards Phillips when Koren was unmarked, then Portsmouth, taking off Kanu and reverting to 4-5-1, should have capitalised on Kim Do-Heon's mistake, Kiely saving from the substitute David Nugent.

Albion finished with their goalkeeper in the opposing penalty area, hoping to reach a left-wing corner, but when it was cleared the referee, Howard Webb, indicated that their race had been run – for now. Mowbray, to his credit, was not inclined to dwell on Baros's handling, pointing out: "There's nothing I can do about it now."

Phillips was more forthright about the decisive moment of the game, claiming: "You know what officials are like in these big games, they tend to bottle it a little bit. I don't think we deserved to lose, but promotion is our main aim." It would be a deserved achievement.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/fa-league-cups/albion-see-good-signs-in-bad-luck-805187.html
Albion see good signs in bad luck
By Ronald Atkin at WembleySunday, 6 April 2008

So Portsmouth go back to Wembley next month for the Cup final and West Bromwich Albion go to Blackpool on Tuesday in continued pursuit of promotion to the Premier League. On this performance, it is a division in which they would not, for a change, struggle.

Pompey were the strugglers in yesterday's FA Cup semi-final, especially in the first half, when Albion's domination verged on the embarrassing against a side chasing a place in Europe. With Kevin Phillips tormenting the central defensive pairing of Sol Campbell and Sylvain Distin, Portsmouth's manager, Harry Redknapp, was patrolling his technical area with only a dozen minutes gone, issuing worried signals. Normally, Harry likes to mull over things from his seat in the first half, but so clearly were things going wrong that there was even a beseeching note to the supporters' famous "chimes" of Play Up, Pompey.

They never did play up to any sort of impressive level, not even after the winning goal, which was Nwankwo Kanu's lone, if crucial, contribution against the club where he spent two years before moving to Portsmouth in 2006. Phillips won the battle of the oldies (34 against Kanu's 31) but not the war. Booed from the start by Pompey's supporters because of having once played for Southampton, this scorer of 200 League goals in a five-club career could not find one in his favourite position, playing just off Albion's target man, Roman Bednar.

In fact, David James was only marginally busier than his opposite number, Dean Kiely. Even so, James's end-of-match assertion that "we dominated today" was a long way wide of the mark. Perhaps he had forgotten his 36th-minute blooper, when he moved to the edge of his box and lost the ball, regaining control just ahead of Phillips' arrival. Had that brought a goal, Albion would surely have seen off the last of the Premier League clubs in a season full of woeful Cup performances by teams from the top division.

Having eliminated Manchester United in the quarter-finals, Portsmouth were unable to reproduce anything near that display. "We didn't pass the ball," Redknapp lamented. They didn'trun much, either, being beaten to the ball all over the pitch until they scored.

Albion revelled in the space and you could almost see the thought bubble, "If this is what happens in the Premier League, bring it on". They were undone, in the end, by cruel luck just as Redknapp was preparing to make changes. Milan Baros clearly handled the ball in bringing Glen Johnson's free-kick under control before getting in a shot which Kiely shovelled aside. He would have reclaimed possession had not Zoltan Gera, with the best of intentions, cleared it off the line into the path of Kanu, whose simple sidefoot was the deciding factor.

Redknapp substituted him with 10 minutes left and sent on Sean Davis to reinforce the midfield on the basis of 'what we have, we hold'. And hold on they did, the closest to embarrassment being the Robert Koren crossbar clipper before the substitute Ishmael Miller turned his shot the wrong side of a post.

"All credit to West Brom," said Redknapp. "Tony Mowbray has got them playing the right way. They will go up this year." Mowbray was content to endorse that forecast. "It was important we came out of this game with a bit of confidence and belief," he said. "We are a decent enough team to get out of [the Championship]." It was impossible to argue with Phillips' contention that "we didn't deserve to lose". Or his follow-up: "We can hold our heads high. Portsmouth have been very lucky".

And Albion? Definitely unlucky, for the second time in less than a year at this location, having been beaten by the same score by Derby in the Championship play-off final at the end of last season. Next time, with a bit of luck.