Let's call a spade a spade. Portsmouth have qualified for the final of the FA Cup by cheating.
Milan Baros deliberately controlled the ball with his arm before creating the only goal of yesterday's semi final. He would not have been able to control the ball so well if he had not been able to cradle it with his arm, making it drop at his feet.
It's a huge shame that neither Howard Webb nor his linesman saw it. There are several reasons, but the basic one is that players are so good at cheating now that they will be too good for referees. Webb will have been furious when he saw the incident and will re-examine every angle of the replays to see if there was anything he could have done better.
There probably wasn't. It was a long ball so he was sprinting to catch up with the incident. When Baros handled the ball 10 yards out, Webb was still 10 yards outside the penalty area, a good 20-25 yards away from the ball. His assistant, it may be argued, was better positioned, but the incident happened at high speed and the touch was subtle. Only the camera picked it up clearly.
But the shocking fact is that the cheating is condoned. Portmouth will not be punished and neither will Baros. In fact he'll probably pick up an FA Cup winner's medal. I hope, when he's an old man, he tells his grandchildren about how he cheated to win the FA Cup.
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