On Wednesday night Manchester United need to overturn a 2-1 deficit to reach David Moyes’ first major cup final in charge of the Red Devils.
Sunderland stand in United’s way at Old Trafford in the League Cup semifinal second leg, kick off at 2:45pm ET live on BeIN Sports in the USA, with 9,000 away fans expected to create quite a racket at one end of the famous stadium. Moyes and United hope the Black Cats fans won’t have much to cheer about.
If United do overturn the narrow first-leg defeat, which many including myself expect, then they will face fierce neighbors Manchester City at Wembley on March 2 in the Capital One Cup final.
Do fans of Manchester United really want that?
City just blew away West Ham 9-0 on aggregate in the other League Cup semifinal and they’ve already passed the 100 goal mark in their 35 outings so far in 2013-14.
United were pummeled, and I mean absolutely obliterated, at the Etihad back in September by their noisy neighbors in a damaging 4-1 loss that portrayed how much City had moved ahead of their rivals.
(MORE: League Cup semifinal - Three goals see Manchester City to 9-0, two-legged romp past West Ham)
It’s not untrue to say that most United fans are hoping they don’t beat Sunderland on Wednesday, to avoid the embarrassment of having their bottoms smacked in front of 90,000 at Wembley and billions watching across the world. One humiliation from City is about as much as United’s fans can handle for one season. If they make the League Cup final, it could happen three in a season (given the likelihood that City will stroll into Old Trafford and have their wicked way with United for the third season running).
But, and this is a big but, what if United made the final against City and won the trophy?
Surely it would be worth the chance of getting humiliated by your nearest and heavily despised rivals? The Charity Shielf aside, it would allow Moyes to lift his first meaningful trophy as United boss too.
A piece of silverware in his first season in charge would be more than Sir Alex Ferguson managed and it would clam everyone down about the rebuilding project the Scot has on his hands. Moyes’ dynasty would officially be off the ground and United could kick on for the final three months of the season with a renewed vigor and sense of belief that they can make the top four of the PL and make a deep run in the Champions League.
I say, why not?
Yes, City are blowing every team they play out of the water of late, heck even Barcelona are shuddering at the thought of visiting the Etihad in their last 16 UEFA Champions League tie and dealing with Alvaro Negredo, Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure, Vincent Kompany et al, but they have to lose sometime.
I’d hazard a guess that City wouldn’t fancy having all the pressure and weight of expectancy piled upon them as the favorites in a big cup final against their biggest rivals. Fans of the Citizens would be expecting a mauling of epic proportions. That air of optimism and self-confidence could be their own worst enemy and United may pounce to put one over on their nearest rivals. Remember the FA Cup final last season when Robert Mancini’s City crumbled and lost to massive underdogs Wigan at Wembley? They are a different team now, but the core of that side remains. The weight of expectancy in a big cup final was too much for some of City’s players to handle.
Is making the League Cup final an opportunity United can pass up? Or one they can’t afford to not take advantage of?
Maybe, just maybe, a League Cup trophy could be the catalyst for United’s woes to evaporate and see the Red Devils kick on for the remainder of the Premier League season.
