Wednesday, September 23, 2009

League Cup - Final 16

The third round of the League Cup has finished and we are left with 16 teams battling it out for the third most prestigious trophy in England. Here they are according to their current league rankings:

1. Chelsea
2. Manchester United
3. Liverpool
4. Manchester City
5. Aston Villa
6. Tottenham Hotspur
7. Arsenal
8. Sunderland
9. Stoke
10. Everton
11. Bolton
12. Blackburn
13. Portsmouth
14. Scunthorpe
15. Peterborough
16. Barnsley

Canadian Content in the Carling Cup

There is one Canadian & two possible Canadians remaining in the tournament. Iain Hume of Barnsley is the Canadian International, while Porstsmouth's keeper (for this tournament anyway) is Asmir Begovic who represented Canada at the U20, but has shown a desire to represent Bosnia at the Senior level, though they have yet to cap him. The other possible Canadian is David Hoilett who plays at Blackburn. He has the opportunity to play for us, but it looks likely that he will represent Jamaica instead.

The Next Round

The draw for the next round is random and will take place on Saturday. Here are the match ups that I am hoping for:

1. Manchester United - Peterborough aka the Battle of the Fergies. If you are unaware Peterborough are managed by Sir Alex's son Darren.

2. Arsenal - Spurs. A North London derby always a good match.

3. Liverpool - Everton. A Merseyside derby always a good match.

4. Barnsley - City. A big draw for the Tykes and a potential Cupset too.

5. Scunthorpe - Chelsea. A big draw for the Iron and a potential Cupset too.

6. Aston Villa - Blackburn. I think this would be a great game. Blackburn tend to play more open attacking football in the Cup, should be a lot of goals.

7. Portstmouth - Bolton. A chance for Pompey to make up for their blown points last week.

8. Stoke - Sunderland. Will Sunderland's new high power offense be able to break down Stoke at the Brittainia?

So there are my ideal matches for the round of 16. What do you think of them? Which matches would you like to see?

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