Alcorcon 4-1 Real Madrid, Or: Why the English FA Cup Doesn’t Have All the Romance

By: Daryl | November 11th, 2009

avacorn fan copa del rey

Real Madrid beat Alcorcon 1-0 at the Bernabéu last night, which wasn’t nearly enough to prevent Los Galácticos losing 4-1 on aggregate and exiting the Copa del Rey. So the team that spent nearly a quarter of a billlion euros this summer has been bounced out of the cup by a team from Segunda B, the third tier of Spanish football.

Rather than bang on about the irony of that, I want to ask a question. I read Rob’s post about the fabled romance of the FA Cup this weekend, and I didn’t disagree with it. I grew up watching the FA Cup and enjoying the stories about small teams knocking off big teams. Giant-killings. Because of this, there always seemed to be an agreement that the FA Cup is special, and somehow better than cup competitions in other footballing countries.

My question: Is this still true? (Was it ever?)

I understand that the FA Cup has more history than any other knockout tournament. It’s been played since 1871, and that’s certainly a big deal. I also understand that part of that perceived FA Cup magic is that really really small non-league teams can enter, unlike in the Copa del Rey which is limited to the top three divisions plus the fourth tier champions. But while those really really small non-league teams can potentially go up against the big boys, they do so only very rarely and in recent history they always lose. Due to the massive massive money gap between Premier League and non-league, the days of Ronnie Radford and non-league Hereford beating top tier Newcastle are over.

Alcorcon 4-1 Real Madrid goes some way to proving that David vs Goliath is no longer a uniquely FA Cup phenomenon. Can you imagine a League One side knocking a near-full strength Man Utd out of the FA Cup, and how many “magic of the cup” headlines that would generate? Alcorcon 4-1 Real Madrid is exactly that story, to be filed alongside other non-FA Cup-based upsets like Ligue 2 side Guingamp going all the way and actually winning the Coupe de France last season. Plus, it gets better. Alcorcon’s opponents in the 5th Round? Barcelona.

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Category: Spain La Liga

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Richard

I believe the FA cup has lost a lot of its romance, Wenger and Arsenal don't particularly value it anymore, and the dominance of the Big 4 in reaching the latter stages in recent years (apart from the 2008 anomaly with Portsmouth, Cardiff, Wst Brom and Barnsley in the semi finals), still rules out any real dreams of minnows getting very far. It's still fun to bet on, but since I moved to Holland, I've been absolutely fleeced on odds. Check out these discrepancies! http://tiny.cc/A9E8V
OhYes

Marquez is playing like shit.

Maxwell isn't a starter, just came into the team this season

Bisquits has scored more goals for the opposition this seas than he has for Barca in his entire career, youngster

Iniesta still hasn't recovered well, but has been improving

Pedro! is a youngster, inexperienced

Bojan recently back from injury, youngster, playing like absolute crap

---------------

Jeffren, Jonathan dos Santos, Fontas (subbed in)

Messi came in at 60min and Xavi came in at 65min, barely did anything. This was AFTER the youngsters on offense (Bojan, Jeffren, Perdo, JDS) completely annihilated the visitors' defense AND midfield.

And yes Guardiola would have tried changing things had something gone wrong, but he started with a B-team and it got the job done before Messi and Xavi came in. This is in contrast to Madrid's 90% A team that got treated in the first leg, and should have gotten owned this last leg, too.
Oli

Hang on OhYes, a team containing Alvez, Pyol, Marquez, Maxwell, Busquets, Iniesta, Pedrito and Bojan, with names like Xavi and Messi coming on, is not 'not really caring'.

That team was always going to win, and if it wasn't, Guardiola would have changed thing to ensure it did.
Hector

Two things:

1) It's incredible how Goal.com and Wikipedia can mislead the masses. Barcelona and Alcorcon will NOT definitely meet for the next leg. There is a draw to be held in December in which the 1/8 matchups are determined. Repeat: Alcorcon and Barca MAY match up in the next leg but probably won't because a draw will be made.

2) RM really did want to make a draw for the Triplete. Barca winning it before them really did hurt. It showed in their line ups for both legs. They came out with all big gun first team players and not a single youth team canterano played even a second in any of their legs. If Ronaldo had been healthy you could bet that he would have played next to Kaka. It seems to me that they wanted to win. Then again, RM seems to be cursed in the Copa seeing as how they haven't won in a LONG time. The grind of competing for La Liga and the UCL every year (both with higher priorities) makes it hard for RM and Barca to make a serious challenge.
OhYes

Had you seen the game, you wouldn't be saying that. Poor little RM tried hard, very, very, hard to get to the next round. Add this to last season's embarrassment (booted by a 2a division team) plus the Barca Treble and this copa mattered.

Of course, that defense (we didn't really care) is what one would expect if a 250m+ club got crapped on by a team worth less than 1m.

Barca didn't really care, either. Proved so by putting up a team made mostly of inexperienced youngsters and out-of-form payers coming back from injury. Score: Barcelona 5-0 Cultural Leonesa

See you in next year's cup, Real Madrid. That is, if the clubs in the 3rd and 2nd division let you through.
Rob

It is a fabulous story, and take absolutely nothing away from Alcorcon, I love this kinda stuff. But I would agree with the above comments that perhaps Real aren't as interested in the Cup as Chelsea, Arsenal or Man United are in the FA Cup.
Al

All I know is that in Italy, nobody really cares except that a club can win a spot in the Europa (previously UEFA) cup with a win so the mid-table Serie A clubs must try harder.
Oli

Well, Adam, clearly it isn't impossible because I did it on football manager, which, as we well know, is a perfect representation of the real world.

On a more serious note, there's not a chance Barca will let the same thing happen to them.
Adam

I had been led to believe that in it's current form, the Copa del Rey is basically impossible for any team not from the Primera to make it to the final.
Drabik

Hey. I'm no expert on the Spanish league, but I may as well put forward my views. I dont think that the Spanish teams care so much about the cup, especially if they are aiming for success in a european competition. All you have to do is look at the winners in the past 10 years.

2009: Cup winners - Barcelona - league position 1st
2008: Valencia - 10th
2007: Sevilla - 3rd
2006: Espanyol - 15th
2005: Real Betis - 4th
2004: Real Zaragoza - 12th
2003: Mallorca - 9th
2002: Deportivo - 2nd
2001: Real Zaragoza - 17th
2000: Espanyol - 14th
1999: Valencia - 4th

So only 5 times in the past 10 years has a team won the Copa del Rey, and finished in the top 4. Compare this to the FA cup, where in the past 10 years, only Portsmouth (8th 07/08) and Chelsea (5th 99/00) won the FA cup, finishing outside the top 4.

Less unexpected results happen in the FA cup, because a) non-league and lower teams have to reach round 3 (proper) before facing top opposition and b) premier league teams care more about it.