Portsmouth Epitomise FA Cup Romance and Football Magic

Forget Tiger Woods and his comeback in the US Masters at Augusta. Forget the return of Michael Schumacher to Formula One, and forget the wonders of Lionel Messi, the heir to Diego Maradona.

Sport in 2010 has only one truly colossal story; the heroic rise from the players of Portsmouth Football Club in a massive tragedy, as they battle to the highest echelons in the greatest domestic cup competition in the world, in arguably the greatest sport in the world.

Football has witnessed on Sunday April 11, a truly magnificent story, as the team who were the huge favourites to lose ended up winning in a very intense, dramatic and scintillating encounter at the greatest sporting arena in England, Wembley Stadium.

Portsmouth beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 AET in the FA Cup semifinal, to progress to their second final in three years, where they will face current Premier League leaders and FA Cup champions Chelsea.

In sporting theory, Tottenham were the only ones capable of winning this match, as they had the better quality players, seemingly the better fitness levels, and a lot more confidence.

However, the rules of logic go out the window when it comes to the FA Cup, a romantic entity with a virulent prize that can create heroes and destroy egos.

It's idiosyncratic nature symbolises that of football in general, as North London's second biggest club found out to their detrimental demise.

The bookmakers reportedly had odds of 8/1 of Portsmouth winning this match, such was the confidence and belief that Pompey couldn't go any further in what seems to be an ineluctable cycle they're trapped in.

But for those who looked at the script, those were odds very much worth taking.

This is the FA Cup we're talking about, a competition which has its own opinion on who progresses through to the next round.

If you look back on the series of events that taken place throughout this turbulent 2009/10 season, it would be only fitting that Portsmouth should progress to the 2010 FA Cup Final.

After all, this is the club with the fans, players, and staff who have been so unjustly victimised by the ludicrous ambition, lack of control, and money mis-management executed by the important men in the boardroom at the top of the Portsmouth Football Club hierarchy.

Imagine being a season-ticket holder and life-long fan at the south coast club; one season you see your team win the FA Cup, the next see your team play AC Milan in the UEFA Cup, and the one after you see your team deducted points and relegated.

And in that last season, not only are they relegated, but a lot of the staff (people you have become friends with over the years) lose their jobs through no fault of their own, and the club you have loved so dearly are very much on the brink of extinction.

So for the fans who have invested so much in the club, it was only fitting that their investment to watch their team in the FA Cup at Wembley ended in deserved success.

These were the fans who, like anyone spectator in sport, have become so emotionally attached to their favourite team that their continued faith and monetary investment despite ridiculous, pointless and worthless performances from their football heroes simply deserved to be rewarded.

And if that wasn't a fitting enough reason for Portsmouth to win, then imagine being the manager, Avram Grant.

Appointed in November 2009 with a team languishing in the lowest depths of the Premier League table, you had to get this team winning again and high up the table.

It's an almost impossible task considering these players not only had no confidence whatsoever, but they were also evidently not up the standard required to play football in one of the greatest leagues in the world.

And with the only solution of purchasing better players blocked because of financial troubles and a billionaire owner unwilling to invest in such a poor team, the impossible task was simply confirmed as impossible.

So to then find yourself leading your team out five months later in an FA Cup semifinal is a massive achievement.

To then win it against a team with much better players and higher confidence is something quite different altogether.

And the fact that your opposite number, Harry Redknapp, took the team you're currently managing to FA Cup success two years earlier before leading them to financial troubles they're in today, makes the achievement even more incredible.

If a further line of convincement is needed to vindicate the fact Portsmouth were fitting winners, then just imagine being in the situation of a Portsmouth player on that pitch.

Overall, Portsmouth beating Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup is a fascinating story that really does epitomise how magic the sport of football can be.

Portsmouth, the poorest team who are bottom in the Premier League, will come up against the richest team who are top in the Premier League, Chelsea.

And for all the Portsmouth players who step out onto that pitch for the FA Cup final, it will be their final appearance for the club.

The script for the FA Cup semifinal has created a new one for the final itself.

Imagine if Portsmouth won against Chelsea in the 2010 FA Cup Final. A romantic "cupset" notion, it really would epitomise the magic of football, wouldn't it?