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Fashion nightmare FA Cup loss to Man Utd haunts Liverpool's Fowler
LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) -- Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler still has nightmares about his last trip to an FA Cup final when he lined up for the Reds in a 1-0 defeat by Manchester United in 1996. The young international forward had been earmarked for a starring role in a game expected to be a classic between two of English football's biggest clubs. Liverpool lost to Eric Cantona's 85th-minute winner but the ridicule the Reds suffered that day for wearing cream Giorgio Armani suits on the pitch before kickoff still lingers in the Anfield air. According to Fowler, the mockery will not stop until Liverpool lay the cup final ghost to rest by winning the trophy for the sixth time in their history when they play Arsenal in Saturday's final. "Everyone says that no one remembers the losers, but everyone remembers that we lost in '96 -- and the suits as well," Fowler said. "But if we can win the cup it will shut a few people up about our suits because we won't be wearing cream again. "Having been in the FA Cup final before, you get a taste for it," he said. "Hopefully the outcome this time will be a lot better than the last one. Scant reward"The match against United was a very poor game. It was the final everyone wanted but the game just didn't live up to expectations." But the 27-year-old Fowler would settle for another dour encounter against Arsene Wenger's side as long as he could add another medal to his personal trophy cabinet. Two League Cup winners' medals, from the 2-1 victory over Bolton in 1995 and the penalty shoot-out defeat of Birmingham earlier this season, are scant reward for a player of Fowler's talents. "I actually don't mind if this game is poor either as long as we are victorious at the end," he said. "I've had a nightmare in the past couple of seasons because of injuries so I just want a winners' medal, especially in the FA Cup as losing in 1996 still rankles with me badly." Liverpool, having already won the League Cup this season, play Spain's Alaves in the UEFA Cup final on May 16 and Fowler dreams of a trio of trophies to make up for the past. "The FA Cup is something we want to win badly as we haven't won many trophies in the past 10 years. Important games"Now we can see a very good chance of winning not one but two trophies in a week. Hopefully that will go some way to making up for the lack of success in recent years." Fowler captained Liverpool in the League Cup but fears he may have to miss out on a starting role in the FA Cup final, a move that newspapers in England have speculated could end the one-club hero's Anfield career. "It's not nice to miss games, and we are talking cup finals here. The gaffer [Gerard Houllier] doesn't use the word rotation but we know what it is. "He rests players and as professional footballers we want to play in every game. It's not nice to sit on the bench or be in the stands watching your mates and itching to be out there. "These important games are the situations that can change lives if you go out there and score goals." Scoring goals is one job that Fowler, 16 times an England international, knows how to do. After finally beating an ankle injury that had plagued him for two years, the Liverpool-born forward has scored 14 times this season. But now he must wait for manager Houllier to decide whether his eye for goal or Michael Owen's pacey penetration best compliments Emile Heskey's powerful style on Saturday.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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