Up for the Cup

Troubled Blackburn, Spurs clash in League Cup final

Teddy Sheringham: "It is the dream of every professional to captain the team you have always followed." Phil Cole/Getty Images

CARDIFF, Wales (AP) -- Blackburn plays in its first cup final in 42 years this weekend, but manager Graeme Souness has more pressing concerns: fighting relegation.

Rovers face Tottenham at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, on Sunday in the League Cup final, but both clubs have other priorities.

Blackburn is fighting for Premier League survival, while Tottenham views the game as a stepping stone toward a future challenge for the league title.

It could be the first domestic cup final ever played indoors.

Officials said Friday the stadium's retractable roof could be closed in the event of continuing rain. A final decision will be made by 11:30 a.m. Sunday, but both clubs have given their consent to playing under the roof.

"If it is felt to be in the best interests of the game and spectator comfort we will close the roof," Football League spokesman John Nagle said.

Souness says the game -- the first cup final of the English soccer season -- marks a distraction from his No. 1 goal of staying in the top flight.

Rovers are in relegation danger, second from bottom in the table with 25 points. They've lost 10 of their last 12 league matches.

Blackburn doesn't want to follow the example of Middlesbrough, which reached the 1997 FA Cup final, only to be relegated to division one.

"If we win the Worthington Cup and get relegated it will not be a good year for us," Souness said. "If we stay in the Premier League after getting to a cup final that will be a good year for us.

"There is no doubt the cup competitions are now devalued and that the Premier League is the leading competition."

Still, Souness has told his players to make the most of the experience.

"How many players in this country play in a cup final?" he said. "It's only a small percentage. Some players go through their careers, have very good careers, but never play in a cup final and never win anything."

Blackburn last played in a cup final in 1960, losing 3-0 to Wolverhampton 3-0 in the FA Cup. Rovers won the FA Cup in 1928, but never the League Cup.

But Souness, who captained Liverpool to victory over Tottenham in the 1982 League Cup final, has featured in 14 finals as a player and manager and lost just once.

"I've won cups in other countries, and the actual taste of winning something is unique," he said. "I want to experience that again."

Souness started his career as a teenager with Tottenham, but manager Bill Nicholson shipped him off to Middlesbrough.

"I have great memories of my time at Tottenham, my first professional club, my first everything," he said. "I learned a wee bit about what the business is about from four years at Tottenham. I think I drove them mad during those four years, but I enjoyed the largest part of it."

Hoddle, meanwhile, has led Tottenham to a cup final in his first full season as Spurs manager, but has his sights on bigger things. Tottenham currently lies eighth in the Premier League table.

"Getting to a cup final in my first season is fantastic, but I have to make sure that success here is long term," Hoddle said. "It is unrealistic to think that we might be challenging for the championship next year. That is going to take time, but it is the second part of the plan. This final would be a significant way toward developing on that route and a foundation toward it."

Hoddle still relishes the chance of securing a trophy for Spurs, who won the League Cup in 1973 and 1999.

"Leading out the team in a cup final will have a significant feeling for me because I have been associated with this club for so long as a supporter, player and now manager," he said. "But I am really only looking forward to the walk back down that tunnel with the trophy. We are there for one thing only, to win the cup."

The game also features a subplot involving Tottenham striker Teddy Sheringham and Rovers forward Andy Cole. As former teammates at Manchester United, the two feuded and refused to talk to each other.

Sheringham, who has won the FA Cup, scored in the Champions Cup final and won three league titles, considers captaining Spurs on Sunday as one of his greatest achievements.

"It will be a wonderful moment for me to lead the team out, perhaps the proudest," he said. "It is the dream of every professional to captain the team you have always followed. Only one thing will make that even better and that will be to collect the Cup at the end."

Cole has been suffering from a stomach virus, but Blackburn said Friday he trained with the squad and "is fit and eagerly look forward to the big match in Cardiff on Sunday."

Due to make his debut for Blackburn on Sunday is Spanish striker Yordi, who was signed on loan this week from Real Zaragoza.

"I would describe him as an old-fashioned, more `English' type of center-forward of a few years ago," Souness said. "But he's mobile and he's bigger than the other two we have up front, so he'll give us something different."

Rovers are without the suspended Garry Flitcroft, Tugay and Craig Short, while Lucas Neill is ineligible. Stig Inge Bjornebye is expected to recover from flu.

Tottenham, meanwhile, avoided a defensive injury crisis after Anthony Gardner and Goran Bunjevcevic returned to action for the reserves Wednesday.

Darren Anderton and Ledley King are also expected to be fit after they missed last weekend's FA Cup fifth round victory over Tranmere with a hamstring injury and tonsillitis, respectively.

Bookmakers William Hill list Spurs as 1-2 favorites, with Blackburn as 6-4.

 

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