Cosmopolitan cup finals

Overseas stars set to dominate British cup finals

LONDON (AP) -- The chances of an Englishman scoring in the English FA Cup final are pretty slim. The odds on a Scot hitting the target in the Scottish Cup final are pretty long too.

The influx of overseas players to English and Scottish soccer means that a Frenchman or Dutchman is more likely to be the matchwinner in Saturday's FA Cup final between Arsenal and Chelsea.

Swedish goal-scoring machine Henrik Larsson and lanky Norwegian Tore Andre Flo face each other at Hampden Park as Celtic meets archrival Rangers in the Scottish Cup final.

The two games feature a cosmopolitan array of stars from 23 different countries, and the handful of English and Scottish players may well be overshadowed.

The FA Cup final also features two continental managers -- Frenchman Arsene Wenger of Arsenal and Italian Claudio Ranieri of Chelsea.

Frenchmen Thierry Henry and Sylvain Wiltord, Dutch international Dennis Bergkamp and lanky Nigerian Nwankwo Kanu will be Arsenal's strikeforce at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.

Dutchman Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Chelsea's top scorer with 29 goals, hopes to shrug off a calf muscle injury to team up with 22-goal Icelandic international Eidur Gudjohnsen on the Chelsea forward line, with veteran Italian Gianfranco Zola in support or in reserve.

The midfield battle will involve a mixture of English, French, Italian, Swedish, Croatian, Dutch and Brazilian internationals.

The Gunners likely will start Englishman Ray Parlour, Sweden's Fredrik Ljungberg, Frenchman Patrick Vieira and Brazil's Edu. The Blues could field Denmark's Jesper Groenkjaer, Italy's Sami Dalla Bona, Frenchman Emmanuel Petit, England's Frank Lampard, Croatia's Mario Stanic or Dutchman Boudewijn Zenden.

Arsenal's defense appears to be rock-solid English -- with one exception. Wenger has to choose between veteran David Seaman and regular understudy Richard Wright in goal, and has Tony Adams, Sol Campbell, Martin Keown and Ashley Cole available. Cameroon star Lauren is set to get the rightback spot, however.

Chelsea has an Italian goalkeeper, Carlo Cudicini, and either Dutchman Mario Melchiot or Albert Ferrer on the right of defense. Frenchmen Marcel Desailly and William Gallas and England's John Terry and Graeme Le Saux all are in contention to start.

Ranieri, the former Valencia coach who needed several months before he was totally accepted by the Chelsea fans, acknowledged he was not the sort of coach to make wholesale changes.

"At Valencia I made a little road and now there is a motorway," he said in reference to the fact that the Spanish club is on the brink of winning its domestic league. "I hope for the same here. That is why I signed a contract recently for five years."

Arsenal, which is the clear favorite after winning eight league and cup games in a row, is within touching distance of the Premier League title.

"What takes the nerves away it to have confidence in your team, knowing they have a big motivation and will give everything to win," Wenger said. "I also know that these players know how to win. That's how I stay calm."

The Gunners, who need just one point from two games, could gain the satisfaction of winning the title at the home of defending champion Manchester United on Wednesday.

By contrast, Celtic clinched the Scottish championship weeks ago.

Martin O'Neill's team made it two titles in a row and stands 13 points clear of second-place Rangers with a game in hand and two to play.

Larsson has 39 goals, while Welshman John Hartson has contributed 24. Between them in the scorers list is Flo, who has hit 25 goals, with Shota Arveladze of Georgia adding 14 and Dutch defender Frank de Boer contributing 10.

Celtic also has Englishman Chris Sutton, Bulgarian Stilian Petrov and Slovak international Lubomir Moravcik as backup, and Swedish star Johan Mjallby is the key man in defense.

Rangers' run of 11 titles in 12 seasons was halted by Celtic and the 'Gers fans hope that manager Alex McLeish can maintain his unbeaten run against the Hoops since he took over in December.

Under McLeish, who replaced Dutchman Dick Advocaat as manager, Rangers have won once and tied the other two league games against Celtic.

Apart from Flo, Arveladze and de Boer, Italian defender Lorenzo Amoruso is a key player along with German goalkeeper Stefan Klos and Russian international winger Andrei Kanchelskis.

Danish winger Peter Lovenkrands has netted five goals this season, three against Celtic.

"It's my first cup final," he said. "After my injuries it was hard in my first season so I'm really looking forward to playing in a cup final.

"I always knew that I had pace -- it's just been a big surprise for everyone else I think. This is the main part of my game and I want to use it as much as possible."

 

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