West Bromwich Albion

0-1

Portsmouth

 

Kanu 54

The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON
Semi-Finals
12.15pm, Saturday 5 April 2008
Wembley Stadium
Winning clubs will receive £900,000 from The FA



Harry Redknapp says that qualifying for Europe had not entered his head, and the only thing he is interested in is winning The FA Cup.

With a passage into the UEFA Cup still a possibility through the Premier League, or by winning The FA Cup, Portsmouth could be competing on the continent next season.

But Redknapp is only thinking about the chance to lift the famous trophy at Wembley in just over a month.

Redknapp said: "Europe? I don't give a monkey's about that at the moment. I just want to win the FA Cup.

"We haven't won the Cup yet but it's great to be in a final. It's amazing when you think back two years to where we were as a club, even five years. Now we are sixth in the league and in a final.

"This is great, a good day. It makes me look forward to being alive tomorrow. I'm delighted for our fans who must think it is fantastic. And it's a lot of credit to my other team, Tony Adams and Joe Jordan on the bench."

The other sporting event of the weekend was also not a consideration for Redknapp who admitted that he had not thought about the Grand National in the build up to the crunch Semi-Final with West Bromwich Albion.

Rednkapp said: "If I had thought about the big race I would certainly have had a bet but I was so absorbed in the semi-final today that I didn't even read up on the runners in the paper."

"Once we had gone in front I felt fairly comfortable because I know it takes something special to beat David James.

"With Jermain Defoe cup-tied I haven't got a prolific scorer and it was a concern where the the goals were going to come from.

"Kanu certainly hasn't scored many lately but we changed things a bit at half-time, pushed him up and brought in Niko Kranjcar and Papa Diop from the flanks to play a bit narrower."

Teams

West Bromwich Albion: Dean Kiely, Carl Hoefkens, Paul Robinson, Neil Clement, Robert Koren, Jonathan Greening (c), Roman Bednar (Ishmael Miller 61), Zoltan Gera (Do-Heon Kim 75), Martin Albrechtsen, Kevin Phillips, James Morrison (Chris Brunt 61)

Substitutes: Michal Danek, Pedro Pele

Portsmouth: David James, Glen Johnson, Lassana Diarra, Hermann Hreidsson, Papa Boupa Diop, Milan Baros (David Nugent 71), Sulley Muntari, Sylvain Distin, Niko Kranjcar, Sol Campbell (c), Nwankwo Kanu (Sean Davis 81)

Substitutes: Lauren, Jamie Ashdown, Pedro Mendes

Match Officials

Referee: H M Webb
Assistant Referees: D J Cann & M Mullarkey
Fourth Official: M Clattenburg

Attendance: 83,584