Looking forward to Jan

I am surprised that some fans are disappointed we didn’t end up with Manchester City in the draw for the semi-final of the Carling Cup. I am  happy to wait until the final to play them or Liverpool  and I'm sure the Crystal Palace fans feel the same this morning.

I slighted Crystal Palace by suggesting they had no chance against the mighty Manchester Untied and oh boy did I get that wrong On seeing the team United boss Alex Ferguson picked last night I was unsure with my previous thoughts. I don’t really care, but playing a team of benchwarmers and reserve players is never a good option the Palace team are first team veterans who play together week in week out in the cut and thrust of league football.

Back to the draw last night wasn’t it exciting I had everything crossed for Palace to be drawn against the Blubirds from what looked like a ice bucket with Carling written on it. It's was the best result for Cardiff City in what both sets of fans would agree is a winnable game. If you are looking at it from today, Cardiff has a slight advantage base on league form, but who knows what the form will be come January. Cardiff have drawn first blood between the two clubs this season with a Bonfire Night victory at the Cardiff City Stadium. The 2-0 win ended Palace's run of more than 10 hours of football without conceding a goal.

The first leg of the semi-final the week commencing Jan 9th will see Cardiff City making the trip to London before the return fixture on the week commencing Jan 23rd. Well are wait on dates but on semi will be on the Tuesday the other on Wednesday of that week with both games being televised with Sky and the BBC are sharing the games.

If the goal now is to reach another Wembley, final looking beyond that European could be back on the menu for the Welshman in the Europa League. It would be the first European nights for Cardiff since Standard Liege in 1993, now that’s what I call an incentive because win, lose in the final the door could be open to Europe.

From the Premier League official website 

If the winner of either cup gains European qualification through their league place, the runner-up of that cup competition will then qualify for the Europa League. 

If both the cup winner and the runner-up are already qualified through their league positions, the sixth place team will qualify (and seventh if this occurs in both cups).

There is a lot at stake for both clubs, but I am blinker to Cardiff you can guarantee both club will make money on the game. You cannot factor in when working out clubs revenue stream a cup run, but both clubs will see sell-out crowds and TV money that’s were the big money will come from. The prize money will see the losing semi-finalists will each take home £25,000 if Cardiff were to make the final the winners of the Carling Cup win £100,000 and the runners-up £50,000. Not a great deal of monies compared to the FA Cup.