All of us Londoners who would normally back Chelsea (apart from the die hard blues) must surely consider that, by winning the league, Chelsea don't need another trophy and poor little Pompey surely do. So we may well be rooting for the underdog (as we did for Fulham).

Yes, play up Pompey. Even that bell-ringing fan has his heart in the right place. His bell isn't in the right place - I wish someone would ram it there! - but his heart is. And Avram Grant has behaved remarkably well since things went mad. I hope they defy expectations and win.

The odds must be in Chelsea's favour but they have nothing to prove and so maybe Portsmouth will want it more.

The girl singing the national anthem looked like a Christmas decoration with matchsticks poking out. Nice voice though.

I hope Pompey win.

Two incredible misses in the first half hour - both Portsmouth and Chelsea came thisclose to getting goals.

This is turning into a much closer game than I thought it'd be. I'm expecting Chelsea to turn up the heat in the second half though!

Half time report - rather a terrific game so far.

David James - a national treasure?

I feel sorry for Portsmouth but on the day they just didn't play well enough. Too many chances wasted.

I don't understand what Abramovich gets out of that laminated club of his. Victory must be like winning a few grand after buying a million lottery tickets. It's enterprises like his that have made me fall out of love with football.

All you could hear whilst John Terry collected the cup was a constant chorus of "Play Up Pompey". Chelsea might have all the money but they not got any real supporters. Abramovich i believe is looking to move out of football soon. rumour has it he wants to get into motor racing.

The most amusing part of the TV coverage was when the commentators were going on about how TV had proven within 30 seconds that the ball was over the line. "Why don't they use TV images as evidence?" they asked. Then a minute later, after different angles had been examined, they had to admit that TV had got it wrong and that the linesman had been right all along.

Rather surprised John Terry wasn't booked for his obvious shoulder in the face foul. It was typical John Terry, unfortunately.

A bit of a tragic end for Portsmouth. I know basically nothing about them and would know even less if they had not got into such difficulties and become such a focus for support of the underdog. It shows how funny the game is when a team can perform so badly in the league but still reach a major cup final.

A "tragic end" for Ballack:

"Germany's captain Michael Ballack has been ruled out of the World Cup with the ankle injury he sustained playing in Chelsea's 1-0 FA Cup final win over Portsmouth, the German Football Federation (DFB) has confirmed."


www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/may/17/...el-ballack-world-cup

Yes - sad about that; Ballack was a terrific player and always seemed like a gent too.

It's only an ankle injury, he's not dead!

It's only an ankle injury, he's not dead!

You are right!

Michael Ballack: "Hoorah, I'm going away on holidays!"