Why Manchester City owe their FA Cup run to the power of the collective
By the time 3pm rolls around on Saturday at Wembley, few will be thinking back to how the road to the FA Cup final began for Manchester City. It was a bleak January afternoon at the Etihad Stadium, where Huddersfield were dispatched 5-0 as the Premier League champions showed the gulf between them and a side who ended up being relegated from the Championship.
As it custom, Pep Guardiola used the match to rest senior players, giving opportunities to Stefan Ortega, Oscar Bobb and even the rarely-spotted Sergio Gómez, who was permitted the full 90 minutes of the stroll. Micah Hamilton made his first home appearance and Jacob Wright was afforded a debut in a mix-and-match event.
If City defeat Manchester United and take the long walk up the steps to lift the trophy, there will be a long line of players behind Kyle Walker. Trophies are not won in single matches – they take months of hard work. The final will be City’s sixth match in the competition and it has been a difficult route – following Huddersfield it was all Premier League opposition with Tottenham, Luton, Newcastle and then Chelsea defeated along the way.
Only Ortega, Bobb, Jérémy Doku and Julián Álvarez have featured in all five ties, and none could be described as a regular starter. Twenty-two players have been given action in the Cup and however unremarkable their contribution, it has mattered. Whether it was Ortega’s four clean sheets, Rico Lewis’s assist against Huddersfield or Doku earning the corner that led to Nathan Aké’s late winner at Tottenham in the fourth round, they have made an impact.
Ortega’s performances have gained the most attention across a season when he has become the most reliable – and called-upon – deputy keeper in English football. He has
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