Friday Hoddle of Coffee, Soccer News and Notes, March 10, 2017

Obviously this weekend’s big question is what teams will make it out of the FA Cup quarterfinals to move on to Wembley and the final four. Here are the four fixtures:

• Middlesbrough v Man City
• Arsenal v Lincoln City
• Tottenham v Millwall
• Chelsea v Man United

Three of the four favorites are rather obvious—City should throttle relegation contender Middlesbrough, Arsenal should easily thrash non-league Lincoln City, and we’ll be heavy favorites at home against London’s most notorious club, Millwall. Monday’s clash at Stamford Bridge between Chelsea and United is the one to watch.

Assuming that Chelsea wins that and the other favorites also win, what’s your preferred semifinal draw? I’d like an NLD semifinal with Arsenal—that would be a more emotionally intense match, but it’s also a winnable one. City and Chelsea are more difficult, but if we could hold off on facing them till the final, then we wouldn’t be playing them until after the league campaign has ended. What do you all think? How worried are you about Millwall? Can they pull a Wycombe and surprise us but hold on for a win? Or do you think we can brush them aside? I don’t follow League One at all so I have no idea how good they are. Anyone able to enlighten us?

Links:

This is a fun Sid Lowe feature on Neymar after Barça’s insane comeback against PSG.

Kevin went over all the reasons that Barça had no business pulling off such a preposterous comeback.

Remember that time Clint Dempsey ripped up a referee’s notebook?

Radamel Falcao, Hatem Ben Arfa, Mario Balotelli, and Memphis Depay: What do they have in common? They’ve all been rejuvenated while playing in Ligue 1.