Redknapp has best ever chance of FA success

Harry Redknapp may never get a better chance to win his first major title.

The veteran manager, who has never been close to a league championship, is going to Wembley for his first FA Cup final on Saturday when his Portsmouth side faces Cardiff, a mid-standings finisher in the League Championship which hasn't been to a major final in 81 years.

Portsmouth, which finished eighth in the Premier League, is an overwhelming 1-3 favorite to win the trophy for the first time since 1939.

Redknapp is in his second spell with Pompey after 25 years in management with Bournemouth, West Ham and Southampton.

"It's great for Portsmouth to be getting to a cup final," said Redknapp, who has transformed Pompey from a relegation struggler to a team challenging for a spot in European competition.

"Compared with where we were two years ago and five years ago it's amazing." Portsmouth has received some outside help in its journey to the final. Chelsea and Liverpool were both upset by modest League Championship club Barnsley, while Arsenal was knocked out by Manchester United, which in turn lost to Redknapp's team.

Portsmouth is full of experienced players, including England goalkeeper David James and central defender Sol Campbell and Czech striker Milan Baros and Nigerian star Nwankwo Kanu among the strikers.

Jermain Defoe is ineligible to play because he moved to Portsmouth after having already played in the competition for Tottenham.

Redknapp said his biggest problem will be who to leave out.

Portsmouth hasn't even been to the Cup final since its triumph in the final year before World War II.

"Everyone's fit," Redknapp said. "I've not got to pick a team. It's a difficult time as I may have to disappoint one of two lads who have played in the other rounds.

"I knew my Wembley team a couple of weeks ago but there have been one or two question marks since then which I think I've solved again now, but I don't want to show my hand to Cardiff too early."

Portsmouth upset 11-time winner Manchester United 1-0 in the quarterfinals in easily its hardest game on the way to the final. Its four other opponents came from the League Championship, and now it faces a fifth in a competition which has been full of upsets.

Cardiff, a 12-5 shot with the bookmakers, is the only team to take the FA Cup trophy outside of England. But the Welsh side's only triumph in the competition was back in 1927.

Managed by David Jones, a former Everton defender who has had spells with Southampton and Wolves, Cardiff upset Middlesbrough 2-0 at the Riverside stadium in the quarterfinals.

The Bluebirds have former Leeds and Chelsea striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink on their lineup and there's an outside chance that Robbie Fowler, who has been sidelined since December with a hip injury, might also make an appearance.

The former Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester City striker is back in training. But Jones would have to take a cup final appearance from another player to find room for Fowler, who doesn't want to play unless he's fully fit.

"For me, it would be great to play, but if I don't I still want Cardiff to win the cup," said Fowler, who has played in two finals with Liverpool, winning one and losing the other. "So if I don't think I'm ready and the manager asks me I will say 'no' because I want Cardiff to win it."

Sapa-AP