Cup Heroes in FA Cup Semis 足球杯半决赛中的英雄人物

This weekend saw a fantastic and dramatic round of quarter-final action in the FA Cup, with Championship teams being hailed 被称赞为 as heroes by fans.

For the first time in 100 years, there is only one Premiership team left in the semi-finals after Manchester United, Chelsea and Middlesbrough were knocked out of the competition.

Now Barnsley face Cardiff, and West Bromwich Albion will play the Premier¹ League team Portsmouth in the semi-finals at Wembley.

Barnsley dumped holders² Chelsea out of the Cup 击败足总杯卫冕冠军切尔西 (dump … out of … 击败；抢夺过来）with a score of 1-0.

Striker Kayode Odejayi was the underdog's hero, heading in a second-half goal to take Barnsley to victory.

The word underdog is used very often in sport, to mean the team or the person who is less likely to win.

This was the second Premiership side they defeated in the FA Cup, having beaten Liverpool in the last round.

Simon Davy, Barnsley manager was shocked, he told BBC Sport, "I can't believe it. We beat Liverpool and they thought we couldn't do it again".

He praised his team, saying, "The players were fantastic again. Kayode came out tops again - I'm so pleased for him". To come out tops is a phrase which means to give the best performance.

The last time Barnsley reached the semi-finals was in 1912 when they went on to win their only FA cup. If they show the same kind of determination that has seen them beat Premier League giants 强队 Liverpool and now Chelsea, then a second title looks very possible for them.

There was a dramatic clash 冲突 between Manchester United and Portsmouth, after substitute keeper 替补守门员, Tomasz Kuszchak, was sent off and Rio Ferdinand took over in goal to defend the penalty. Muntari scored the winner from the penalty spot with 12 minutes left.

United were understandably furious earlier in the match when Cristiano Ronaldo was knocked out of the way by Distin, but referee³ Martin Atkinson ignored the appeals for a penalty, to the clear disgust 恼怒 of manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

Portsmouth boss, Harry⁴ Redknapp, agreed his team had had some luck, but denied there was a penalty. He saluted⁵ 称赞 his players, saying, "I didn’t think it was a penalty, we worked our socks off and the lads were fantastic". To work your socks off is an idiom which means to work extremely hard.

The surprise win will take Portsmouth back to Wembley for the first time since 1942 for the semi-finals.

Cardiff's 0-2 win over Middlesbrough puts the Cup in the Welsh side's sights once again. (To put something in your sights 意思是将什么确立为自己的最终目标). Premier League strugglers Boro were poor throughout and fans decided⁶ they’d had enough and started leaving the ground 球场 with 20 minutes still to go.

Gareth Southgate, Middlesbrough's boss, accepted that Cardiff deserved their win; "We have to hold our hands up, Cardiff were better from start to finish". If you hold your hands up, you admit responsibility for something – usually something you have done wrong.

Cardiff boss Dave Jones now hopes his team can repeat their famous FA Cup win in 1927 - the only time a non-English team has won the competition.

"I have 1927 rammed⁷ down my throat every day," said Jones. "All I can do is try to make my own history within the football club. It seems to be the year of the underdog somewhere along the line in this competition."

When Jones uses the phrase rammed down my throat, he means that he has been reminded of the 1927 victory constantly by people.

West Bromwich Albion booked their place in the semis with a convincing 1-5 win over Bristol Rovers, which was helped by Ishmael Miller's hat-trick. The defeat was hard on the Rovers who put up a valiant⁸ 勇敢的 defence.

West Brom goal-scorer Kevin Phillips was jubilant 兴高采烈的, he said, "We’ll look forward to our day at Wembley, hopefully we can do the business there". When he says "do the business", he means he hopes they will win.

Football fans will now be looking forward to the semi-final matches. If anyone other than Portsmouth lifts the trophy⁹ 奖杯, it will be the first time since West Ham beat Arsenal¹⁰ 1-0 in 1980 that a team outside the top flight 甲级队 gets their hands on the Cup.