Pitch Woes at Wembley 温布利草地献丑

This weekend saw the FA Cup semi-finals played on a controversial 有争议的 Wembley pitch with Chelsea and Everton going on to the final.

Chelsea beat Arsenal¹ 2-1 in an unimpressive 平淡无奇的 game and Everton won a 4-2 penalty shoot-out to thwart² 阻挠 Manchester United's chances.

There was a chorus of disapproval³ over the state of the pitch at Wembley. In a rare moment of agreement, the losing sides' managers criticised the turf （球场）草皮 with Wenger calling it "a disaster" and "laughable" and Ferguson saying it looked "spongy" 海绵状的 and "dead".

The Wembley pitch has been criticised since it was reopened two years ago – the current one is the fifth to be laid.

The stadium cost £750 million and took seven years to build but the pitch looked severely⁴ cut up （被）毁坏 during the matches at the weekend.

While Wenger did not attribute the poor surface conditions to his team's defeat, Ferguson says his choice to play a young less-experienced team was a direct response to his worries over the field.

"When I saw the pitch, what I didn't want was to go into extra time with my strongest squad⁵".

That choice led to a 4-2 defeat in a penalty shoot-out following a goal-less 90 plus minutes.

Sir Alex Feruguson was also dissatisfied with the refereeing⁷ of Mike Riley when the referee⁶ refused what appeared to be a clear-cut 清楚无误的 penalty.

For United and manager Ferguson, there was only disappointment and they must now turn their attentions back to the pursuit of the Premier⁸ League and Champions League.

In the Arsenal v Chelsea match, a weak Arsenal defence led to a 2-1 victory for Chelsea after Didier Drogbar put the Blues⁹ ahead in the 84th minute.

Wenger's side started well but were shaky 招架不住的 at the back with mistakes coming from the Polish goalkeeper Fabianski and Emmanuel Eboue.

Arsenal’s attacking play resulted in an early strike from Theo Walcott giving the Gunners an early lead.

It was not enough though, to see off a slightly more assured 更有自信的 Chelsea who won what was a scrappy 杂乱无章的 game with goals from Malouda and Drogba's late match winner.

Arsene Wenger was disappointed as he felt they deserved to win, he felt they should not have conceded goals saying, "we gave two cheap goals away".

So Chelsea and Everton will fight it out for the Cup on May 30. For Everton it will be their first FA Cup final in 14 years, manager David Moyes said: "What we're doing at Everton is we are preparing for success and today was a preparation for a final."

For Guss Hiddink it will be his last outing as Chelsea boss before he returns to full-time¹⁰ coaching with Russia. He has always insisted his role at Chelsea was temporary and he looked forward to the "perfect scenario¹¹" of an FA Cup final.