Football: FA Cup Final: Wembley's continental style challenge

FA CUP FINAL: All eyes will be on Chelsea and Middlesbrough's foreign players to provide the magic this afternoon

"This is an event we must cherish," Mark Hughes said earlier this week. Today, Ruud Gullit and Bryan Robson are charged with a responsibility, not just to Chelsea and Middlesbrough, but to the English game.

There will be people at Wembley this afternoon who have paid more than pounds 1,000 for their ticket, thousands more queued for up to nine hours for theirs. Around the globe countries will be taking television coverage.

This is the appeal of the FA Cup. However, a repeat of last year's snoreathon between two giants of the game will have many of those millions of viewers switching off long before the denouement.

The FA Cup is not under threat in the same way as its little brother, the Coca-Cola Cup, but, like many aspects of the English game, it is vulnerable to the increasing concentration on Europe as the place to play and win.

It would be an exaggeration to suggest Manchester United wanted to be knocked out so early on in this year's competition, but Alex Ferguson did not seem unduly upset. Nor was Arsene Wenger too perturbed by Arsenal's early exit.

Wenger even believes ties should be settled by one match, with penalties if necessary, to ease current fixture congestion. When the inevitable European League arrives, the Cup, to some, will slip even further in the ranking of priorities.

Hughes, who is playing in his fifth final, recognises this more than most. He works among men who have not grown up dreaming of scoring FA Cup final winners. "We are very lucky to have a competition like it," Hughes said. "There is nothing like it in the whole footballing world."

Sure, the Italians and others are delighted to be playing at Wembley, but it is the place, not the occasion, which attracts the most. Gianluca Vialli has played in more than a dozen cup finals. So has Ruud Gullit, who admitted that, to him, this is just one more. He could have got fit to play, but said: "I was not focused on it, I did not want it. I can feel this is a final but not what it really means until Saturday."

Hopefully Gullit will realise the enormity of the occasion when he walks out in his rarely worn suit this afternoon. Hopefully, too, he will not have prepared by asking Eddie Newton, Frank Sinclair or Steve Clarke to shadow Juninho. The part of Pontus Kamark should not be played - unlike Leicester, Chelsea have enough talent to aim to create, not destroy.

Middlesbrough, too, are attackers in spirit. It has been suggested that Curtis Fleming will be deputed to track Gianfranco Zola, but such is the variety of Chelsea's options Boro may be better off keeping their shape and asking Gianluca Festa to step in and pick up his Sardinian compatriot.

One hopes so - Zola v Juninho has the capacity to thrill. It is seven years since Wembley enjoyed a decent FA Cup final, and even that, Manchester United's 3-3 draw with Crystal Palace, was dramatic rather than classic. It also lacked the final act in which the winners' joy and the losers' agony are cruelly contrasted.

No one has symbolised the heartbreak of losing more than Juninho, at Wembley and Hillsborough in the Coca-Cola Cup final and at Elland Road after relegation. It would be sad to see him looking bewildered and bereft again this afternoon, but it is likely, for his team have weaknesses in goal and on the flanks of their defence. In midfield and attack they are unbalanced, over-reliant on Fabrizio Ravanelli - who may not be fit even if he does play - and Juninho.

How Brazil can leave the little magician out of the Tournoi de France only Mario Zagalo knows. The thought that they have that many better players must have given Glenn Hoddle sleepless nights. Yet Juninho cannot do it alone.

Alongside him are Robbie Mustoe, an unsung but valuable presence, and Emerson, a man who has betrayed his talent and his club with a series of cameos. His walk-out at Elland Road last week after a season of petulance should have cost him his place today. Maybe the thought of being in the shop window will inspire him. He owes Boro a bravura farewell.

Chelsea also have weaknesses, notably in goal. The defence, too, has moments of uncertainty and Gullit has recently played a four to tighten it. Given Boro's lack of width, he will probably revert to three and wing- backs today.

While Middlesbrough's revival is put on hold while they head, via the courts, for the Nationwide League, Chelsea have taken over as the coming team. In 15 months' time, they will have a 44,000-seat ground backed by a pounds 35m retail and accommodation centre in the heart of west London. They have already sold pounds 7m-worth of season tickets for next term and signed three new players.

Victory today means a place in Europe for the Premiership's most continental club. Their cohesion, unity and goalscoring variety should ensure they get it. Whoever wins, may they do so with style.

PROBABLE WEMBLEY TEAMS

CHELSEA

GRODAS

SINCLAIR

LEBOEUF

CLARKE

PETRESCU

WISE

NEWTON

DI MATTEO

MINTO

ZOLA

M HUGHES

Substitutes: Hitchcock(gk), Burley, Vialli

MIDDLESBROUGH

ROBERTS

BLACKMORE

FESTA

PEARSON

FLEMING

JUNINHO

EMERSON

MUSTOE

HIGNETT

BECK

RAVANELLI

Substitutes: Cox, Stamp, Freestone

Referee: S Lodge (Barnsley) Kick-off: 3pm