League cup can be catalyst for Liverpool

For clubs with aspirations to compete at the upper end of the Premier League, the league cup has, in recent years, been a curious mix of opportunity and distraction. General convention dictates that they pick teams heavy on youth, a policy that arguably reached its apogee when an Arsenal side with an average outfield age of 20 demolished Liverpool 6-3 in 2007. (Though even then Julio Baptista, a not-particularly coltish 25 at the time, scored four of the Gunners' goals.) While ostensibly a chance to give youth its head, the none-too-subtle implication is that the league cup revolves around learning rather than winning; the big boys are busy with the big business elsewhere.

In some ways the league cup has always been a little lacking in identity. Conceived in the 1960s after the advent of widespread floodlighting made a midweek evening tournament both viable and desirable, it was only after the introduction of an automatic European spot for the winners that all 92 clubs began to compete. Since then, a rotating cast of sponsors -- currently Carling, though previous incarnations have included the Rumbelows Cup, the Coca-Cola Cup and, most endearingly, the Milk Cup -- and big-team ambiguity have contrived to muddy things somewhat. It will never be able to reach back into and resonate with football's (pre-)history the way the FA Cup can. And nowadays it will never compete with the league in any big club's list of priorities, a fact that is only exacerbated by the increasing disdain with which the these same clubs treat the Europa League. Never was a carrot so disdained.

Until the semifinals, of course, when everything changes. For a start, it's at this stage that big clubs start to run into one another, and night games between the Premier League's weightier ones are still rare enough to feel a bit special. More importantly, the possibility of an actual big silver cup swims, temptingly, into focus, and a scheduling nuisance makes a butterfly-like transformation into an opportunity to get your hands on something tangible. If there's one thing self-regarding aristocrats love, it's storied silver. Even Arsene Wenger -- who once dismissed the league cup as a "non-trophy" -- appears to have come around to the competition, an epiphany that only added to the black hilarity of last season's Laurent and Wojciech Show.

For Liverpool, therefore, this weekend offers a chance to make an immediate return on what Fenway Sports Group executives are doubtless calling "The Project." It is faintly remarkable that since the new Wembley opened for business in March 2007, 60 clubs have played in the shadow of the arch, but not a one has been Liverpool; this is a club whose fans used to refer to the old Twin Towers as "Anfield South." Kenny Dalglish will also be looking to right a personal wrong: As a player, he won four in a row from 1980-81 to 1983-84, but he has never lifted the cup as manager.

[+] Enlarge Craig Bellamy

Andrew Powell/Getty ImagesIn an interesting side story, Welshman Craig Bellamy -- who grew up in Cardiff supporting Liverpool -- could face his home team for the first time.

Dalglish's side has been effective if not always ebullient in both cups this season, which has been some compensation for league performances that have either been stable or stagnant depending on how generous you're feeling. Liverpool -- for all that last season was an exercise in self-harm followed by self-reclamation -- is only four points better off this term, having spent (as you may have heard) a fair amount of cash. Its inconsistency is neatly illustrated by the league cup semifinals: a smash-and-grab away win and an entertaining home draw against the best team in the country, Manchester City, between which Liverpool suffered in the league with an ambitionless, goalless draw with Stoke and a desperate surrender at Bolton.

However, Liverpool comes into the final high off the back of a 6-1 home win in the Other Cup, and while it wasn't exactly a proper thrashing -- more an exercise in trying to keep a straight face while Brighton & Hove Albion riotously thrashed themselves -- beyond the farce and the three own goals were glimpses of menace from Luis Suarez, something that looked like improvement from Andy Carroll and even at one point a smile from Stewart Downing.

An entertaining subplot for the Carling Cup final comes via the fit-again Craig Bellamy, who grew up in Cardiff supporting Liverpool; if he plays, he'll be facing his home team for the first time. And were Liverpool to emerge from what we might delicately call an interesting season -- insert your indelicate alternative term here -- with a trophy, the good folks of FSG would certainly feel that their investment was on track. Presumably the fans would be quite pleased, too.

One interesting and occasionally overlooked side effect of the league cup is that by virtue of its midseason position in the schedule and frequent openness of play, it offers a handy opportunity to get a new team winning. Jose Mourinho lifted the cup partway through his first year at Chelsea, and credited the experience with introducing what was then a relatively callow squad to the ways of triumph. If the cliches are true -- if winning is a habit, if success does breed success and if a bird in the hand really is worth two in the bush -- then a victory in the league cup can be seen as, and used as, a catalyst. Certainly, Dalglish views reaching the final as a sign that "there is progress being made. For the players it is an indication of how well they have done so everyone is looking forward to it."

In contrast to Liverpool, its opponent, Cardiff City, has visited the FA's monument to its own magnificence on three occasions. An FA Cup semifinal win against Barnsley was followed by defeat to 'Arry 'Edknapp's 'Ortsmouth in the 2008 final, and in 2010 it lost to Blackpool in a crazy Championship playoff final, going down 3-2 having led twice.

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It's been less than two years since that loss, but Cardiff City is a very different proposition. Five of the players that started that game have gone -- including Joe Ledley, Michael Chopra and England's Jay Bothroyd -- and so, too, has the defeated manager Dave Jones, who has been replaced by former Watford boss Malky Mackay, a young, modern coach with a Revie-esque predilection for a dossier.

Mackay has been entrusted with reshaping the club -- another Project; they're everywhere these days -- and on the pitch this has meant tactically flexible, hard-pressing football. Kenny Miller provides the edge up front, but the creative heart of the team is Peter Whittingham, who quarterbacks between defense and midfield. Mackay himself has been rewarded for his progress to the final -- and the team's current fifth-place spot in the Championship -- with a new contract.

History, a notoriously inconstant muse, has encouragement for both teams. Liverpool -- already a strong favorite -- is the most successful club in the history of the competition, having lifted the trophy seven times, and the last time the sides met was in the fourth round of this competition, a 2-1 home win at Anfield.

[+] Enlarge Kenny Miller

Scott Heavey/Getty ImagesKenny Miller & Co. will be underdogs against Liverpool, but remember this: Cardiff City holds the head-to-head advantage over the Reds.

Yet Cardiff City can take heart as well. It remains the only side ever to smuggle one of England's cups outside her borders, when Welsh legend Fred Keenorcaptained his side to victory in the 1927 FA Cup, beating Arsenal 1-0 in the final. (It was a goalkeeping error. Did you have to ask?) But more enticingly, Cardiff City holds the head-to-head advantage over its multi-trophied opponents. Of the 29 matches contested between the two, the Welsh side has won 18, lost nine and drawn two. That's right, folks: Cardiff City is a bogey team.

For the vast majority of the league that doesn't have the luxury of those fat revenue streams that beget seats at (or near) the top table, a cup's a cup. And the league cup has a proud tradition of shocks, from third division QPR's 3-2 win over West Bromwich Albion in 1967; through Oxford United upending QPR in 1986; to Sheffield Wednesday's 1-0 win over Manchester United in 1991, the last time a second division team won a major prize. Big shiny silver pots with lids that fit imperfectly onto grinning, champagne-soaked heads are the point of the whole business, after all, and while Liverpool is a heavy favorite with the bookies, Cardiff City has everything in place to frustrate them.

A prediction, in the safe and certain knowledge that it will be dramatically inaccurate: Liverpool 1-0 Cardiff City.

Pakistan news

Bangladesh security team to visit Pakistan in March

A security team from Bangladesh will visit Pakistan on a two-day tour from March 2 to assess the security plan for their proposed cricket tour in April this year, ESPNcricinfo has learnt. A short series of limited-overs matches was planned by the PCB to host its first international series since 2009.

The PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf, along with Subhan Ahmed, the PCB's chief operating officer, last Friday had a detailed meeting with all the top bass of the law enforcement and security agencies in the country and they were assured of a 'box security plan', which includes bullet and bomb proof vehicles, for the Bangladesh home series.

"We have to fulfill their requirements of security and we are looking forward to the team coming in March," a top PCB official told ESPNcricinfo.

The security team includes Shawkat Mustafa - joint secretary from Interior Ministry, Ruhul Kuddus - assistant senior secretary of Sports Ministry, Shafiq Anwar - National Sports Council secretary, Mustafa Kamal - BCB president, Nizamuddin Ahmed Chowdhury - BCB acting CEO, two BCB directors - GS Hasan Tamim and Shamsul Huda, and Col. Mesbah Uddin Serniabat - BCB's security consultant. The team will arrive in Islamabad on March 2.

"We can't say anything particular but definitely the Pakistan tour is very important," Jalal Yunus, the BCB's media committee chairman, told ESPNcricinfo, "Everything is dependent on the security report and whatever we agree has to be confirmed only after assessing the security plan.

"We have learnt that some players and officials were quoted in media over their apprehensions in touring Pakistan but that is their individual perspective, which has nothing to do with the BCB's position."

"Obviously, once we agree to tour Pakistan we will definitely look into all their concerns before touring."

There are two itineraries proposed, one of which includes a three-match ODI series, and the other a series of two ODIs and one Twenty20 international, to be completed in one week in April. Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium , Karachi's National Stadium and Faisalabad's Iqbal Stadium are the venues expected to host the matches.

Umar Farooq is ESPNcricinfo's Pakistan correspondent

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							Twenty20 career
Batsmen	Runs	B	4s	6s	SR			Mat	Runs	HS	SR
*Anamul Haque(rhb)	11	8	0	1	137.50	striker		9	127	48	101.60
Kieron Pollard(rhb)	35	17	1	4	205.88	non-striker		136	2531	89*	162.03

Bowlers	O	M	R	W	Econ			Mat	Wkts	BBI	Econ
*Kabir Ali(rmf)	3.2	0	18	2	5.40	(0nb, 0w)		31	38	4/44	8.06
Ahmed Shehzad(lb)	3.0	0	41	1	13.66	(0nb, 0w)		33	7	2/21	9.45

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League cup can be catalyst for Liverpool

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Bangladesh security team to visit Pakistan in March

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