Football League Cup 2005-06

The Carling Cup 2005–06 was the 46th staging of the Football League Cup, a knockout competition for England's top 92 football clubs. The competition name reflects a sponsorship deal with lager brand Carling.

The competition began on 22 August 2005, and ended with the final on 26 February 2006 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff while reconstruction work was still ongoing at Wembley Stadium.

The tournament was won by Manchester United, who beat surprise finalists, Wigan 4–0 in the final, thanks to two goals from Wayne Rooney and one each from Cristiano Ronaldo and Louis Saha. Wigan had only been promoted to the Premier League at the beginning of the season.

First Round

The 72 Football League clubs compete from the First Round. Each section is divided equally into a pot of seeded clubs and a pot of unseeded clubs. Clubs' rankings depend upon their finishing position in the 2004–05 season. Therefore, the clubs relegated from the Premier League in 2005, Norwich City, Crystal Palace and Southampton, were the top seeds, and the clubs newly-promoted to the Football League, Barnet and Carlisle United, were bottom seeds.

*On 28 June 2005 seeded clubs and unseeded clubs were paired off to create the first round draw [cite news |title=Swansea handed difficult cup test |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/4629319.stm |publisher=BBC Sport |date=2005-06-28 |accessdate=2008-09-12 ] .
*Matches occurred on 22, 23 and 24 August 2005.
*Extra time played when the scores were level after 90 minutes.
*A penalty shoot-out took place if the scores were level after extra time.

Fourth Round

The draw for the Fourth Round was made on 29 October 2005 [cite news |title=Doncaster face Villa in cup clash |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/4381946.stm |publisher=BBC Sport |date=2005-10-29 |accessdate=2008-09-12 ] and matches were played on 29 and 30 November. Doncaster caused the shock of the round, beating Aston Villa 3-0.

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter finals was made on 3 December 2005 [cite news |title=Doncaster land plum Arsenal draw |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/4495092.stm |publisher=BBC Sport |date=2005-12-03 |accessdate=2008-09-12 ] and matches were played on 20 and 21 December. The only non-Premier League club, Doncaster Rovers gave Arsenal a scare by drawing 2-2 after extra-time but Arsenal made it through 3-1 on penalties

¹ Score after 90 minutes

emi-finals

The semi-final draw was made in December 2005 after the conclusion of the quarter finals. Unlike the other rounds, the semi-final ties were played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The ties were played in the weeks beginning 9 January and 23 January 2006.

First leg

footballbox
date=2006-01-10
time=19:45
team1=Wigan Athletic
score=1 – 0
report=
team2=Arsenal
goals1=Scharner goal|78
goals2=
stadium=JJB Stadium, Wigan
attendance=12,181
referee=Howard Webb (S. Yorkshire) ----footballbox
date=2006-01-11
time=20:00
team1=Blackburn Rovers
score=1 – 1
report=
team2=Manchester United
goals1=Pedersen goal|35
goals2=Saha goal|30
stadium=Ewood Park, Blackburn
attendance=24,348
referee=Rob Styles (Hampshire)

econd leg

footballbox
date=2006-01-24
time=19:45
team1=Arsenal
score=2 – 1 (a.e.t.)
report=
team2=Wigan Athletic
goals1=Henry goal|65
van Persie goal|108
goals2=Roberts goal|119
stadium=Highbury Stadium, London
attendance=37,086
referee=Phil Dowd (Staffordshire) "Score level at 2-2 on aggregate. Wigan win on away goals rule."----footballbox
date=2006-01-25
time=20:00
team1=Manchester United
score=2 – 1
report=
team2=Blackburn Rovers
goals1=van Nistelrooy goal|8
Saha goal|51
goals2=S. Reid goal|32
stadium=Old Trafford, Manchester
attendance=61,637
referee=Graham Poll "Manchester United win 3–2 on aggregate"

Final

The 2006 Carling Cup Final was played on 24 February 2008 and was contested between Premier League teams Wigan Athletic and Manchester United at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. The favourites Manchester United won the game comfortably 4-0 in normal time.

footballbox
date=2006-02-26
time=15:00
team1=Manchester United
score=4 – 0
report= [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/4727118.stm (Report)]
team2=Wigan Athletic
goals1=Rooney goal|33 goal|61
Saha goal|55
Ronaldo goal|59
goals2=
stadium=Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
attendance=66,866
referee=Alan Wiley (Staffordshire)
* [http://www.soccerbase.com/results3.sd?gameid=481357 Match details on Soccerbase]

References

External links

* [http://www.carlingcup.co.uk Official Carling Cup website]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/default.stm Carling Cup] at bbc.co.uk
* [http://football.uk.reuters.com/leaguecup/ League Cup news, match reports and pictures] on Reuters.co.uk