FA Cup Final 2004

The 2004 FA Cup Final took place on 22 May 2004 and was the 4th to be played at Cardiff's Millenium Stadium. It was contested between Manchester United who had finished 2nd in the FA Premier League that season and Millwall who had finished 10th in Division One. In a one sided contest, Manchester United secured their eleventh FA Cup victory with a strike from Cristiano Ronaldo and a brace from Ruud van Nistelrooy.

[edit] Players and Officials

Manchester United Red shirts/White shorts/Black socks	3 — 0 (final score after 90 minutes)	Millwall Blue shirts with white sleeves/Blue shorts/Blue socks
Manager: Alex Ferguson Team: Howard sub 84 (GK) G. Neville Brown Silvestre O'Shea Ronaldo sub 84 Fletcher sub 84 Keane Giggs Scholes van Nistelrooy Substitutes: Carroll on 84 (GK) P. Neville (not used) Djemba-Djemba (not used) Butt on 84 Solskjær on 84 Scorers: Cristiano Ronaldo (44) Ruud van Nistelrooy (65) (pen) Ruud van Nistelrooy (81)	Half-time: 1-0 Competition: FA Cup (Final) Date: 15.00 BST Saturday May 22, 2004 Venue: Millenium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 71,350 Referee: J Winter (Stockton) Match rules: 90 minutes. 30 minutes extra-time if necessary. Penalty shootout if scores still level. Five named subsititutes Maximum of 3 substitutions.	Manager: Dennis Wise Team: Marshall (GK) Ryan sub 74 Ward Lawrence Elliott Sweeney Livermore Wise sub 89 Ifill Cahill Harris sub 75 Substitutes: Guéret (GK, not used) Dunne (not used) Cogan on 74 Weston on 89 McCammon on 88 Scorers: None

Home teams listed first.

Round 3: Aston Villa 1-2 Manchester United

Round 4: Northampton Town 0-3 Manchester United

Round 5: Manchester United 4-2 Manchester City

Quarter-Final: Manchester United 2-1 Fulham

Semi-Final: Arsenal 1-2 Manchester United

Home teams listed first.

Round 3: Millwall 2-1 Walsall

Round 4: Telford United 0-2 Millwall

Round 5: Millwall 1-0 Burnley

Quarter-Final: Millwall 0-0 Tranmere Rovers

Replay:Tranmere Rovers 1-2 Millwall

Semi-Final: Sunderland 0-1 Millwall

At the trophy presentation all the Manchester United wore shirts saying "Davis 36" after the death of young midfielder Jimmy Davis who died in car crash on his way to a Watford match, who he had joined on loan. The club have since retired the number in his memory.

Despite being injured and unable to keep goal for Millwall at their 2004 FA Cup Final appearance, Milwall manager Dennis Wise insisted that Tony Warner, the club's first-choice goalkeeper at the time, should get a runners-up because if he had been fit he would have played in the final.

Milwall's Curtis Weston beat the 125-year record held by James F. M. Prinsep of Clapham Rovers after coming on as a 89th minuite substitute replacing Dennis Wise. The record that Weston holds is being the youngest ever player to appear in an FA Cup Final. Weston's age was 17 years 119 days, beating Prinsep's age of 17 years and 245 days by 126 days.

Millwall were the first FA Cup Finalists since Sunderland (who played in the 1992 Final) not to be playing in the 1st tier of English Football. Sunderland lost 2-0 against Liverpool.