FA Cup Sunday, 6th Round: Open Thread

With the clocks springing forward one hour this morning in the United States, the start-times for Sunday’s FA Cup matches are later than usual (the United Kingdom doesn’t move their clocks ahead until March 28). First up is Stoke City against West Ham United (10am ET, Fox Soccer Plus and FoxSoccer.tv).

In the 128-year history of Stoke City, they’ve never once reached the FA Cup Final. Of the 20 clubs in the Premier League, only they and Wigan Athletic have never made it to the final. Wigan, however, didn’t become a Football League club until 1978. Stoke played their first FA Cup match in 1883.

Let’s hope the match is as entertaining as yesterday’s game between Birmingham City and Bolton Wanderers. With the way West Ham United has been playing lately, it’s quite possible they may force Stoke City out of their shell to start scoring goals.

In the other FA Cup match of the day, Manchester City plays Reading (12:30pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel). It’s important that Manchester City doesn’t ahead of itself in this one. Reason being is that the draw for the semi-finals of the FA Cup will be announced before the game starts. City fans and players may be dreaming of a “what if” scenario, whether City will play United in the semi-final or final. But that would be the worst thing to do before playing a Reading side who will be dreaming of their own potential glory and will be committed to causing a massive upset at Eastlands.

Before, during or after today’s matches, post your questions, rants, raves and observations in the comments section below.