Even more important than winning a trip to Cardif, this FA Cup semi-final marked Manchester United's last oppourtunity to spoil Arsenal's hopes for a hatrick of silverware this season. Arsenal have nearly clinched the Premiership, are in the running for the European Cup and today threatened to advance the defence of their FA Cup title against their most formidable of rivals. Manchester United simply had to keep Arsenal from matching the unprecedented achievement of the Red Devil team of 1999, that took out Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-final on its road to an amazing treble of major championships. They did, and it was glorious. h3. The Question As FA cup-fever spread across Villa Park's packed stands, both teams hit the field without their star strikers in either starting eleven. Arsenal's Theirry Henry and United's Ruud Van Nistlerooy found themselves ruled out of starting this crucial match due to the afteraffects of the mid-week's--unfathomably scheduled--international friendlies. You could say both teams are the most star-studded clubs in England, but the considerable degree to which both Arsenal and Manchester United depend on their number one forward left everybody wondering "which team can better endure the loss of its greatest attacking threat?" At first, it seemed the answer to that question would lay with Arsenal. The Gunners immediately laid seige to Roy Carrol's net, peppering the United goalie with a series of near misses and rebounds that all, remarkably, failed to put Arsenal in the lead. Were it not for Carrol's spastic, but effective, flapping at point-blank headers and Wes Brown's timely clearance off the goal line, United could have been in the unenviable position of chasing the game only nine minutes into a match against such a deadly, counterattacking team. Instead, it was Paul Scholes who benefited from a ball cut back from Ryan Giggs (himself the beneficiary of a well-fed pass by Gary Neville into the top right corner of the area) and put Manchester United in the lead with a solid finish on the 32nd minute. With that goal as their edge, Sir Alex's side took full advantage of its 4-5-1 setup and defended the lead dilligently. Arsenal still threatened, but sterling defensive performances, from the likes of the previously mentioned Wes Brown, dulled most of the Gunners' usually incisive attacking play. h3. The Answer With United in the lead, the gap, between the team that could endure without its star striker and the team which could not, became clear. Arsenal's fleet midfield proved a difficult force to shackle, but they were never capable of threatening United with their trademark, lightning-fast attack and in-close finishing. Deprived of their best centre-forward, Arsenal were surprisingly unable to attack with any width; without Henry to drift onto balls hit down the left and right channels, Arsenal was forced to nearly abandon the flanks altogether. Even when Arsene Wenger sent on Jose Reyes and Henry later in the second half, Arsenal never found the gear that could allow their desperate bid to create dynamic attacks across the field. Meanwhile, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer alone up front for most of the game, Manchester United played a quick, touchline-exploiting style of play for most of the match. Even with the lead, either Giggs or Cristiano Ronaldo would find the ball funneled toward their positions on the outside of the United formation for a quick counterattack down the flank. Thus, United were able to maintain pressure on the Arsenal net while defending the lead and cope with the absence of Van Nistlerooy too. It seems that for the factors governing this single elimination encounter, Sir Alex simply outmanaged his Arsenal counterpart. You could almost say that an alternate scoreline for this match might be Alex Ferguson 1 - Arsene Wenger 0. h3. Reacquinting with an Old Friend Manchester United have not lifted the trophy to the world's oldest footballing competition since their treble winning season in 1999. Only Millwall or Sunderland, depending on the outcome of their semi-final match this Sunday, can now hope to prevent United fans from celebrating a trophy that will salvage this season's dissapointing exits from league and European contention. With the biggest thorn in their side out of their way, it looks like Manchester United are well on their way to a prospective FA Cup final victory this May 22nd, in Cardiff.