Crystal Palace pulled off one of the biggest FA Cup final upsets in recent memory by beating Manchester City 1-0 at Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
Palace lifted the trophy for the first time and ensured once dominant City ends a campaign empty-handed for the first time in eight years.
Eberechi Eze’s first-half strike secured Palace’s first major trophy.
Two USMNT players – centerback Chris Richards and goalkeeper Matt Turner – will also receive FA Cup medals. Richards has been a key contributor to Palace’s backline all season. He started Saturday’s final, having played in all six of Palace’s FA Cup matches this season to go with his 20 starts in Premier League action.
Turner started in Palace’s first three FA Cup matches before regular starting keeper Dean Henderson took over from the quarterfinal match onward.
As cup final upsets go, it was up there with Wigan’s victory over City in 2013 and Wimbledon’s famous win against Liverpool in 1988.
The outcome might have been different if Omar Marmoush had converted a first-half penalty to level the score, but his effort was saved by Henderson.
The cup triumph came at the third time of asking for Palace, which lost its previous finals in 1990 and 2016, both to Manchester United.
City has suffered back-to-back defeats in the final, having lost to United last year.
While the result will go down as an upset, in the context of City’s season, it was just a latest disappointment.
A troubled campaign has seen Pep Guardiola’s team tamely surrender the Premier League title after four triumphs in a row and crash out of the Champions League in the playoffs.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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