Madrid’s fourth team have become Madrid’s third team in recent years – but manager Bernd Schuster could be stepping up even further. At least if he goes, Getafe fans can look back on a first major final. Andy Brassell was there

What makes a cup competition special? The FA Cup was always meant to be far above any of its counterparts around Europe or the world. Of all the changes in the game over the last ten to 15 years, the FA Cup being reduced to virtually a private contest between the top four has shaken the faith more than most.

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In 1970, the boot was on the other foot as Gigi Riva led Cagliari to the Serie A title. Jon Spurling examines the team’s achievement

In the last 40 years of Italian football, only Diego Maradona’s partial deification in Naples can rival the status granted by Cagliari fans to striker Gigi Riva. Thirty-seven years after his Herculean goalscoring feats (21 goals in 30 games) helped the Sardinian side win their only Serie A title, his presence can still be felt around the island. In Cagliari’s Bar Marius, where fans gather before matches, a life-size statue of Riva continues to draw adoring glances. In other bars and cafes on Sardinia, posters of Riva, aka Rombo di tuono (Sound of thunder) continue to adorn the walls, and 46-year-old Danilo Piroddi still claims to be able to “dine out” on the story of how, during a Cagliari training session in 1970, a Riva thunderbolt, estimated at 120 kilometres an hour, broke his arm. “Despite the agony I was in, the doctors still treated me with reverence when I told them how I’d sustained the injury,” Piroddi claims.

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When David Beckham starts playing for Los Angeles Galaxy, a surge in interest in US soccer is expected. Yet there is already a sizeable British presence in the game there and, as Gavin Willacy explains, it’s not just the MLS that is attracting attention among clubs from this side of the Atlantic

Crystal Palace have recovered from a dodgy start to climb to mid-table, poised for a play-off push. Sadly, only 257 turned up for a recent home win in their 30,000-seat stadium. Fortunately for Simon Jordan, they were rattling around in the Navy Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland, and we are talking Crystal Palace USA.

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Ken Bates takes on the Inland Revenue

As our press day loomed, our thoughts turned to Leeds United and we began to write about Ken Bates’s latest victory. Which was what would surely happen. After all, the man who was on the brink of disaster at Chelsea, with unserviceable debts of more than £100 million, was able to walk away with £18m when Roman Abramovich arrived on his white charger. Bates had bought Chelsea for just £1 originally and now seemed likely to snap up Leeds for another astonishingly low sum.

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Bohemians of Prague return to the top flight. Frantisek Bouc reports

In mid June, the Czech Republic’s football community had a few significant issues to deal with. National coach Karel Bruckner came under pressure after his team’s mediocre Euro 2008 form continued with a goalless draw in Wales; rumour had it that former German international Lothar Matthäus could soon take over. At the same time, the Czech Under-21 team was taking part in the European Championship in the Netherlands, where they didn’t get past the group stage. However, this was all overshadowed by the return to the top division, the Gambrinus Liga, of one of the country’s most popular clubs, Bohemians of Prague.

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