Everton striker Louis Saha made English FA Cup Final history today (May 30th) at Wembley Stadium in London, England, as he scored after just 25 seconds, before most of the crowd of 89,000 had settled into their seats. It eclipsed the old mark of 30 seconds set by Aston Villa’s Bob Chatt against West Brom way back in 1895.

While it gave Everton a flying start, it was probably also the worst thing to happen for them as they tried to sit back and protect the slim margin for the next 90 minutes. Of course it didn’t work as Chelsea dominated the rest of the way and came out 2-1 winners for their second FA Cup win at the new Wembley in the last three years, and their fifth triumph in the competition overall.

It didn’t take long for Chelsea’s Didier Drogba to do what he does best, which is score in English cup finals (FA and League Cups) as he drove in a powerful header in the 21st minute to tie the score at 1-1. It was the sixth-straight cup final goal for Drogba. He also scored in this year’s semi-final and quarter-final games.

Frank Lampard sealed the victory in the 72nd minute with a fine 20-yard shot that Everton keeper Tim Howard could only parry into the net. It looked like Florent Malouda had given Chelsea a 3-1 lead about five minutes later when his venomous long-range shot from 30 yards slammed off the underside of the crossbar and came crashing down over the goal line. Referee Howard Webb let play carry on, while television replays showed that the ball had clearly crossed the line.

This brings up the topic again of video replay and why it’s needed in football today. This could have been a huge missed call if Everton had come back to tie the game. It’s about time FIFA got off its ass and implemented television replays or loaded the pitch up with extra officials and goal line judges.

Everton didn’t come back though, and with only one striker up front it’s quite evident at the moment that their manager David Moyes and the players aren’t good enough to pull off a cup win. Their loss today sets a record for FA Cup failures as they’ve now lost the final eight times. They have won it five times as well mind you, but were hurt by having a few good players out with injury, especially Arteta and Yakubu. Going with one guy up front’s not going to win you many games against Chelsea though.

It was a great send off for Chelsea’s interim manager Guus Hiddink who worked wonders with the club since taking over in February. Chelsea only lost one game out of 21 under Hiddink’s reign, and with any luck could have also possibly added the Champions League to the trophy haul this season. The Dutchman will now head back to Russia to resume his job as the country’s national coach.

Another guy who will be celebrating long into the night will be Ashley Cole, who was officially named man of the match and became the first player in over 100 years to win five FA Cup medals. He won three with Arsenal and another with Chelsea in 2007.

Chelsea may have won something much bigger than the cup today though, as they have now appeared to win the respect and admiration of many neutral football fans. While Jose Mourinho, and Luiz Felipe Scolari were in charge, the team wasn’t quite as likeable as they were perceived to be arrogant and bought their way to cup finals. However, since Hiddink took over, it’s almost been a 180 degree turnaround as his calm and friendly manner has worked wonders for the team. Whoever takes over as manager next season will have a huge set of boots to fill.

Good luck to him.

Another huge English Premier League weekend kicks off on Saturday (April 25th) with the biggest games being league leaders Manchester United taking on ninth-place Tottenham Hotspur at old Trafford. Liverpool will be hoping United slip up while they travel over to 16th place Hull, who are only three points above the relegation zone. Liverpool will again be without their injury-prone skipper Steven Gerrard. Third-place Chelsea, who seem to be out of the title race now, will visit seventh-place West Ham in a London derby.

At the other end of the table, last place West Brom are at home to 16th spot Sunderland, second-last Newcastle, who are fighting to survive in the EPL take on 14th place Portsmouth in a huge match on Monday, 18th place Middlesbrough will have their hands full in London when they play Arsenal on Sunday, and 17th place Blackburn will try to keep afloat by taking on 11th place Wigan in Manchester.

There’s quite a bit of news of the pitch in England too as Chelsea’s John Mikel Obi has been banned from driving for 15 months for drinking and driving. The 21-year-old was stopped in London on Jan. 24th. His teammate Frank Lampard got into a heated on-air argument with a radio DJ as Lampard was being criticized on air about his personal life. Lampard phoned the station and went at it with the DJ in a 15-minute rant.

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas has been charged with improper conduct by the FA over a spitting incident during a fifth round FA Cup tie with hull at the Emirates Stadium on March 17th. Fabregas allegedly spit at Hull’s assistant manager Brian Horton after the game in which Fabregas didn’t even dress for. Hull manager Phil Brown was also charged for his tirade at referee mike riley in the same game. Brown and Fabregas have until May 12 to respond to the charges.

The pitch at Wembley is to be dug up again and replaced after the sorry state it was in for last weekend’s FA Cup semi finals. The multi-purpose venue hasn’t had a good pitch since it opened two years ago, so a different type of turf will be used this time to see if it does the trick.

Over in Italy, Inter Milan striker Adriano got his wish as the club ripped up his contract. Brazilian international Adriano failed to return to Italy after a World Cup qualifier for Brazil earlier this month and the 27-year-old, who has suffered personal problems in the last few years said he wanted to take a break from football.

In France, Marseille captain Lorik Cana received a one-game ban after being sent off following a battle with Lorient’s Arnaud Le Lan in last weekend’s Ligue 1 match. The two players went at it on the pitch after arguing over a throw-in in the 88th minute of the game. Cana will now miss the league leader’s visit to Lille on Sunday.

In Spain seventh-place Atletico Madrid’s European hopes for next season were damaged yesterday (April 23rd) as they were hammered 5-1 at Racing Santander in the Primera Division.