Tomorrow's Worthington League Cup final could be the stuff that dreams are made of. Equally it could have Wembley rubbing its eyes and yawning long before the match is over.
The ingredients look reasonably inviting but much depends on the cooking. The favourites, Leicester City, will be making their third appearance in the final in four years. And the underdogs are Tranmere Rovers of the First Division, whose prowess in both domestic cups this season has saved Prenton Park from financial peril.
Also thrown into the pot is the appearance of Wendy Toms, who will become the first women to officiate at a final when she runs a line.
League Cup finals tend to be quickly forgotten and are often eminently forgettable. But for one season at least the League Cup can claim the higher ground from the FA Cup, since its finalists have emerged from a full entry of Premiership and League clubs, even if Manchester United showed little desire to mount a serious challenge and bowed out at the first time of asking.
Leicester, like Aston Villa in the 1970s, have found the League Cup a convenient vehicle for a bit of intermediate glory, and the fact that next season's winners will now enter the UEFA Cup has preserved the competition's status for at least another year. The European bonus had been due to expire with tomorrow's final, raising fears that the tournament was about to become even smaller beer.
For the moment, then, Worthington can still offer Wembley a pint with a bit of body. Just how drinkable the ale proves to be tomorrow will depend in part on the approach of Martin O'Neill and his team to the game.
Despite their stifling tactics of 1997, when Middlesbrough were beaten in a replay, and last season, when a last-minute goal from Allan Nielsen won the cup for Tottenham, O'Neill may be loath to allow the opposition space in which to play. But with the Tranmere manager, John Aldridge, no doubt remembering how Liverpool lost the 1988 FA Cup final to Wimbledon, the game may well need an early goal to end the mutual caution. The sooner either team score the better the match is likely to be.
Veteran striker Tony Cottee thought his dreams of winning a major cup final at Wembley had been dashed for good 12 months ago but he believes Leicester have the quality within the squad to win.
"People always go on about our team spirit and everything else, but you've got to have good players.
"You don't get to Wembley unless you've got good players. Yes, we have got a good team spirit, but we've more or less got a team of internationals, and that speaks for itself."
That and Leicester's greater pace should take the trophy back to Filbert Street.
LEICESTER (from): Flowers, Taggart, Gilchrist, Guppy, Savage, Izzet, Marshall, Zagorakis, Impey, Campbell, Sinclair, Oakes, Lennon, Heskey, Elliott, Cottee, Fenton, Arphexad.
TRANMERE (from): Murphy, Hazell, Challinor, Yates, Roberts, Thompson, Parkinson, Jones, Henry, Mahon, Taylor, Allen, Kelly, Black, Morgan, Hill, Koumas, Achterberg.
