English League Cup Final/Manchester United 4 Wigan 0: Providing a brief glimpse of his cuddlier side last week Alex Ferguson admitted to seeing the widespread appeal a Wigan win would have in this, their first major final. However, around Old Trafford and Florida, the streetwise Scot knew well that only one outcome would do.
United, after all, went to Cardiff yesterday knowing that defeat would mean, for the first time in more than a decade and a half, a second consecutive season without silverware.
A few short years ago, the League Cup would barely have counted for such purposes but as Ferguson seeks to persuade his new employers they should see his latest reconstruction project through, there was no doubting the seriousness with which his players set about their neighbours yesterday afternoon.
On paper the game looked set up to be a tussle between the well organised and the beautifully orchestrated. But United's maestros have rarely all been in tune on the same day of late and so Wigan supporters arrived at the Millennium Stadium hopeful that, in a season already viewed as miraculous, they could break their run of poor results against the league's bigger teams - and perhaps reverse the 4-0 thumping their side took from United when the two clubs met for the first time just before Christmas.
Well they could dream, couldn't they? To be fair, the travelling optimists from around Wigan way could point beforehand to the comparative ease with which they had reached this final. In six games the only goals conceded by Paul Jewell's side came at Highbury in the second leg of the last round. In contrast United hadn't managed a clean sheet before yesterday. But as it turned out, the favourites made their quality tell when it counted.
Initially, it was only Wayne Rooney who seemed intent on humiliating the opposition. Through most of the opening half, the 20-year-old rampaged around the area just in front of the Wigan defence while defenders looked on seemingly helpless to intervene and team-mates proved just as ineffective when teed up to score.
After wasted efforts by Louis Saha and Ronaldo, and having rattled the crossbar himself with a header, Rooney eventually provided the required finish, latching on to Saha's flick-on from Edwin van der Sar's clearance upfield and coolly beating John Filan from 15 yards after Pascal Chimbonda and Wigan skipper Arjan de Zeeuw had bundled into each other.
Returning from injury to play all 90 minutes ahead of Wednesday's international against Sweden, John O'Shea might be said to have started the move that led to the goal in so far as he passed the ball back to the Dutch goalkeeper. His overall contribution was a good deal more significant, however, with the Waterfordman providing stability in front of United's central defenders, getting in some important tackles and, for the most part, using what possession came his way to good effect.
Certainly, if this in any way served as a showdown between himself and Graham Kavanagh for the midfield holding role in the Ireland teams to be selected by Steve Staunton, the 24-year-old had a good deal more to be pleased about by the end.
His opposite number didn't play badly but as United's dominance steadily became complete after the first goal, the Dubliner faced an uphill struggle to afford any sort of serious protection to de Zeeuw and Stephane Henchoz, two veteran centre backs whose wavelengths coincided yesterday only, it seemed, to the extent that they were both hell bent on self-destruction.
The pair rode their luck more than once but it ran out completely during six calamitous second-half minutes with United sweeping in for three goals that put the outcome utterly beyond question.
Gary Neville did the difficult bit for goal number two with the right back's low cross leaving Saha the handiest of close-range goals for the taking. But for a rather fortunate rebound from Filan's initial stop, though, the striker would have missed.
Ronaldo then made it 3-0 after Henchoz's hapless clearance found Saha in space and the Frenchman slipped the ball to his team-mate on the edge of the box and Rooney completed what now looked distinctly like a rout when he reacted to Rio Ferdinand's nod down but the Wigan defence didn't following Ryan Giggs' initial free kick from the right.
Neither the Welshman nor the England defender had the best of afternoons with Ferguson's decision to again play Giggs in central midfield reducing the wing wizard to something approaching what his younger fans might term muggledom while Ferdinand was caught napping more than once, most notably six minutes after the break when Henri Camara used both power and pace to slip past him. The resulting shot from a tight angle was saved well by van der Sar, though, who did better still not long afterwards under pressure from Jason Roberts.
Given the outcome, however, neither Giggs not Ferdinand looked unduly concerned at the end although their smiles contrasted starkly with the mood of Ruud van Nistelrooy, dropped to the bench from which he failed to appear.
With the medals distributed and the celebrations still continuing around him, the Dutchman walked forlornly to the tunnel well ahead of his team-mates. Once there, though, his good humour returned quickly if Ferguson is to be believed.
"I explained to Ruud that Louis Saha deserved his chance in the final. Ruud really only came into the competition in the second leg of the semi-final. Van Nistelrooy is the top scorer in the league but it's been Louis Saha in the League Cup. That's six goals. That's some record.
"Ruud seemed fine in the dressingroom. He had no problems with that."
MANCHESTER UNITED: Van der Sar, Neville, Brown (Vidic 83), Ferdinand, Silvestre (Evra 83), Ronaldo (Richardson 73), O'Shea, Giggs, Park, Saha, Rooney. Subs Not Used: Howard, van Nistelrooy. Booked: Ronaldo. Goals: Rooney 33, Saha 55, Ronaldo 59, Rooney 61.
WIGAN: Pollitt (Filan 14), Chimbonda, De Zeeuw, Henchoz (McCulloch 62), Baines, Bullard, Kavanagh (Ziegler 72), Scharner, Teale, Camara, Roberts. Subs Not Used: Jackson, Johansson. Booked: De Zeeuw.
Referee: A Wiley (Staffordshire).
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