Football: Benitez Must Box Clever to Stop Hammers Landing Knockout Blow

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Rafael Benitez has proved impervious to most of the old sentimentality of English football, a pragmatist who deals in the core disciplines of Premiership and Champions' League - or at least he was until the FA Cup finally took a grip of his imagination against Chelsea last month. Since then he has been giving that old speech about how he never understood the Cup's significance in our national psyche until now, like a newcomer to England who finally gets accustomed to the food and the weather.

It is an FA Cup final to savour today, between two clubs who cherish its place in their history, and two managers who deserve our attention. It took English football a while to …