The Power of “What If?”
The Power of “What If?”
Every year, the F.A. Cup reminds us how sport can ignite the imagination. Each round offers the possibility of David vs. Goliath battles, unpredictable upsets, and the chance for a footballing minnow to etch their name into folklore. Sometimes the gap between teams can be nearly 100 league places, yet the magic of the Cup has a way of bending reality. When belief takes hold, a team can achieve the extraordinary—simply by daring to ask, What if?
Last weekend, our Science Analyst, Ihar Nekrashevich, took his seat at Wembley to watch Crystal Palace lift their second trophy in just three months. The Eagles had waited 119 years for their first silverware, but since beating Manchester City in the F.A. Cup Final back in May, they seem unstoppable.
The odds were stacked against them in both triumphs. They faced a Liverpool side that had strolled to the title and in the Cup Final, they confronted a Manchester City team who had just missed out on a fifth consecutive league crown. Palace ignored the weight of history and the statistics that said victory was improbable. Instead, they asked the same question: What if?
That mindset has sparked a wave of optimism among players, coaches, and fans. Now, with European football on the horizon, who’s to say they can’t go all the way again? That’s the beauty of sport—when we challenge the expected and back ourselves, almost anything becomes possible.
From Wembley to Jubilee Field
A week before Wembley, Ihar and his wife experienced the other end of the footballing spectrum. They cycled through the Surrey and West Sussex countryside to Jubilee Field, home of Three Bridges FC. Here, the 2026 F.A. Cup journey was only just beginning.
This was an extra preliminary qualifying round—the round before the preliminary qualifying round, itself before four more qualifying rounds that precede the F.A. Cup First Round Proper. In other words, this match between 8th-tier Three Bridges and 9th-tier Shoreham was as far from the glamour of the cup final as football gets.
Yet, the optimism for both sides before kick-off likely matched that of Palace fans before their European adventure, because in this moment the opportunity to do something remarkable is the same for everyone.
The Long Road to Greatness
The path to sporting glory is rarely short. It demands far more than blind faith—it requires the courage to aim beyond perceived limits. The greatest athletes refuse to settle for what they think they know. They keep digging, keep asking, keep searching for what they have yet to find.
This spirit matters as much in defeat as it does in victory. Winners ask What if? when the odds are against them, when the chips are down, when they’re fighting not to gain more but to hold on to what they have already earned.
Often, we work with athletes at those low points—times when their future feels uncertain, when questions outweigh answers. But above all those questions sits one that matters most: What if?
What if we don’t have all the facts? What if we only have part of the picture? What if we look at this from another angle? At Morgan Sports Law, that relentless curiosity—the refusal to leave any stone unturned—is what makes us both a trusted ally and a formidable opponent.
Keeping the Door Open
On that afternoon at Jubilee Field, Three Bridges put five past their lower-league opponents to move into the next qualifying round. No giant-killing yet—but the road to Wembley remains in sight.
For now, that’s enough. Because for as long as the journey continues, so does the power of What if?