Swansea City's Miguel Michu, middle, and teammate Jonathan de
Guzman, right. Press Association  The League Cup may be the
first piece of silverware on the English soccer calendar every
year but, in recent years, it came and went before many fans
fully realized it was even going on. The biggest clubs use it to
give their stars some rest. Most of the games are played on
midweek evenings in the middle of winter.  Besides, England has
another knockout competition, the FA Cup, with more teams and at
least an extra 70 years' worth of tradition. The League Cup's
image problem became so bad—much like the National Invitation
Tournament in U.S. college basketball or the now defunct Cup
Winners' Cup in European soccer—that many wondered why it was
still around at all.  But this season has seen the League Cup
rejuvenated, with a string of memorable games and notorious
incidents. And on Sunday, it won't culminate with an expected
battle between two of English soccer's behemoths, but rather a
pair of Cinderellas: the Premi