For those who've been living under a rock these past few days, the Emirates FA Cup provided yet another of football's all-time great moments at the weekend.
English sixth-tier side Macclesfield FC, the phoenix club of the former Macclesfield Town who went bust just half a decade ago, shocked the entire sporting world by downing holders Crystal Palace in the tournament's third round on Saturday.
Goals from Paul Dawson and Isaac Buckley-Ricketts had Macclesfield in dreamland before Yeremy Pino's superb free-kick halved the deficit in the final minute of regulation time, but the hosts survived an additional eight minutes to become the first non-league side to knock out the defending champions in well over a century.
HISTORY IS MADE! 🤩
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 10, 2026
Sixth-tier side Macclesfield FC knock FA Cup holders Crystal Palace out of the competition! 😳
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/dz0wIxT3qH
Almost as remarkable, for us Orlando City fans at least, is that Macclesfield are currently managed by John Rooney, who donned our purple jersey all the way back in 2012.
"We'd have liked to have got Liverpool, Chelsea, or Arsenal but another Premier League side is incredible," beamed the 35-year-old gaffer last night when his side were awarded yet another home tie in the fourth round, this time against Brentford.
The former attacking midfielder, who is the younger brother of Orlando's old nemesis Wayne, made ten appearances across all competitions during his single season in Central Florida, helping himself to four goals and three assists.
Two of those strikes came in the 7-0 demolition of KC Athletics in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, which earned Adrian Heath's USL Pro champions a dream tie away at against Major League Soccer's Sporting Kansas City, our affiliate club at the time, in the following round.
Despite moving back to his native England at the end of the season, Rooney forever etched himself into Orlando's history by being part of the team that claimed the second of three Commissioner's Cups during our four-year stint in America's then-third tier.
Macclesfield's historic fourth-round meeting with Brentford is scheduled to take place in mid-February, although the exact date and time are still yet to be confirmed.