FA Cup
LIVERPOOL KNOCKOUT EVERTON TO PROGRESS IN FA CUP
A stunning strike from 18-year-old Curtis Jones gave a youthful Liverpool a 1-0 win over Everton in their FA Cup, third round tie at Anfield on Sunday (Jan 5).
Tottenham Hotspur needed a Lucas Moura equaliser to avoid an FA Cup third-round defeat at second tier Middlesbrough as Jose Mourinho’s stuttering side emerged with a 1-1 draw but Chelsea beat Nottingham Forest 2-0.
Premier League Crystal Place were knocked out by Championship side Derby County after suffering a 1-0 loss at Selhurst Park.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp made nine changes to his side, giving starts to three teenagers, while his Italian counterpart Carlo Ancelotti opted for a largely full-strength Everton lineup.
The gulf in experience between the two sides was barely evident, however, and will simply add to the pain for Everton, who are without a win at Anfield since September 1999.
For Liverpool it was a performance which illustrated the talent coming through the production line at their Melwood training ground.
For local-born academy product Jones, it was a game he will never forget, delivering his first senior goal in a Merseyside derby.
“I can’t sum up my emotions. For me it’s huge just being around this team every day and learning from this group of players. There are world-class players all over this team but I think I went out and showed what I could do on the pitch,” he said.
Everton should have gone at the break with a lead with Liverpool keeper Adrian foiling goalbound efforts from Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Mason Holgate and Richarlison in the first half.
Ancelotti will be disappointed that on each of those occasions his players aimed straight at the Spanish keeper but having failed to capitalise, worse was to come.
Klopp was visibly appreciating the sight of his youngsters buzzing around the field playing enterprising football with the German raising his arms in applause as teenagers Neco Williams, Harvey Elliott and Jones showed they are well-drilled in the Liverpool method.
Jones delivered the killer blow in the 71st minute when after a swift exchange with Divock Origi he unleashed a superb curling effort into the top corner, leaving Everton without a win against their rivals since October 2010.
“They played brave football. Unbelievable individual performances from the kids and the adults as well,” said Klopp. “Sensational game and a sensational goal from a Scouser – who could ask for more?”
Eight-times FA Cup winners Spurs trailed to Ashley Fletcher’s fine finish just after the break but Moura’s header spared a Tottenham side who were without injured striker Harry Kane.
Tottenham dominated following Moura’s equaliser but Boro keeper Tomas Mejias, making his first start of the season, frustrated them with several saves as Boro earned a replay.
Chelsea made nine changes to their starting line-up but beat Championship promotion hopefuls Forest with goals from Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ross Barkley.
Former Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney, back in England after a spell in Major League Soccer with DC United, helped Championship side Derby County spring a surprise with a 1-0 victory at Crystal Palace.
It was Rooney’s first appearance in the FA Cup since he played for Everton – exactly two years ago – in a 2-1 loss to Liverpool at Anfield.
Palace skipper Luka Milivojevic became the first player in an English match to be sent off as a result of a referee reviewing an incident on a pitch-side monitor during the loss.
Derby striker Chris Martin decided the game with a close-range effort in the 32nd minute.
Top-flight Sheffield United were made to work hard by minor league outfit AFC Fylde, winning 2-1.
In an all-Championship clash, West Bromwich Albion and Charlton Athletic make a combined 20 changes with Albion winning 1-0 thanks to Kenneth Zohore’s goal.
In another all-second tier encounter, Jordan Hugill, on loan from West Ham United, scored twice for Queens Park Rangers in their 5-1 win over Swansea City.
– Reuters
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola admitted he was surprised that Norwegian striker Erling Haaland declined to take a penalty for his side in Saturday’s FA Cup final against Crystal Palace with the kick subsequently being missed by Omar Marmoush.
Trailing 1-0 to Eberechi Eze’s goal, City were awarded a penalty in the first half when Palace defender Tyrick Mitchell tripped Bernardo Silva who had burst into the area.
Haaland, who had failed to score in his first five Wembley appearances for City, looked poised to break that duck, but handed the ball to Marmoush whose first-ever penalty for City was superbly saved by Dean Henderson.
“I thought he would want to take it but they didn’t speak,” said Guardiola. “That moment for the penalty, it’s the feeling and how they feel. They decided Omar was ready to take it.
“Omar took a lot of time when the ball was stopped, so it put more pressure on him, and Henderson made a good save.”
Former Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, working as a TV pundit for the BBC, said he felt the occasion might have got to Haaland.
“He’s a world-class forward, but when we are talking about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, there is no way they are giving that ball away,” Rooney said.
“That is what separates them two players from Erling Haaland or Kylian Mbappe and these players. They are selfish and they want to score every game.
“When (Haaland) misses chances I think you can see it gets to him and it does affect him. Maybe the thought of taking a penalty at Wembley might have been too much for him. You never know, he is a human being.”
Haaland has scored 30 goals for City this season in all competitions but has missed three of his seven penalties.
-Reuters
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Crystal Palace face Manchester City at Wembley on Saturday hoping to lift the FA Cup for the first time and it is guaranteed that high on the pre-match agenda will be the club’s extraordinary and eventually heartbreaking 1990 campaign.
The semi-finals and final(s) that year were arguably the most dramatic in the competition’s long and storied history and remain the emotional high and low point of every Palace fan who watched them.
Palace were struggling in the top flight after promotion and had been humiliated 9-0 by Liverpool early in the season.
In the Cup they were hardly pulling up trees either, beating lower league Portsmouth, Huddersfield Town, Rochdale and Cambridge United to reach the semi-finals for the first time since they lost to Southampton as a third division team in 1976.
Facing runaway champions-elect and FA Cup holders Liverpool again in the semis look an insurmountable barrier and an Ian Rush goal had the Reds ahead at halftime at Villa Park.
Things then went crazy as Mark Bright and Gary O’Reilly gave Palace a shock lead. Two goals in two minutes put Liverpool back in front, only for Andy Gray to stun the odds-on favourites in the 88th minute to force extra time.
Amazingly, it was Palace who snatched victory in the 109th minute via Alan Pardew, who would later manage the club.
It was the first year that both semi-finals were live on TV and barely had the excitement abated when similarly unfancied Oldham ran out to face Manchester United at Maine Road.
The second division team had not beaten top-flight opposition in 66 years but accounted for four that season in a double cup run that caught the nation’s imagination.
Playing vibrant, attacking football under Joe Royle, Oldham twice came from behind to draw 3-3 after extra time – meaning a remarkable 13 goals had been scored on a day of unimaginable drama. United ended Oldham’s dream when they snatched a 2-1 victory six minutes from the end of extra time in the replay.
ALL-ENGLISH TEAM
The Palace side who lined up at Wembley were the last all-English team to play in the final while United’s were the last all-UK lineup to win it.
United manager Alex Ferguson was under huge pressure to deliver a trophy four years after arriving at Old Trafford, but Palace struck first through O’Reilly.
Bryan Robson and Mark Hughes turned it round and United seemed on course for victory, only for Ian Wright to come off the bench for the most wonderful 20 minutes of his life.
The former non-league striker had been sidelined for much of the season with a twice-broken leg, but exploded into action to equalise with virtually his first touch and then put the Londoners ahead early in extra time.
“It’s still the greatest moment I’ve had in my career – easily – simply because of everything that it had entailed up to that point,” Wright told the Palace website on Friday.
“My emergence at Palace, and to reach the biggest stage in English football, and all of a sudden I’m on the Wembley pitch.
“And then what happened after that was the stuff of fairytales. It really, really was.”
However, as the Palace fans sang in dreamland, Hughes broke their hearts with a late equaliser.
The replay five days later could not live up to everything that had gone before and though Palace battled gamely, United won it 1-0 with a goal by Lee Martin.
It was a victory that launched Ferguson and United on their dizzying journey of success – that included another extra-time FA Cup final win over Palace in 2016 after the Scot had retired – but one that left a gaping hole in the hearts of the losers.
“I would have loved to have won that FA Cup, and we were only seven minutes away,” said Wright, who went on to win multiple trophies, including two FA Cups with Arsenal. “Seven minutes. Honestly, I still can’t take it.”
-Reuters
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The first weekend of semi-automated offside decisions in English soccer descended into confusion on Saturday as Bournemouth had a goal ruled out after a record eight-minute VAR check.
Bournemouth, who eventually beat Premier League rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers on penalties in the FA Cup fifth round after a 1-1 draw, thought they had doubled their lead when defender Milos Kerkez scored in the 35th-minute goal.
However, new technology could not be used because the six-yard area was too crowded and VAR officials had to revert to manually drawing lines before disallowing the goal.
Fellow defender Dean Huijsen was adjudged to have been in an offside position as Kerkez’s effort brushed his shoulder before going in to the net.
The VAR check was further complicated as VAR officials Timothy Wood and Darren England also had to also examine the possibility of hand balls prior to the tight offside call.
Both sets of fans voiced their disapproval at the interminable wait, chanting “it’s not football any more” and “this is embarrassing”.
Referee Sam Barrott, who eventually announced the decision to the crowd via a microphone, had to explain to the respective managers and players what was happening during the delay.
-Reuters
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