English teams suffer European shock

PARIS: Everton, Tottenham and Bolton failed to match the lofty heights of their Champions League counterparts on Thursday as their UEFA Cup dreams were left hanging in the balance.
Hopes were high that the three could follow the impressive examples set by Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal in midweek, but all three endured disappointing nights. Everton, who harbour hopes of playing in Europe's elite competition next season, slumped to a 2-0 defeat at Fiorentina in their last 16, first leg clash to lose their 100 per cent record in the competition.Tottenham were also beaten, going down 1-0 at White Hart Lane to PSV Eindhoven to shatter coach Juande Ramos's hopes of winning the competition for the third successive year.Bolton, battling relegation from the Premier League, drew 1-1 at home to Sporting Lisbon.
Glasgow Rangers kept British pride intact with a 2-0 win at home to Werder Bremen while title favourites Bayern Munich cruised to a 5-0 win at Anderlecht.Everton were indebted to goalkeeper Tim Howard who celebrated his 29th birthday in style with a string of fine first-half saves inside the cold and rain-swept Artemio Franchi stadium in Florence.But Fiorentina were deserving winners with second half goals from Serbian striker Zdravko Kuzmanovic and midfielder Ricardo Montolivo.Tottenham's English League Cup final hangover showed no sign of abating as PSV took a 1-0 advantage back to the Netherlands.Jefferson Farfan punished a horrendous first half mistake from debutant Gilberto to inflict a second successive defeat on Juande Ramos's side since they won the League Cup two weeks ago. At the Reebok, Bolton saw Sporting Lisbon's Simon Vukcevic crack a stunning equaliser to cancel out Gavin McCann's first-half opener to leave Gary Megson's side facing an uphill struggle in Portugal. - AFP

Woodgate winner signals Spurs' new dawn

Woodgate winner signals Spurs' new dawn
By Henry Winter at Wembley Stadium
Last Updated: 10:11am GMT 25/02/2008
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Tottenham Hotspur (0) 1 Chelsea (1) 1 Aet 2-1
Jonathan Woodgate should be able to climb on to the London property ladder now. In the house of the rising sums, the £757 million Wembley residence that is the symbol of an exorbitant market that has so shocked Woodgate, the new arrival from Middlesbrough surely earned the deposit for a 'des res' in the capital.
· Alan Smith: Robinson vindicates Ramos
· Alan Hansen: Spurs show their mettle but Grant's is rusty
· Tottenham v Chelsea player ratings In pics: Spurs lift the Carling Cup
Woodgate certainly bought a place in history yesterday.
Having surprised many with his comments about how even wealthy footballers found London expensive, Woodgate will not be short of offers of spare rooms in the Tottenham area. Goals pay the rent and match-winning headers like Woodgate's are priceless.
To Woodgate the spoils, to Avram Grant the brickbats. Like a profligate heir, Grant has now squandered half the family silver he inherited from Jose Mourinho. Like a startled fawn, Chelsea's manager failed to react when the team cried out for guidance, for inspiration. Steve Clarke delivered the rallying cry before extra-time. Grant listened.
A manager who never lost a cup final in England, Mourinho would have raged against the dying of the light, exhorting his players to find something extra, enacting one of his substitute master-strokes to vary Chelsea's danger. The Blues' huge army of support, who became so used to trophies under Mourinho, deserve better than Grant. MORE

Premier fools

The Premier League could have their bombshell proposals for an 'International Round' of matches around the globe killed off by FIFA in just five weeks — before the plans have even left the drawing board.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who is known to be strongly opposed to the scheme that has been greeted by waves of negative reaction, has demanded that official documents relating to the planned project be sent to the world governing body.

They will discuss the ramifications that threaten to change the face of football at their next executive committee meeting in Zurich on March 14. Such is the initial FIFA furore to Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore's brainchild that there was even talk at their headquarters yesterday that the influential supremo might be forced to step down from his position on the FIFA strategic committee, which was set up last year.

UEFA president Michel Platini tore into the plan with a withering attack. He said: 'You already have no English coach, you have no English players and maybe now you will have no club playing in England. It's a joke.'

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