FA Cup - Everton beat United on penalties

Eurosport - Mon, 20 Apr 09:08:00 2009

Everton defeated an under-strength Manchester United 4-2 on penalties after 120 goalless minutes at Wembley to reach the FA Cup final.

2008-2009 FA Cup Manchester United-Everton Tim Howard - 0

David Moyes's side will return to London on May 30 to face Guus Hiddink's Chelsea after ending United's dream of winning a quintuple of trophies.

In the last 12 months, United have won the Champions League, Community Shield and Carling Cup on penalties, the latter two at Wembley.

Yet it was Everton who held their nerve in the shoot-out as Tim Howard saved from Dimitar Berbatov and Rio Ferdinand.

But arguably United's biggest villain was their manager. Sir Alex Ferguson was made to pay for his controversial team selection, making eight changes from the side that beat Porto in the Champions League, and leaving out his biggest stars.

United were denied what looked a clear penalty in normal time, but can have little complaint at the result given the complacency of Ferguson's team sheet.

Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were the only undisputed first-teamers to start, while Ferguson made room for the unheralded likes of Ben Foster, Fabio da Silva, Darron Gibson, Danny Welbeck and Federico Macheda.

Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Carrick and Edwin van der Sar did not even make the trip to London, staying in Manchester to prepare for the visit of Portsmouth to Old Trafford on Wednesday.

It was a remarkable decision and one that reflects where Ferguson's true priorities lie. While some fans wanted to win it all, Ferguson's main aim is to keep Liverpool's hands off the Premier League trophy.

If that means losing the FA Cup and upsetting the 40,000 United fans who travelled to Wembley, then so be it.

Despite being plunged into immediate underdog status, United were not overawed.

Macheda may be only 17, but his self-belief appears to have developed fully. He was full of inventive flicks and touches, using his imposing physique to good effect.

The Italian showed some especially good interplay with his fellow youngster Welbeck, who failed to convert several chances.

Joleon Lescott blocked a Welbeck effort turned goalwards from a Rafael cross, before the Brazilian sliced a left-foot shot well wide after Macheda fed him superbly.

Despite targeting United's attack-minded full-backs Rafael and Fabio, Everton had little joy from the flanks as the 18-year-old twins coped well with the threat of Steven Pienaar, Leon Osman and the overlapping Leighton Baines.

Foster played a starring role at Wembley in February as United beat Tottenham on penalties in the Carling Cup final.

However, he looked nervous throughout, slicing a clearance, nearly gifting possession to Louis Saha when he dallied on the ball and whacking a clearance into the body of James Vaughan. However, none of his errors ranked on the Lukasz Fabianski scale; the Arsenal keeper's blunders costing his side a place in the final on Saturday.

Saha battled back from a stomach virus to start up front for Everton, supported by the towering aerial presence of Marouane Fellaini and Tim Cahill. Everton showed increased ambition after half-time, with Cahill forcing Foster into a diving save with a dipping 25-yard strike.

At the other end, Park Ji-Sung and Gibson went close before the defining moment of normal time, when Welbeck burst into the box and appeared to be brought down by Phil Jagielka.

Referee Mike Riley said no penalty, sending Ferguson into a predictable rage. David Moyes spoke pointedly in the week about Riley's supposed pro-United bias and it is hard not to wonder whether the Everton manager's words affected the referee's decision-making.

Tevez, Anderson and Welbeck all went close but in truth, extra-time seemed inevitable long before Riley blew for the end of 90 minutes.

Cahill forced Foster into a sharp save with his legs before Fellaini narrowly failed to get his shot away at the edge of the box.

Substitute Vaughan also failed to convert a golden chance from a Baines pull-back, while at the other end Welbeck took an airshot when teed up by Berbatov.

But penalties were always the likely outcome, and although Cahill missed Everton's first spot-kick, Everton were soon in front after Berbatov, dismally, and Ferdinand failed to convert.

Former United man Phil Neville converted nervelessly, before Jagielka converted the decisive shot to send 40,000 Evertonians into raptures.

Alex Chick / Eurosport

Comment 714 - 733 of 733

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  1. fergie is a big headed prat. the quintuple is bull@#$%.­ hopefully man u will only win da leeg cup
    fa­ cup: everton
    prem:liverpool
    ­ champions leeg:barca

    From patrickruddy100, on Tue 21 Apr 6:39PM

  2. moyes comment on the referee's bias on us denied us­ that pernalty he should not interfere on his decisions­ he knows his job and thats what he brow's the­ whisttle for

    From bkamsuli, on Tue 21 Apr 5:00PM

  3. Congrats to Everton im from n ireland and lived in­ england for 25 years where i watched some great­ football at some great venues i would like to say that­ i would prefer fa cup semi finals played at neutral­ grounds and save the big day for Wembley From the few­ times i was there it was a wonderful experience but­ obviously money talks , thans for giving me time to air­ my views and happy footballing

    From michael, on Mon 20 Apr 7:32PM

  4. If you only want to win the big TWO prem/champs lge ,­ WHY send a decent team out in rounds 3/4/5/qf why not­ throw it in round 3 MADNESS UTTER MADNESS

    From anthony h, on Mon 20 Apr 6:23PM

  5. i h8 footy, cant see how u like it, HOW BORING! :)

    From tony.diver1, on Mon 20 Apr 5:38PM

  6. and he blames benitez for calling everton a small club­ after sending out a reseve team against them

    From Malcolm K, on Mon 20 Apr 4:59PM

  7. fergie got his just deserts..disrespected the cup,the­ fans,previous teams they had k.o'd,when arsenal­ beat them in euro cup and chelsea pinch the league he­ will regret his arrogant decision to field a weak team

    From GARRY T, on Mon 20 Apr 4:39PM

  8. Wllm said 734 like that.

    From chiwala, on Mon 20 Apr 2:57PM

  9. it's so sad when some scum agree wt Sir Ferguson­ team line up... r u out of mind... this match is semi­ final not 1st round FA Cup... u give some @#$% then u­ will eat it back... MU fans is still MU... i will let u­ go on wt ur fantasy and history moaning... just little­ disappointed when my Chelsea can't make revenge wt­ ur team on FA final... i know it hurt and unacceptable­ when MU kicking down by Everton... ha ha ha try next­ year if u can... anyway congratulation to Everton...­ bring it out the best on the FA final... BLUE IS THE­ COLOUR...

    From D Pensioner, on Mon 20 Apr 2:05PM

  10. ps natalie elson... team was formed by 2 irish­ priests,team called St Domingus,then Everton,lfc was a­ breakaway from everton (kinda makes all lfc fans­ everton fans really) if they know their roots, &­ for you guys from anfield thats no reference to your­ hair

    From bobby1.penman, on Mon 20 Apr 1:42PM

  11. Natalie.elson has spoken more sense than most of you­ "blokes" out there,no nasty inuendo,no­ vulgarity and no gutterlike language..Im a man u fan­ but I think she s got it right

    From bobby1.penman, on Mon 20 Apr 1:39PM

  12. Well done everton/moyes ..Im a united fan but dont­ begrudge you your day good luck against­ chelsea...please take berbatov off our hands

    From bobby1.penman, on Mon 20 Apr 1:35PM

  13. Experienced kick takers John B?
    Oh wait... let me not­ even bother, you're a LFC fan

    From i am a teacup, on Mon 20 Apr 1:27PM

  14. Still ignoring the fact both teams played on the so­ called bad pitch (Bowling Green).
    11 Pro Footballers­ against 11 pro footballers. Taking the pens at the UTD­ end Everton missing the first pen. Uniteds kick takers­ all being experianced 1st team players.
    Fergie still­ gives no credit to the other team and blames the ref­ and the pitch.
    The man has no grace in defeat or in­ winning.

    From BeachBabe, on Mon 20 Apr 12:05PM

  15. Furguson has disrespected the Cup and Everton.

    From Jimmys Lovin It, on Mon 20 Apr 11:11AM

  16. THE GUYS FERGIE SELECTED ARE GOOD ENOUGH TO TAKE­ EVERTON MAN.U JUST DONT HAVE THE LUCK THAT DAY AND THAT­ WILL NOT BE THE END OF FOOTBALL,WE CANT BE WINING­ ALWAYS THEY ARE HUMAN AND SO I LIKE THE WAY HE RESTED­ THE FIRST ELEVEN SO THAT THEY CAN PICK VERY WELL DURING­ OUR NEXT MATCH.MAN.U 4LIFE

    From oyedeji, on Mon 20 Apr 11:08AM

  17. I couldnt sleep last night I could hear all the Man utd­ fans in Surrey crying. Also did Rio miss the penalty on­ purpose because he thought it was a drug test

    From liam, on Mon 20 Apr 11:06AM

  18. Everton are far from a small team and have the history­ and heritage that many teams strive to achieve. We are­ one of the oldest teams in the league and our home­ ground used to be Anfield before Liverpool were even­ formed. What David Moyes has achieved at Everton is­ second to none and has taken a team on the brink of­ relegation every season into a team that are fighting­ for a European place for the last six years - this year­ we have got to our first cup final in 14 years and­ should qualify for Europe again, all with a team that­ has not been full strength for most of the season and­ has played many games without any recognised strikers,­ as I said far from a small struggling team! Perhaps­ Fergie should have fielded a stronger team, but there­ is no point saying Everton didn't deserve to win­ against the team that was put out, you hardly out­ played us and certainly had no real goal scoring threat­ or created many clear cut chances, you had a fair­ penalty shout but only about as much as ours in the­ first half! So to sum up MUFC ballsed up and­ couldn't hold their nerve for the penalty shoot out­ - but they have got other irons in the fire and should­ go on to take the Premier league and reach the final on­ the Champions league, so what if you don't get all­ five MUFC are still one of the best and consistent­ teams in the world. C O Y B !!!!

    From NATALIE, on Mon 20 Apr 11:00AM

  19. So sorry for Mr. Funguson!!

    From e2c5, on Mon 20 Apr 10:42AM

  20. sir alex,messed up by fillding that team pressure is on­ him now.take it easy chealse is comming.

    From Sydney, on Mon 20 Apr 10:31AM
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