UEFA Cup Goalkeeper News - 15/2/08
The UEFA Cup has been known in recent times as the "Losers Cup" because of the prominence of the UEFA Champion's League. The excitement of the competition is often overshadowed by the bigger names in the Champion's League, but on Thursday night in Europe, there were a number of incidents that attracted the attention of the major British media (as if they needed something else to write about).
Tottenham's goalkeeping woes continue as their dominance of Slavia Prague was compromised by Radek Cerny's failure to catch a routine cross. The ball kicked off the heels of his hands and into the path of David Strihavka, who nudged it easily into the back of the net. The You Tube video says it all:
Tottenham escaped the Czech capital with a 2-1 victory, but the incident has put them only one goal up going into the second leg.
In Bergen, Norway, Everton came away with a two-goal lead going into the return leg at home by beating SK Brann 2-0. The real excitement came towards the end of the match, when Everton's American goalkeeper Tim Howard (27 caps and 10 clean sheets) was attacked by a billiard! The black eight ball missed him, but it led captain Phil Neville to hand it to the center referee with a bewildered look on his face after the full time whistle. Everton fans made things more difficult by invading the pitch after the completion of the match.
UEFA will undoubtedly pass down some fines to both clubs for their supporters' actions on the night. The entertainment value of the football provided by the "second elite tier" of European clubs on Thursday night proves that, at any level, professional football is entertaining. Not to say that the clubs are inferior to most -- they are, after all, some of the best on the continent -- but perhaps the UEFA Cup deserves to have a better reputation than it does. I, for one, will be watching the final, held on the 14th of May in Manchester.
Liviu Bird
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