London - Tim Howard saved two penalties against his former
team as Everton beat Manchester United in Sunday's FA Cup semi-final
at Wembley.
Everton's Tim Cahill blazed the first kick over, but Dimitar
Berbatov then saw his stuttering attempt saved by Howard.
Leighton Baines blasted in, and when Howard saved from Rio
Ferdinand, Everton had the advantage.
Phil Neville, Nemanja Vidic, James Vaughan and Anderson all
scored, leaving Phil Jagielka needing to score to send Everton
through.
He had missed a crucial kick against Fiorentina in last season's
UEFA Cup, but this time he scored, with a fine kick to Ben Foster's
left, putting Everton into the FA Cup final for the first time since
1995, and ending United's hopes of winning a clean sweep of trophies
this season.
Everton manager Daviud Moyes confirmed his side had tried to
practise penalties.
'We had a go, but how can your practise?' he said. 'If the goalie
guesses right it's a save, but if not it's a goal.
'He (Jagielka) was one of the ones who scored in training. If he'd
had his way he wouldn't have taken one, but we were a bit short.'
The 120 minutes of play had ended goalless, and had rarely
threatened to be anything else.
'We kept at it, and played better in patches,' said Moyes.
'For everybody at Everton it's fantastic for the effort the
players have put in.
'We're working towards success for Everton and if we keep working
like this we'll not be too far away.'
Ferguson made eight changes from the team that had won in Porto on
Wednesday, and it seemed to take United time to settle.
As the first half wore on, though, they came increasingly into the
game, and Joleon Lescott almost diverted Danny Welbeck's flick at a
Rafael cross onto his own net.
Welbeck then stumbled as Carlos Tevez, playing in his
characteristic withdrawn role, slipped a cleverly disguised ball to
him.
Clear chances, though, were few and far between, and Everton's
best opportunity of the first half came after Louis Saha almost
embarrassed goalkeeper Ben Foster as he dallied over a back-pass.
Everton began the second half with greater directness, and it took
a plunging save from Foster eight minutes after the break to keep out
a Cahill strike that threatened to dip under his dive.
As the game began to open up, Ji-Sung Park dragged a left-foot
shot just wide.
Welbeck then had an effort beaten away by Howard, before possibly
being bundled over in the box by Phil Jagielka.
Referee Mike Riley, though, waved play on, leading, inevitably, to
suspicions that he may have been affected by Everton manager David
Moyes's midweek suggestion that he is a United fan.
Neither side, though, really had a clear chance, and there was a
certain inevitability about the game's passage into extra-time.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was heavily critical of the pitch
after his side's 2-1 defeat to Chelsea on Saturday, and it may be
that the uneven surface has contributed to the high proportion of
uninspiring games played at the ground since it was re-opened two
years ago.
Cahill forced Foster to save with his feet early in extra-time,
and a James Vaughan shot deflected off Vidic just behind Cahill just
after half-time in extra-time, but it remained a game short on
goalmouth incident.
Not that Everton will care: they face Chelsea in the final on May
30.
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