By AVI CREDITOR
On a snowy night at Upton Park, Jonathan Spector emphatically ended his poor run of form.
Given the chance to start for West Ham for the first time in more than three months, Spector scored twice in the first half of his club's shocking 4-0 victory over his former team, Manchester United, in the quarterfinals of the Carling Cup on Tuesday.
Spector scored his first goal moments after being whistled for offside, which negated a would-be West Ham goal that he helped set up. He ran onto a chip from Victor Obinna in the area and nailed the header to open the scoring in the 22nd minute.
Fifteen minutes later, he pounced on a loose ball in the box, finishing with his left foot to double the lead. Spector, who played a central midfield role as opposed to fullback, had only scored once in his professional career before Tuesday's brace.
Highlights of the goals and a few more stories from around the soccer world are after the jump:
HAHNEMANN LOSES STARTING JOB
Marcus Hahnemann has seen this story play out before. Only the last time he was on the other side.
A year after winning the starting goalkeeper job at Wolverhampton from Wayne Hennessey, Hahnemann finds himself on the bench after manager Mick McCarthy has elected to stick with Hennessey as his starter after making the change ahead of Wolves' 3-2 victory over Sunderland on Saturday.
Wolves has yet to record a clean sheet this season, leading McCarthy to make the switch. He told The Guardian (UK): "(Hennessey) had a tough time and then Marcus came in. But we'd not kept a clean sheet, we'd not been winning games and it was my decision to change it. I think I've justified it."
After Hahnemann, 38, won the starting job from Hennessey last season, he performed well enough to earn a spot on the United States national team roster for the World Cup. He has been rumored to be considering a return to Major League Soccer, and this development wouldn't figure to sway his thinking in the other direction.
MOURINHO HANDED UEFA BAN
Jose Mourinho's week was further dampened after UEFA handed down a one-match suspension and a fine of almost $52,000 after the organization found him to be guilty of ordering two players to purposefully get sent off in Real Madrid's last Champions League match.
Mourinho allegedly told Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso to get second yellows so they would be suspended for Madrid's meaningless group-stage finale as opposed to picking up another yellow down the line and missing a knockout-stage match.
Mourinho will be banned from the touch-line for Madrid final group stage game against AJ Auxerre. If he is found of "improper conduct" again within the next three years, an automatic one-game suspension will go into effect.
Ramos and Alonso were fined, but they won't be forced to miss any more matches after sitting out the game against Auxerre.
RAPIDS ACQUIRE NANE FROM TFC
Another trade has gone down in the Major League Soccer offseason, with Toronto FC shipping midfielder Joseph Nane to the Colorado Rapids in exchange for a third-round draft pick in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft.
Nane played in 11 league matches in his rookie season out of Old Dominion University.
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Impressed with Spector's performance? Hope Hahnemann returns to MLS? What do you think of the punishment handed to Mourinho? Like the trade for Colorado and/or Toronto?
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