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Pair of Donovan assists leads Everton past Fulham in FA Cup

DonovanDempsey (Reuters Pictures)

The All-American showdown went to Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Everton.

Donovan came up with two assists to guide the Toffees to a 2-1, come-from-behind victory over Clint Dempsey's Fulham at Goodison Park in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Friday.

Donovan hit summer acquisition Denis Stracqualursi with a pinpoint left-footed cross from the right in the 27th minute, and the Argentine headed it past Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale to pull Everton level at 1-1.

The on-loan American was at it again in the 73rd minute, this time finding Marouane Fellaini with a right-footed cross from the right. The wild-haired Belgian international headed it across his body to the far post, leaving a diving Stockdale with no chance at keeping out the game-winner.

Fulham had taken the lead in the 14th minute, with Danny Murphy converting from the penalty spot after John Heitinga was guilty of a handball when sliding to block Damien Duff's shot.

Aside from that, the Cottagers were quite silent on the night and had a difficult time putting together a cohesive attack. Dempsey, coming off his second hat trick in three games, struggled to get involved offensively. His two best chances of the game were an early shot from 30 yards that sailed wide of Howard's goal, and a second-half header off a cross from Costa Rican Bryan Ruiz that sailed over the crossbar.

Donovan had the best chance to score among the two U.S. national team standouts, who were sharing a field as opponents for the first time since a New England Revolution-Los Angeles Galaxy MLS match in 2006. Donovan was on target with his 41st-minute blast from 25 yards out, but he struck it right at Stockdale. The keeper yielded a rebound, but Fulham was able to clear the danger.

With the victory, Everton advances to the Round of 16, while Fulham's chances at silverware are over.

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What did you think of Donovan's performance? Disappointed Dempsey didn't do more?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I think Wynalda is better than Alexi Lalas, but not a whole lot. Both seem to want to go out of their way to make provocative statements for no more apparent reason than to get noticed.

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  2. Painfully obvious how important Xavi and Iniesta are to Messi…just compare where he plays on the pitch for barca vs Argentina (mucher closer to goal for barca)..this is because he gets assists a plenty from the two best mids in the world…without those assists , his form at barca would mirror his form for his country.

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  3. It might have been a big game to you but it wasn’t a big game to Fulham or Everton. They did not play all their best players.

    THe FA Cup is a waste of Fulham’s time, takes away from their more important league matches and they treat it as such. Avoiding relegation is always their first priority.

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  4. That statement came from watching the game and noticing Everton first seemed to be using Baines to kick off their offense and when that didn’t work, they got LD more into the game with better results.

    Lacking Pienaar and Arteta, they don’t really have any other creative attacking midfielders. LD is not creative per se but he is very calm, does have good vision and is a fine passser.

    This was a Cup game so neither side had their best on display but if Everton had anyone else who can do what LD does I didn’t see him. LD is fine player, probably a notch or two below the elite but still good enough to excel in game featuring two medciocre teams in a de-valued competition.

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  5. Of course, I do not have the stats, but a fair amount of goals are scored off of mistakes by the other side.

    I’ve seen teams win games where they did not have one decent offensive move.

    So tell me, what do managers do during the game? Make three subs? Adjust the formation after half time? Yell a lot?

    Compare that to what a manager can do in baseball, American football, hockey or basketball and I think you will understand why I say in soccer the manager’s greatest contributions come before the game.

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  6. Transfer requests aren’t so common in MLS because soccer is still a lower rated sport. The players aren’t powerful enough yet.

    If the sport becomes more popular, things will change. 40-60K per year won’t cut it anymore

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  7. “hardly a poacher”?

    Poachers are there just to score. If Deuce did not score like he did why would you play him?

    Can he lift up a team and run their offense like LD does?

    What sets Dempsey apart is his goal scoring ability nothing else.

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  8. Finishers are important, but as someone else said, short of your Messis, someone has to set that goal up.

    Your Euro upbringing should tell you that most important people on the field are the ones *without* the ball. An assist man identifies those people, the ones in threatening positions, and sets them up to finish the job. Without the vision of an assist man, goals simply wouldn’t be scored.

    Who’s more important? The chef who makes the food – whom you never see nor pay attention – or the waiter who serves you the food?

    Also, if soccer was anti heavy-control, what do managers do on gameday? Just sit back and watch the “dynamics” play out? I don’t think so.

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  9. You know what’s better than a transfer request?

    Honoring the term of your contract, for the length you agreed to honor it.

    “Transfer Requests” are, thankfully, un-American. In what other major American sport do we blindly encourage players – even superstars – to switch teams simply because they want to?

    Sure, a team may trade you when you’ve become unhappy or dissatisfied, or to purge your cancer from their clubhouse, but short of that, players don’t get to walk into management’s office, plop down a piece of paper, and say, “I’ve got a better deal to play for a better team. I want to go – to them.”

    If you want to pick the team you want to play for, that’s what Free Agency is for. Otherwise, you should play your contract.

    The “transfer request” is one of the causes of the financial irresponsibility so prevalent in Euro soccer… and it needs to stay out of the States.

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  10. My choice of vocabulary is not dictated by SBI use; it’s dictated by picking the correct word to express the right sentiment.

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  11. Landon’s play lifts the prospects of each of his teammates. Goals and stout defense are the fruits of his labor — not the measure of it.

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  12. That’s retarded. Look at Landon’s assist last week. The goal gets the accolades, the assist WAS the goal. Setting up a striker so that the only thing he has to do is NOT choke is what matters in my book. I can appreciate a good finish, but providing the goal on a silver platter, and having the vision to do so is more important than tapping it in. Damn right I value a guy that provides 20 assists over a guy that was on the receiving end of 10 of them.

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  13. A great day for american soccer and you all spend your time taking each player,and each others, head off. Great- we are becoming just like every other sport now. I guess we are maturing which is the natural progression but in some ways sad.

    Do agree about the coverage though…I like my mine with a english accent.

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  14. yeah like that guy from Barcelona who rarely scores, Xavi or something… he’s completely overlooked and barely known unlike hid higher scoring teammates like Pedro…

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  15. “I give Eric credit for not being afraid to call out coaches and the players when they warrant it. ”

    Why?

    Isn’t that his job as a commentator?

    Criticising BB over his use of MB at a time when it seemed like everyone else dumping on BB was more like piling on, hardly daring.

    Wynalda profits from being controversial. With most other commentators being basically bland, inarticulate, inane and non controversial, Eric’s rants, while basically incoherent, set him apart and that is good business for him.

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  16. I agree that “you do not need to run around like a chicken with his head cut off for 90 minutes and sweat blood to have a good game.” However, to say that “Donovan was the only Everton player orchestrating intelligent attacking movements” is inaccurate. And it must be sarcasm that led you to this statement: “The entire Everton attack revolves around Landon; take him off and you have a bunch of guys running around chasing the ball.” I’m not sure what your getting at. I already know that the hype around Donovan is bigger than life, but come on.

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  17. Donovan was the only Everton player orchestrating intelligent attacking movements.

    You do not need to run around like a chicken with his head cut off for 90 minutes and sweat blood to have a good game.

    If having the assists for all of your team’s goals and being the single most dangerous player on the field for basically the entire 90 is having a quiet game, I hope LD has a lot more quiet games.

    The entire Everton attack revolves around Landon; take him off and you have a bunch of guys running around chasing the ball.

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