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Everton crash, Spurs scrape through
Tottenham edged nervously into the UEFA Cup group stages to ease the pressure on under-fire coach Juande Ramos but fellow English club Everton crashed out.
Tottenham edged nervously into the UEFA Cup group stages on Thursday to ease the pressure on under-fire coach Juande Ramos but fellow English club Everton crashed out.
Tottenham, rooted to the bottom of the Premier League, drew 1-1 with Wisla Krakow in Poland to secure a 3-2 aggregate win.
Pawel Brozek’s lobbed equaliser with seven minutes to go, following Arkadiusz Glowacki’s 58th-minute own goal for Tottenham, forced the Londoners to hang on grimly to go through, courtesy of their 2-1 win at White Hart Lane two weeks ago.
Everton slumped to a 2-1 defeat against Standard Liege in Belgium to lose 4-3 on aggregate, a result which will pile the pressure onto manager David Moyes who has yet to sign a new contract with the Merseysiders.
Axel Witsel put the Belgians ahead in the 22nd minute before Everton levelled in the 67th minute when Phil Jagielka prodded the ball home after goalkeeper Rorys Aragon fumbled.
But Milan Jovanovic grabbed the winner 12 minutes from time when he converted a penalty after he had been chopped down by Leighton Baines.
“We have had tough tests — all managers face difficult times, and I have had some,” admitted Moyes.
“No one has a divine right to win football games. You have to earn the right to do so."
Peter Crouch was Portsmouth's saviour in Portugal when he scored twice in extra time to salvage a 2-2 draw at Guimaraes and take Pompey with a 4-2 aggregate win.
Manchester City went through after a 2-1 home win over Omonia Nicosia of Cyprus for a 4-2 aggregate win.
Germany enjoyed a four-pronged success with Wolfsburg, Stuttgart, Schalke and Hamburg all moving into the group stages.
But Borussia Dortmund lost to Udinese of Italy.
