[AMERICANS ABROAD] Wednesday's match between Aston Villa and Everton was not only a showdown of American keepers Brad Friedel and Tim Howard but it was battle of teams fighting for England's final 2010-11 Europa League berth. The game wasn't decided until stoppage time when a Phil Jagielka own goal Howard got a hold of but couldn't keep out earned Villa a 2-2 tie.

The result left Villa with a four-point lead over the Toffees with a game in hand.

Howard had earlier made excellent saves on James Milner and Carlos Cuellar but couldn't prevent Jagielka's header from sneaking over the line inside the far post.

"I've seen it on a still and, when the ball is crossed in, [Aston Villa forward John] Carew is offside to start with," said Everton manager David Moyes. "But it would have been a hard one for the referee. And I thought it was hard on the goalie because he made a couple of fabulous saves in the first half to keep us in the game at times. He's disappointed he didn't get the second one but his performance was magnificent."