Howard saves two PKs, Gooch scores a pair

• by Soccer America , Apr 20, 2009

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Goalkeeper Tim Howard helped Everton reach the FA Cup final by saving two penalty kicks against his former club, Manchester United. Defender Oguchi Onyewu scored twice for Belgium's Standard Liege. In Scotland, Maurice Edu scored the gamewinner for Glasgow Rangers. But it didn't go so well for Michael Bradley in Germany.

ENGLISH FA CUP. Tim Howard, who moved to England to play for Manchester United in 2003 and was then sold to Everton, saved two shootout penalty kicks in the FA Cup semifinal against Man U after a scoreless tie to earn Everton a spot in the final against Chelsea.

Howard saved shots from Dimitar Berbatov and Rio Ferdinand. The American credited his saves to studying the shooters' tendencies on video. He thwarted Berbatov by staying put instead of guessing early the shot's direction.

"I tried to be patient, which is really hard in that position because the goal is gaping," Howard said. "I thought he likes to go right. Did I put him off? I'm not sure, but I know he's one of the shooters who likes to wait [for the goalkeeper to move]."

Howard told AP that, in the days preceding the encounter, he watched Man U PKs from as far as eight years back.

"Technology is crazy," Howard said. "Obviously it wasn't perfect. I mean, I went the wrong way on two of them, but it helps."

The final takes place May 30.

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE. Brad Friedel made several saves for Aston Villa in its 1-1 tie with West Ham, whose Jonathan Spector was out, recovering from a concussion. Clint Dempsey went the full 90 for Fulham in its scoreless tie with Middlesbrough.

BELGIUM. Oguchi Onyewu scored the first and final goal for Standard Liege in a 3-0 win over Royal Excelsior that keeps his defending champion club in a tie for first place with Anderlecht.

SCOTLAND. Glasgow Rangers remains within a point of leader Celtic thanks to midfielder Maurice Edu's gamewinner in a 3-2 win at Hibernian. It was Edu's second league goal since joining Rangers last summer.

GERMANY. Borussia Moenchengladbach squandered another chance to move out of the Bundesliga relegation zone when it fell 4-1 to Eintracht Frankfurt as Michael Bradley's penalty kick was stopped by Frankfurt keeper Markus Proll. Hannover's Steve Cherundolo is out for the season with a hip injury, but 22-year-old Sal Zizzo made his fourth appearance of the season in its 2-1 loss to Hamburg SV when he came on with five minutes left.

FRANCE. Defender Carlos Bocanegra went the full 90 for Rennes in a 3-1 loss to Monaco, whose Freddy Adu dressed but didn't play.

DENMARK. Danny Califf went the full 90 in FC Midtjylland's 2-0 loss to Randers FC. Jeremiah White played 79 minutes for AGF Aarhus in a 1-0 win against FC Copenhagen. Benny Feilhaber saw 65 minutes of action for Aarhus. Michael Parkhurst went the distance in FC Nordsjaelland's 3-0 loss to Odense.

NORWAY. Keeper Troy Perkins and Valarenga tied 1-1 with Brann. Hunter Freeman played the final eight minutes minutes in IK Start's 1-1 tie with Aalesunds

MEXICO. Jose Francisco Torres sat out Pachuca's 2-0 loss against Morelia. San Luis' Michael Orozco played 88 minutes in its1-0 loss to Monterrey. Marco Vidal started went the distance for Indios in a scoreless tie with Pumas. Daniel Hernandez helped Necaxa, for which he's been starting since late March, to 1-0 win over Tigres. Edgar Castillo played the first 77 minutes of Club America's clasico loss to Chivas.