Americans Abroad

Keller's inspired effort not enough to stop motivated Manchester United from dropping Tottenham Hotspur 2-0.

By Robert Wagman (in Washington, D.C.)
and Gary Davidson (in Washington, D.C.)
SoccerTimes

(Monday, April 28, 2003) -- Not even United States goalkeeper Kasey Keller's sensational goalkeeping could prevent Manchester United from victory.

Smarting from its elimination in the European Champions League quarterfinals Wednesday and holding a slim lead atop England's Premier League, United overcame host Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 yesterday before 36,073 at White Hart Lane despite Keller's inspiring effort in net.

Keller denied Ruud van Nistelrooy on no fewer than six clear-cut chances, four in the first half. He also made stops on Ryan Giggs, Roy Keane, David Beckham and Paul Scholes.

Scholes put United ahead 1-0 in the 21st minute. While Keller was saving shot after shot, twice leaving van Nistelrooy shaking his head in frustration, Spurs could manage little offensively.

In stoppage time, van Nistelrooy was sent on a breakaway and beat Keller for his 40th goal of the season and the 2-0 final.

"He was marvelous, wasn't he?" Man U. manager Sir Alex Ferguson said, referring to Keller.

Blackburn Rovers kept their hopes for a place in European competition next season alive with a nice 3-2 win at Leeds United. U.S. keeper Brad Friedel did well in goal for Rovers who surprised by winning at Elland Road for the first time in 44 years, going 0-10-10 over that period.

Leeds scored first in the 21st minute, sending two men in alone on Friedel. Australian Mark Viduka broke free down the middle with his Down Under countryman Harry Kewell wide and unmarked to his right, Viduka pushed the ball to Kewell whose shot was blocked by Friedel, but the rebound went directly to Viduka for a simple two-yard push into the open net.

Rovers pulled even at 1-1 in the 36th minute on David Dunn's penalty kick and Friedel kept the match that way two minutes later when he dove to parry away a shot from Kewell. Just after the start of the second half, he dove to take a ball off Viduka's foot just as he was shooting and then stopped the Australian again after he was set up by a Danny Mills back-heel.

Rovers took a 3-1 lead after goals by Andy Cole in the 68th minute and Andrew Todd in the 77th minute, but, having used all three subsititutes, were reduced to 10 men for the final 15 minutes after Slovakian international Vratislav Gresko was carried off on a stretcher with what looked to be a serious injury.

Leeds applied great pressure and it paid off when Todd tried to get a ball back to Friedel but Alan Smith got to it first and nodded it home to narrow his club's deficit to 3-2.

Rovers (15-10-11, 56 points) stand seventh, three points behind sixth-place Everton (17-11-8) which defeated Aston Villa 2-1 with a possible place in the UEFA Cup next season at stake.

The top three Premier League teams qualify for next season's Champions League. The fourth- and fifth-place finishers qualify for the UEFA Cup. The FA Cup champion also qualifies for the UEFA Cup. If the FA Cup champion has already qualified for the Champions League or the UEFA Cup, then the EPL sixth-place team qualifies. The next two EPL teams not qualified for the Champions League or UEFA Cup enter Europe's Intertoto Cup with the event's winner moving on to the UEFA Cup.

American attacker Jovan Kirovski did not dress as Birmingham City continued its impressive run of late with a 3-0 win over Middlesbrough. Former Columbus Crew striker Stern John has become the first substitute on the front line and came into this match in the 80th minute for mop-up duty.

Midweek, Kirovski started for Birmingham's reserves who defeated Leeds 2-0.

Reading took a 2-0 lead on early goals by Glen Little and Andy Hughes while American keeper Marcus Hahnemann did not face his first shot until the 54th minute when he stopped a long bullet from Stuart Campbell. In injury time, Hahnemann pushed Terry Cooke's shot against the crossbar and could do nothing when the rebound went to Michael Keane who easily scored.

U.S. midfielder Eddie Lewis started the sequence that led to Preston North End's goal in a 1-0 victory over Bradford. Lewis made a nice run down the left side and delivered a good cross that led to Pawel Abbott's tally in the 13th minute.

After a steady effort, Lewis was replaced in the 80th minute by defensive midfielder Lee Cartwright. Preston (16-16-13, 61) is in 11th place, and out of the hunt for promotion. Indicative of the team's wildly inconsistent season, North End has alternated wins and losses over its last six outings.

American defender Cory Gibbs had St Pauli exercise an option on Gibbs contract for next season and extended it for another season, through 2004-05.

Last-place Energie Cottbus (6-17-7, 25) with American Gregg Berhalter playing solidly in the center of defense, took a 2-0 first half lead over Arminia Bielefeld but settled for a 2-2 draw. In the 56th minute, with the score 2-1, Detlev Dammeier floated a free kick into the Cottbus penalty area and Artur Wichnariak rose above two defenders including Berhalter to head it home from seven yards for the tying goal.

On Wednesday, Ajax suffered a heartbreaking loss in the Champions League, bowing out to AC Milan 3-2 (3-2 on aggregate) after conceding a stoppage-time goal to substitute Jon Dahl Tomasson in Milan. Steven Pienaar had tied the game at 2-2 in the 78th minute for Ajax which would have advanced because of its two road goals before disaster struck.

Filippo Inzaghi controlled deep in Ajax area, chipped over advancing Ajax keeper Bogdan Lobont and then watched Tomasson push the winner into the net.

O'Brien played well, employed centrally as a defensive midfielder for the first half before returning to his usual left back position to replace injured Jelle van Daam while Jari Litmanen was inserted into the midfield.

After Inzaghi put Milan ahead 1-0 after 30 minutes, Litmanen tied the score at 1-1 in the 63rd minute. The lead held up for only a minute when Andriy Shevchenko scored. Otherwise, O'Brien held his own against the pressure of Shevchenko down the right flank.

American defender Oguchi Onyewu was scratched from a start in an important reserve-team match for Metz with what the club's web site describes as "tendonitis of the kneecap." He is due to have an MRI exam to further evaluate the injury.

Robert Wagman is a SoccerTimes senior correspondent and can be e-mailed at bobwagman@soccertimes.com. Gary Davidson is a SoccerTimes managing editor and can be e-mailed at editor@soccertimes.com.