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 Americans Abroad Reyna, Rangers out of UEFA Cup losing to Borussia Dortmund in PKs.(Tuesday, December 7, 1999) -- American midfielder Claudio Reyna and his Glasgow Rangers were eliminated from the UEFA Cup third round by Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund on penalty kicks today after the German side scored a second goal in injury time for a 2-0 victory in regulation and a 2-2 tie in aggregate.On the basis of their 2-0 victory in Glasgow two weeks ago, Rangers went to Germany two goals up on aggregate. Thus they needed to hold Dortmund to no more than a one-goal victory. Dortmund applied frantic pressure from the opening kickoff. Rangers withstood it well until the 29th minute, when Nigerian international Victor Ikpeba was left unmarked in the box and crushed a header past Rangers goalkeeper Thomas Myhre off a corner. Dortmund continued to attack relentlessly. But Rangers withstood everything that Dortmund could throw at them as the second half wore on with Reyna, playing heroically, constantly dropping back in defense to break up Dortmund passes. Disaster struck Rangers two minutes into injury time. A ball was flighted into Rangers' area where it was knocked down by Dortmund's Jens Lehamnn. The ball ended up on the foot of Fredi Bobic who booted it home to send the match into overtime. Neither team could score, so it went to penalties. Neither of the exhausted teams did well in the kicks, but Rangers did especially poorly, falling 2-1. After Dortmund made its first two kicks, and Amorruso converted for Rangers, the Glasgow side missed its next three. First Van Bronckhorst, then Numan, and finally Reyna missed. So Rangers are out of European competition before the end of the year, a bitter disappointment to the start of a promising season. |
