Americans Abroad

Lewis leads Preston to 2-0 upset of Birmingham City in Worthington Cup.

Eddie Lewis (center) receives congratulations from Preston North End teammates after his "Man of the Match" effort helped spur a 2-0 Worthington Cup upset at Birmingham City.

By Robert Wagman
SoccerTimes

(Wednesday, November 6, 2002) -- United States midfielder Eddie Lewis continued his strong play since returning from a rib injury, assisting one goals and then scoring the other, part of an overall strong effort that helped propel Preston North End of England's First Division to a 2-0 victory over the Premier League's Birmingham City yesterday and into the Worthington Cup Round of 16.

Preston won for the first time at City's St. Andrews ground in 40 years and progressed further into the league cup than it has in 20 years.

In his third match back, Lewis started quickly, beating a defender down the left side in the second minute and putting a cross on goal that was barely sent safely away. In the 20th minute, Lewis made a major defensive stop, clearing a ball that denied City a major opportunity.

In the 28th minute, City was reduced to 10 men when Geoff Horsfield was sent off, but played well for the remainder of the first half. With North End having lost its early advantage and not generating much offense, Lewis was moved from his normal left wing position into a more central midfield role, behind the two strikers, just before intermission. The move paid dividends.

In the second half, Lewis continued in central midfield, at times switching with Tyrone Mears and playing on the right side. He created several opportunities, but Preston could not capitalize. Then, in the 59th minute, Lewis created space for himself on the right side and sent in a deadly cross deep in the box to Ricardo Fuller, who settled, turned and blasted it into the far corner for a 1-0 lead.

Five minutes later, Birmingham brought on American attacker Jovan Kirovski to generate more offense. In his first minute, Kirovski had a good opportunity, but shot high.

Soon after, Lewis nearly scored, taking a pass from Fuller, but watching his blast deflect off a defender and miss wide by a foot. In the 76th minute, Lewis again applied great pressure, winning a corner kick which he took and was headed just wide.

In the 78th minute, Lewis took a pass around 20 yards out, settled the ball, switched feet and let loose a rocket that found the top corner for a 2-0 advantage.

Today, U.S. goalkeeper Kasey Keller and the Premier League's Tottenham Hotspur seemed to be cruising to a third-round Cup win over Burnley of the First Division, but two odd goals within five minutes midway through the second half allowed Burnley to prevail 2-1.

Gustavo Poyet put Spurs ahead 1-0 in the 17th minute. After generating little offense in the first half, Burnley came out to start the second half with renewed vigor. In the 57th minute, Robbie Blake took a hard shot from the edge of the box that appeared to be going harmlessly wide, but it deflected off Anthony Gardner, changing direction and leaving Keller no chance to prevent it from tying the match at 1-1..

With Spurs then missing three good chances in the next three minutes, Burnley counterattacked and forced a corner kick. Blake curled it to an unmarked Steve Davis whose powerful first touch from 10 yards to easily beat Keller.

Keller kept Spurs in the match with a spectacular save on a blast from Glenn Little in the 85th minute. In injury time, Tottenham hit the crossbar once and the post another time.

Blackburn Rovers manager Graeme Souness decided to allow American keeper Brad Friedel to rest his sore knee and started Alan Kelley in goal for the Premier League club against Walsall of the First Division.

The two teams traded penalty kicks in regulation and each scored once in overtime before Blackburn staved off the upset 5-4 in a penalty-kicks tiebreaker..

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