Tags : sports, uefa cup, tottenham hotspurs, everton
Posted: Friday , Oct 03, 2008 at 1445 hrs IST Paris, October 3::
Tottenham have edged nervously into the UEFA Cup group stages but the Everton bunch wasn't so lucky!
Tottenham have edged nervously into the UEFA Cup group stages to ease the pressure on under-fire coach Juande Ramos but fellow English strugglers Everton crashed out.
Tottenham, rooted to the bottom of the Premier League, drew 1-1 with Wisla Krakow in Poland to secure a 3-2 aggregate win on Thursday.
Pawel Brozek's lobbed equaliser with seven minutes to go, following Arkadiusz Glowacki's 58th-minute own goal for Tottenham, pushed Spurs into crisis defensive mode but they hung on grimly to go through, courtesy of their 2-1 win at White Hart Lane two weeks ago. "The important thing is qualification," said Ramos who led Sevilla to two UEFA Cup titles before switching to England. "There was no euphoria at the end of the match, it was just a sense of getting the job done."
Everton slumped to a 2-1 defeat against Standard Liege in Belgium to lose 4-3 on aggregate, a result which will pile the pressure onto manager David Moyes who is yet to sign a new contract with the Merseysiders.
Axel Witsel put the Belgians ahead in the 22nd minute before Everton levelled in the 67th minute when Phil Jagielka prodded the ball home after goalkeeper Rorys Aragon fumbled a cross.
Milan Jovanovic grabbed the winner 12 minutes from time when he converted a penalty kick after he had been chopped down by Leighton Baines.
"We have had tough tests - all managers face difficult times, and I have had some," admitted Moyes whose side reach the last 16 last season. "No-one has a divine right to win football games. You have to earn the right to do so. There's no manager in football who thinks they have an easy ride, that's for sure. That's part of it. But I want to stay."
... contd.
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