On the weekend the FA Cup quarterfinals took center stage with Ocean City affiliate Reading FC, the only non-EPL club remaining in the competition, faced Aston Villa and a London Derby had Fulham v Tottenham as feature matches of the quarter final round. Embattled Portsmouth confronted Birmingham City while a now shaky Chelsea looked to regain their posture versus Stoke City even as they watched Man United regain the top spot in the EPL table.

While Leeds United was gathering all the press in England for their run in the FA Cup it was the youngsters at Reading FC that survived to rise to the final 8. The success in the FA Cup has envigorated what was a dismal season for the Royals that had them in the relegation zone. While they are not at all safe at the moment they have greatly improved their fortunes. Villa, wounded by the loss at Wembley in the League Cup, feeling hard done by, looked to pound Reading. They found that to be a much more difficult propostition than they might have thought ahead of the match. Much to their chagrin they were in very real danger of becoming the 3rd Premier League club to fall to Reading in this FA Cup (Liverpool and Burnley were both put to the sword by the Royals).

Reading’s Shane Long returned from suspension to score twice in the opening half. The opener came in the 27th minute as he headed home and the second with a strong shot from about 12 yards just ahead of the break (42) that eluded Friedel. The match turned early in the second half as Ashley Young hit the first for Villa (47) followed by two from John Carew (51 & 57) to put Villa in the lead 2-3. Friedel saved the day as Reading mounted a strong push for the goal that would force a replay that ended with Carew completing his second half hat trick from the penalty spot (90) for the 2-4 victory. So, Villa rallied with a terrific second half to earn their place in an FA Cup semifinal. They got the job done. It was just much more difficult than they had imagined.

For holders Chelsea, who watched United take top spot in the league, the match with Stoke would be their statement of intent. They did just that with a 2-0 clean sheet victory on goals from Lampard and Terry.

The Fulham-Spurs FA Cup matchup goes to a replay at White Hart Lane after a scoreless draw thanks to a solid performance in goal by Tottenham keeper Gomes who produced a series of big saves to keep Fulham off the scoreboard.

Meanwhile Portsmouth fans got something to cheer about despite their season of despair with a 2-0 victory over Birmingham at Fratton Park on a brace from Frederic Piquionne (67 & 70). Chelsea will face Aston Villa in one semifinal and Portsmouth will take on the winner of the Fulham/Spurs replay in the other.

In the mid-week international friendlies the USA produced another tame effort on European soil with the highlight being a late fightback that saw them score their first ever goal against the Netherlands (Bocanegra, 88). They kept it late, real late in this one and had it not been for the rally the result would have been a total embarrassment. Yes, they were missing some key players that will likely be on the bus to South Africa, but when your big star (Donovan) does his all too common disappearing act there isn’t much left to carry the team. Promising wing man Stuart Holden hobbled off early that may threaten his chance of getting on the bus to South Africa. Perhaps the biggest disappointment was Robbie Findley and those that hoped he might fill the role of Charlie Davies up front but he was so tentative and ineffective he likely played himself out of any chance of making the final 23 man squad. Given a great chance to influence the match in the early going Findley flubbed his lines. His attempt to chip the keeper didn’t come off and the result looked as if he simply tamely passed the ball to his opponent.

While the USA produced another dud England, behind a second half brace from Crouch, dismissed Egypt 3-1 despite conceding the opener. After his goal scoring bonanza for England why is there any doubt about Crouch’s role on the national side? And, what’s up with Capello having Barry, Lampard and Gerrard all in the starting 11? Seems like those guys are too much like one another to be all on the pitch at the same time and all it does is take one or more of them out of their game.

A lackluster Germany lost at home to Argentina 0-1 and Spain won in Paris 0-2 to keep their aspirations for the World Cup in high gear.

Mexico faced New Zealand in the Rose Bowl and filled the place with over 90,000 fans and went on to a 2-0 victory. In a game of more than just passing interest for the US, Algeria was thrashed at home by Serbia losing 3-0 and Italy were held to a scoreless draw by Cameroon.

Meanwhile, EPL games contested on the weekend had Burnley facing a difficult task to win points on the road as they faced a resurrgent Arsenal at the Emirates. The Clarets have managed to win only 1 point in 14 road games scoring 10 goals while conceding 43, so it is not difficult to see what has them buried in the relegation zone. The contest at the Emirates would only add to their road woes.

Arsenal walked off with a 3-1 victory with goals from Fabregas (34), Wolcott (60) and Arshavin (90) to keep the top three in a tight group separated by only two points. Slumping Chelsea now holds second by goal difference over Arsenal.

West Ham entertained Bolton and watched the Wanderers run out to a 0-2 advantage in the early going on goals from Davies (10) and Wilshere (16). In the second half Bolton went down a man when Cohen saw red (71) as the Hammers pressed to get back in the match. A Diamanti strike (88) was the only success in the frantic final 20 minutes as Bolton won the day 1-2 and the precious points on the road. The win puts Bolton two points above the Hammers in the tight struggle in the bottom half of the table and currently 13th.

Wolves faced a daunting challenge with Man United just at the time when they must win points. With United adding Rooney to the injury list (short term; knee) and the loss of Owen for the rest of the season (hamstring) the two goal scorers from the Carling Cup Final will not be in the side facing Wolves. SAF is very fortunate to not have lost Vidic as well and Martin O’Neill is still pounding Phil Dowd for his decision that left Vidic unpunished for his clear red card (last defender) violation in that match. A penalty was awarded but no card issued and O’Neill is correct about why. If Dowd issued any card it would have to have been red, so Dowd showed neither and is now under fire from O’Neill for “making up the rules as he goes along” which is precisely what he did it that circumstance. Another case of the rules of the game not applying much of the time in the early (and often latter stages as well) minutes of a match, or as many would say, when the actor is wearing a United shirt. Now it is not only Ferdinand who is rarely punished for his blatant fouls it is also Vidic who uses his elbows well to physically intimidate and pummel his opponents and is rarely taken to account for it. Of course, they both benefit from having the obnoxious, loud-mouthed and often red-faced SAF insulting the officials from the touchline that results in them getting a free pass much of the time.

As it turns out the heavy pitch at Wembley may have had even more to do with aggravating the tender knocks to both Rooney and Owen. Rooney also played a key role in England’s win over Egypt with SAF saying he was on the same heavy pitch for far too long in that contest enflaming the tender knee problem even more. However, the loss of both of these guys was not enough to hand a clear advantage to the home standing Wolves with the top spot in the table for United being the reward.

Mick McCarthy’s Wolves just have had a devil of a time scoring goals this year and if that trend doesn’t change very soon they will go down. The dramatic contrast to last season’s free scoring outfit and eventual runaway winners of the top spot in the League Championship and this campaign is turning McCarthy’s already grey locks white. McCarthy knew full well that taking points from the title challenger at this stage of the campaign could very well be the pivotal match of their season and lead to another run in the top flight next year. Ahead of the match McCarthy knew a solid performance from his guys would be required and that is precisely what he got. Unfortunately for Wolves it wouldn’t be enough.

Despite Wolves looking the more likely to score through much of the match it was a tense affair as the clock pressed on beyond the seventy minute mark. A threatening advance from United led to a Craddock attempt to clear that ended up on the foot of Paul Scholes, who stepped right and drilled the shot past Hahneman for the match winner. It was the 100th Premier League goal for Scholes and it sends United back to the top of the table. Again, Wolves failure to turn their chances into goals would decide the match when a glorious chance for Sam Vokes was sent high over the bar from in close.

Everton, in need of getting back on track after their last two performances faced a wounded Hull City in desparate need of the points to escape the relegation zone. Donovan, making what could be his final appearance at Goodison on his short term loan deal feeling the pressure to recover from his pivotal miss in the outing with Spurs came on as a second half sub and made amends with a goal and assist as the Toffees cruised to a 5-1 win. Mikel Arteta made his first start coming off injury a celebration with two first half goals and very nearly had a hat trick early in the second half. His attempt to send a looping ball to the far post from the endline was swatted at and missed by Myhill and it deflected off the head of Garcia for an own goal. Donovan came on and got on the scoresheet in the 82nd and set up the final goal by Rodwell just minutes later (86).

Liverpool traveled to Wigan for the Monday evening match with an opportunity to regain 4th in the table with their main opponents all involved in the FA Cup. Would the Reds grab the ring?

Not a chance. The points were there for the taking that would have put them into 4th 2 points clear of their opponents for the final Champions League place. This version of Rafa’s Reds failed to step up and fell to a 1-0 loss to Wigan on a 35th minute goal from Rodallega. The 9th loss of the season for Liverpool. The significance of that is that no team has finished in the top 4 with that many losses in any EPL campaign. That in itself is bad enough for fans of the Reds but consider too that last season they lost only 2.