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English FA Cup Semi-final Draw

FA Cup holders Chelsea will play Aston Villa in the semi-finals and Portsmouth will face either Tottenham or Fulham.

FA Cup Quarter-final Results :
Chelsea 2-0 Stoke
Reading 2-4 Aston Villa
Portsmouth 2-0 Birmingham
Fulham 0-0 Tottenham

FA Cup Semi-Final Draw :
Aston Villa v Chelsea
Fulham/Tottenham v Portsmouth

(Ties to be played at Wembley Stadium on 10 & 11 April).

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FA Cup 6th round draw complete after replays.

FA Cup holders Chelsea will play Stoke City in the Quarter-finals after the Potters beat Manchester City 3-1 after extra-time in Wednesday nights replay.

Replay results :
Aston Villa 3-1 Crystal Palace
Stoke City 3-1 Manchester City (AET)
Tottenham 4-0 Bolton Wanderers
West Brom 2-3 Reading (AET)

The quarter-final ties will be played on the weekend of 6 and 7 March.

Chelsea v Stoke City
Fulham v Tottenham Hotspur
Reading v Aston Villa
Portsmouth v Birmingham City

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Will the AFC head Bin Hammam see sense and give the Wellington Phoenix a football lifeline?

While the Wellington Phoenix continue to go from strength to strength on the football field - a large dark cloud looms in the shape of AFC boss Mohammad Bin Hammam.

Currently, all the Australian A-League sides have a contract on the table for a 10-year license - except one team of course. The Phoenix have been offered a one-year license extension because of jurisdictional problems brought up by Bin Hammam and the AFC.

Ever since New Zealand had the audacity to beat AFC side Bahrain 1-0 in a two-legged World Cup Qualification playoff, Bin Hammam has had his eyes fixed upon the Wellington Phoenix club that provides a much needed professional route for New Zealand's fledgling football talent.

Significantly, The Phoenix have a large number of local New Zealand players within the squad, and are providing vital professional football experience to New zealand players and thus improving the skill levels of the New Zealand national side.

And THAT is a concern to Bin Hammam and the Asian Football Confederation which had previously assumed that having 4 direct qualifiers to the World Cup plus a playoff against the Oceania Confederation was the same thing as having FIVE direct qualifiers.

Bahrain's demise at the hands of New Zealand was a shock to the Gulf, and the whole of the AFC, and within weeks Bin Hammam was saying that the Phoenix should not be playing in the A-League, or if they contractually must, then they should not be allowed to classify New Zealand players as "locals", only Australian players can be "local".

There - clearly within view - is Mr Bin Hammam's real objective. To prevent New Zealand football from developing. To prevent New Zealand being a threat to Asian football.

It's pure self-interest of course - but why should we be surprised?

Self-interest and cronyism is the way that FIFA has been running itself for the last dozen years under the reign of Sepp Blatter - who survived a leadership vote on the strength of African Confederation backing in 1998 and promptly "arranged" for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa - (ahem) after failing in 2000 when New Zealand's Charlie Dempsey scuttled the 2006 World Cup bid and voted for Germany instead.

There are those that say that Bin Hammam may be the man who finally replaces Blatter, when the Swiss 74 year-old's grasping hands are finally wrenched from the crown and cahflow of the FIFA presidency, and so Bin Hammam is a powerful man to deal with.

Football Federation Australia (FFA), who run the A-League have been arguing for the continuation of the Phoenix, and the positive effects on football within this remote geographic region, but with a bid for the 2018 or 2022 finals coming up - will the FFA really want to cross swords with this future football power-broker ?

Mr Bin Hammam visits Australia this week, and FFA chairman Frank Lowy has a a couple of clear points to make. Stick with the Kiwis and explain why it makes sense for the Phoenix to play professional football in this region - and to negotiate AFC support for an Australian World Cup Finals hosting bid.

Let's hope that the two aims are not mutually exclusive, and that footballing common-sense will prevail, but with the murky politics and vast sums of money that move in World Football today that's only a 50/50 chance.

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Feb 20-21st : Barca and Real Madrid score big wins to maintain status quo

The big two clubs in Sapin, Barcelona and Real Madrid, has no problems getting back to winning ways in La Liga, while third placed Valencia play Getafe on Monday night.

Real Madrid 6-2 Villarreal

Real Madrid answered their critics following the midweek Champions League defeat at Lyon and eased some of the pressure on coach Manuel Pellegrini with a thumping 6-2 victory over Villarreal on Sunday night.

Gonzalo Higuain and Kaka both scored twice to help Madrid bounce back from their poor showing in France and keep the gap to Primera Division leaders Barcelona at two points.

Cristiano Ronaldo netted a trademark free-kick with a Xabi Alonso penalty completing the rout.

Barcelona 4-0 Racing Santander

Barcelona strolled to an easy 4-0 victory over Racing Santander on a night of firsts at the Nou Camp.

Pep Guardiola's side brushed aside a disappointing Racing outfit with ease, with a fine first-half performance.

Andres Iniesta gave the Catalans the lead with his first goal of the season following poor defending by Racing after just seven minutes.

Thierry Henry, handed a rare start by Guardiola after being frozen out in recent weeks, scored the second goal from a free-kick with his first of 2010, and Rafael Marquez added a brilliant third with his first of the campaign from another set-piece 11 minutes before half-time.

Youngster Thiago Alcantara then added a fourth with his first career goal in the closing stages.

Real Mallorca 1-3 Sevilla

Real Mallorca's perfect home record ended as Sevilla fought back from an early goal to win an incident-packed game with three red cards, by three goals to one.

Mallorca could hardly have had a better start in their latest clash with Mario Suarez putting them ahead in just the fifth minute.

However, that advantage was shortlived as Sevilla deservedly drew level in the 23rd minute when Jesus Navas capitalised on a misjudgement from Mallorca goalkeeper Dudu Aouate to score.

Visiting striker Alvaro Negredo and Mallorca defender Ivan Ramis both then saw red and it was Sevilla who took control in the second half, aided by another error by Aouate.

The Israel international advanced too far from his line as Ivica Dragutinovic's free-kick from near the right touchline curled in towards the net, and he found himself stranded as the ball cleared him and found the top corner.

Sevilla made it 3-1 through substitute Diego Perotti and also had Didier Zokora dismissed late on for a second yellow card.

Spanish Liga BBVA Top Six Standings

Team        Pl  W D L Fr Ag Pts 
Barcelona   23 18-4-1 57:13  58 
Real Madrid 23 18-2-3 59:17  56 
Valencia    22 12-7-3 39:21  43 
Sevilla     23 13-3-7 36:25  42 
Deportivo   23 11-5-7 26:25  38 
Mallorca    23 11-4-8 36:27  37

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Feb 19-21st : Leverkusen and Bayern Munich held to draws

A round-up of the top results in Germany's Bundesliga over the weekend.

Werder Bremen 2-2 Bayer Leverkusen

Leverkusen returned to the top of the table with a point in a 2-2 draw with Werder Bremen.

Eren Derdiyok put Leverkusen ahead in the 29th minute but Claudio Pizarro equalised five minutes later. Toni Kroos put Leverkusen back in front in the 57th minute but Per Mertesacker earned Bremen a draw in stoppage time.

The point still extended Leverkusen's unbeaten record to 23 games, equalling the record set by their own coach, Jupp Heynckes, in the 1988/89 season with Bayern.

Nurnberg 1-1 Bayern Munich

Bayern went temporarily top of the table despite their winning run came to an end with a 1-1 draw at Nurnberg.

Bayern looked set for a 14th consecutive victory in all competitions when Thomas Muller gave them the lead after 38 minutes, but Ilkay Gundogan levelled nine minutes into the second period to hand Nurnberg an impressive point.

Wolfsburg 2-1 Schalke

Wolfsburg dealt a blow to Schalke title hopes with a 2-1 win on Sunday.

Wolfsburg took the lead through Kevin Kuranyi on the half-hour mark.

It stayed that way until 19 minutes from time when Grafite headed the equaliser. And Wolfsburg wrapped up the win six minutes later as the striker grabbed his second.

Hamburg 0-0 Entract Frankfurt

Hamburg failed to follow up their Europa League victory over PSV Eindhoven with another win in the Bundesliga as they maintained their unwanted record as Germany's draw specialists, being held 0-0 at home to Eintracht Frankfurt.

The swift return to action following Thursday's win against the Dutch giants was clearly not to Hamburg's suiting as they failed to find a goal and had to settle for a 10th draw in 23 German league outings this season.

Borussia Dortmund 4-1 Hannover

Borussia Dortmund ended a three-match losing streak with a comfortable 4-1 win at home to Hannover.

Neven Subotic scored a late first-half opener before an own goal and Nelson Haedo Valdez's strike made it 3-0. Arouna Kone pulled one back late on before Kevin Grosskreutz completed the rout.

German Bundesliga Top Six Standings

Team              Pl  W  D L Fr Ag Pts 
Bayer Leverkusen  23 13 10 0 50:20  49 
Bayern Munich     23 14  7 2 49:20  49 
Schalke 04        23 13  6 4 34:17  45 
Hamburg           23 10 10 3 43:25  40 
Borussia Dortmund 23 11  6 6 35:30  39 
Werder Bremen     23  9  8 6 46:28  35 

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Feb 20-21st : 9-man Inter Milan held by Sampdoria but still lead Serie A

Inter Milan 0-0 Sampdoria

Leaders Inter Milan had Walter Samuel and Ivan Cordoba sent off in a bad-tempered goalless draw with Sampdoria at the San Siro.

Inter found themselves down to nine men with 52 minutes to play following the dismissals of Samuel and Cordoba, while referee Paolo Tagliavento also sent off Sampdoria's Giampaolo Pazzini midway through the second half.

Despite the numerical advantage, Samp could not find their way past a resilient Inter side who secured Mourinho's 130th home league match without defeat, stretching across spells with Porto, Chelsea and Inter.

AS Roma 1-0 Catania

Mirko Vucinic's first-half goal earned Roma a 1-0 win at home to Catania on Sunday and moved them to within five points of Serie A leaders Inter Milan.

The Montenegrin scored in the 18th minute as the Giallorossi won for the seventh game running in the league.

Bari 0-2 AC Milan

AC Milan, who have a game in hand on the top two, are two points further back after a 2-0 win at Bari.

Marco Borriello opened the scoring two minutes before the break and Alexandre Pato doubled the advantage in the 69th minute as Leonardo's side bounced back from their Champions League defeat to Manchester United in midweek.

Bologna 1-2 Juventus

Goals from Diego and Antonio Candreva gave Juventus back-to-back league wins for the first time since November with a 2-1 success at Bologna.

Diego's early goal for the Old Lady was cancelled out in the 50th minute by Antonio Busce before substitute Candreva sealed the points midway through the second half to continue Juve's improvement under Alberto Zaccheroni.

Palermo 3-1 Lazio

Palermo claimed a 3-1 win at home to Lazio to move up to fifth - level on points with Napoli and Sampdoria in sixth and seventh.

Abel Hernandez opened the scoring within a minute, Fabrizio Miccoli added a second from the spot midway through the first half and Antonio Nocerino made it 3-0 after 75 minutes.

Aleksandar Kolarov pulled one back three minutes later for struggling Lazio, but it was no more than a consolation.

Italian Serie A Top Six Standings

Team        Pl  W  D L Fr Ag Pts 
Inter Milan 25 16  7 2 49 20  55 
AS Roma     25 15  5 5 43 27  50 
AC Milan    24 14  6 4 41 24  48 
Juventus    25 12  5 8 40 33  41 
Palermo     25 11  7 7 35 31  40 
Napoli      25 10 10 5 32 30  40

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Chelsea short price to win EPL title after Manchester Utd stumble

UK bookmaker Betfred make Chelsea the 8/15 favourites to win this season's Premier League after moving four points clear of nearest challengers Manchester United.

Chelsea won 2-0 at struggling Wolves in their 3pm kick-off - taking full advantage of the Man United's lunchtime defeat at Everton.

United are now at 9/4 at BetFred to retain the title ahead of their home fixture against West Ham on Tuesday night.

Third-place Arsenal moved to 55 points - two points behind United - after a 2-0 win at home to Sunderland. With 11 games left to play the Gunners are now a 13/2 chance at BetFred to win their first league title in six years.

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