Established 1961 15 Sports Sunday, March 18, 2018 Eriksen double sends Spurs into FA Cup semi-finals Tottenham, chasing their first silverware under Pochettino SWANSEA: Christian Eriksen proved Tottenham can turned down when Tottenham goalkeeper Michel thrive without Harry Kane as the Dane’s double sent Vorm upended Nathan Dyer. But Tottenham were them into the FA Cup semi-finals with a 3-0 win at unruffled and quickly settled into a tempo that had the Swansea yesterday. With striker Kane sidelined for home side outnumbered and second best in midfield. several weeks due to ankle ligament damage, Mauricio The visitors went ahead in the 11th minute through Pochettino’s side received an inspirational perform- a wonderful strike by Eriksen, although Swansea man- ance from Eriksen at the Liberty Stadium. ager Carlos Carvalhal appealed to the fourth official The midfielder rose to the challenge with a majestic for VAR to overturn it. Carvalhal felt Martin Olsson strike to open the scoring early in the first half of the had been fouled in the build-up, but there was no quarter-final. After Erik debate about the quality of Lamela increased Erikson’s finish as the Dane Tottenham’s lead before curled the ball past half-time, Eriksen struck Kristoffer Nordfeldt from again after the interval to the edge of the box after make it seven goals in 10 It was a being set up by Lamela. matches against Swansea. Tottenham, chasing their very good SPURS STROLL first silverware under Tottenham forward Son Pochettino, are back in the performance Heung-Min crashed the ball Wembley semi-finals after into the net off the under- losing to Chelsea at that side of the bar in the 23rd stage of the competition last minute only for the goal to season. Pochettino was be ruled out for offside, cor- pleased with the way Tottenham took control without rectly concluded the officials in charge of the VAR Kane and Dele Alli, who was only a late substitute. technology. Eriksen then found himself in space again “If you watch the last three games, we won with a on the edge of the box, but his curling shot was bril- different starting eleven and now today too,” he said. liantly tipped onto the bar by Nordfeldt. A second “What is important is that everyone is available to goal for Spurs felt inevitable and it arrived on the play and the team is not affected by the names. We stroke of half-time. SWANSEA: Swansea City’s English defender Kyle Bartley (2L) blocks a shot from Tottenham Hotspur’s Spanish keep the same way, the same dynamic and that is so Once again, Swansea were chasing shadows and striker Fernando Llorente (3R) during the English FA Cup quarter-final football match between Swansea City and important. when Sissoko played in Lamela the Argentinian Tottenham Hotspur at The Liberty Stadium in Swansea, south Wales yesterday. — AFP “It was a very good performance. We fully skipped past Tom Carroll and calmly passed the ball deserved the victory. Now, Wembley for the semi- into the corner of the goal before Nordfeldt had time final.” Swansea never got going on a freezing after- to move. with a rare Swansea opportunity, but when Vorm par- range effort. Just past the hour, Spurs sealed the vic- noon in south Wales and can now concentrate on try- Swansea made a change at the break, replacing ried a shot from Olsson, Abraham’s diving header flew tory. The hard-working Lucas Moura played the ball ing to preserve their Premier League status. Kyle Naughton with Luciano Narsingh, but the pat- straight back to the Spurs keeper. back to Eriksen, who claimed a deserved second goal Swansea’s only chance to upset the form book tern remain unchanged as Spurs pressed for a third Nordfeldt then kept his team in the contest with a with a low shot from the edge of the box that had suf- came when they had an early appeal for a penalty goal. Tammy Abraham might have pulled a goal back superb save to turn away Erik Dier’s goal-bound long ficient power to go through Nordfeldt’s hands. — AFP Stoke fears grow Matches on TV as Tosun earns (Local Timings) Everton victory ENGLAND FA CUP Wigan Athletic v Southampton 16:30 beIN SPORTS HD 2 STOKE CITY: Turkey forward Cenk Tosun struck twice Leicester City v Chelsea 19:30 after the break as Everton beat 10-man Stoke City 2-1 beIN SPORTS HD 2 in the snowy Midlands to end a miserable run of away form in the Premier League yesterday. ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE Stoke had Charlie Adam sent off before halftime for Manchester City v Brighton & Hove Albion 15:00 a foul on Wayne Rooney but defended resolutely to beIN SPORTS hold the visitors at bay until the 69th minute when West Ham United v Manchester United 15:00 Tosun scored from close range after a goalmouth beIN SPORTS scramble. When substitute Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting poked in Joe Allen’s free kick in the 77th minute, injur- SPANISH LEAGUE ing himself in the process, it seemed second-bottom Leganes v Sevilla 14:00 Stoke might salvage an important point in the relega- beIN SPORTS HD 3 tion scrap. Barcelona v Athletic de Bilbao 18:15 But their hopes were crushed when Tosun beat beIN SPORTS HD 3 England keeper Jack Butland with a diving header from Celta de Vigo v Malaga 20:30 beIN SPORTS HD 1 Theo Walcott’s delivery to end a run of five straight Villarreal v Atletico de Madrid 20:30 league defeats on the road for Everton. Stoke remained STOKE-ON-TRENT: Stoke City’s English defender Glen Johnson (L) vies with Everton’s English defender Leighton beIN SPORTS HD 3 three points below the safety zone. Baines during the English Premier League football match between Stoke City and Everton at the Bet365 Stadium in Real Madrid v Girona 22:45 Stoke-on-Trent. — AFP beIN SPORTS HD 3 BOURNEMOUTH BEAT WEST BROM Earlier, long-range goals from Jordan Ibe and Junior ITALIAN CALCIO LEAGUE Stanislas helped Bournemouth grind out a comeback 2- Rodriguez, who turned sharply and blasted the ball past bounced in front of goalkeeper Ben Foster. Sampdoria v Internazionale Milano 14:30 1 home win over the Premier League’s bottom team keeper Asmir Begovic from close range four minutes But there was nothing Foster could do about the beIN SPORTS West Bromwich Albion yesterday. after halftime. 89th-minute Bournemouth winner as Stanislas curled in Milan v Chievo Verona 17:00 The visitors dominated the first half as Salomon The home side, who lacked any spark or creativity a delightful free kick from 25 metres, handing West beIN SPORTS HD 4 Rondon twice came close before he headed a Kieran for most of the match, levelled out of the blue as Ibe’s Brom a record-equalling seventh successive league Hellas Verona v Atalanta 17:00 Gibbs cross into the path of strike partner Jay tame-looking shot from 25 metres in the 77th minute defeat. — Reuters beIN SPORTS HD 9 Torino v Fiorentina 17:00 beIN SPORTS HD 7 to help and to give the referee the possibility to have “The intervention of VAR takes one minute on average Crotone v Roma 17:00 extra help when he has to make important decisions, and in each game. If we lose a minute to correct mistakes, I beIN SPORTS HD 1 FIFA gives VAR in a World Cup we make very important decisions,” think we have done something good,” said Infantino ear- Benevento v Cagliari Calcio 17:00 added Infantino. lier this week on a visit to Lima. beIN SPORTS green light for “It cannot be possible that in 2018 everybody, in the However, Colombia coach Luis Fernando Suarez Napoli v Genoa 22:45 stadium or at home, knows in a few seconds if the referee added in an interview with AFP: “It seems hurried to me. beIN SPORTS HD 4 has made a mistake but not the referee himself-not I think we should do other trials in other tournaments, Lazio v Bologna 22:45 WCup, lifts because he doesn’t want to know about it but because analyse them well, and then put it in place.” beIN SPORTS HD 1 we forbid him to know. “The VAR is helping the referee Suarez, who led Ecuador at the 2006 World Cup in and we are going to have a more transparent and fairer Germany and Honduras in 2014 in Brazil, remains a fan in GERMAN BUNDESLIGA 30-year Iraq ban game, and that’s what we want.” general of the use of technology in football, which he has Borussia Dortmund v Hannover 96 15:30 VAR has been trialled since 2016 by 20 federations, witnessed close up. That came in the 2014 tournament beIN SPORTS HD 5 BOGOTA: Video assistant referee technology (VAR) will including the German Bundesliga and Italian Serie A, with when his Honduras team played France in Porto Alegre Koln v Bayer 04 Leverkusen 17:30 make its debut at the World Cup in Russia this summer around 1,000 matches involved. But it has not been uni- when the first goal decided through GLT (goal-line tech- beIN SPORTS HD 5 despite lingering opposition from within and outside versally welcomed with even UEFA, the European gov- nology) was awarded to France. “It’s good and necessary Leipzig v Bayern Munich 20:00 football, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said Friday. erning body, still to be convinced.