17/03/2024
344 times read
17/03/2024
344 times read
LONDON, March 17, (AP): Manchester City is banking on Wembley Stadium being a key staging post in its pursuit of a second straight treble of major trophies.
One of a possible three late-season trips to English soccer's national stadium was booked when City reached the semifinals of the FA Cup.
If that came as no real surprise, second-tier Coventry's progress to the last four certainly did.
Man City ousted Newcastle with a 2-0 victory secured by two deflected shots by Bernardo Silva in the first half. Pep Guardiola's team has now advanced to the FA Cup semifinals for six straight seasons, an unprecedented achievement in the 153-year history of the competition.
The day's drama came a few hours earlier at Molineux as Coventry scored two goals deep into stoppage time to beat Wolverhampton 3-2 and reach the semifinals for the first time since 1987 - the year the team won the cup.
United States striker Haji Wright completed the remarkable comeback in the 10th minute of added-on time, three minutes after Ellis Simms - with his second goal of the game - equalized for Coventry.
Sitting in eighth place in the Championship, Coventry was the lowest-ranked team to get to the quarterfinals.
Tottenham's bid for Champions League qualification was hurt by a 3-0 loss at Fulham in one of three Premier League games played.
Rodrigo Muniz scored either side of a goal by Saša Lukić as fifth-place Tottenham missed the chance to climb above Aston Villa into fourth for one night at least.
Tottenham stayed six points ahead of sixth-place Manchester United and both have 10 matches remaining.
The Premier League looks increasingly likely to have five berths in next season's expanded Champions League because of the strong showing of English teams in European competition this campaign.
Elsewhere in the Premier League, Burnley boosted its unlikely hopes of staying up with a first win in 2024 while relegation candidates Luton and Nottingham Forest drew 1-1.
Next-to-last Burnley beat 10-man Brentford 2-1 to end an 11-game winless run in all competitions and move eight points adrift of safety in its bid to avoid an immediate return to the Championship.