Everton beat Manchester United 4-2 on penalties in the English FA Cup semi-final to demolish the Red Devils' hopes of achieving a quintuple of titles this season. United, who are first in the Premiership and are still competing in the UEFA Champions League had a chance to win an unprecedented five competitions following their Club World Cup and Carling Cup victories earlier in the season. However, the Toffees had other opinion as David Moyes' men held United to a goalless draw in both the original game and extra-time before winning on penalties. Everton had a good start at the new Wembley, against a fringe United side, where both Tim Cahill and Louis Saha could have opened the score line.
United picked up their pace later on but the absence of superstars Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs was clearly taking its toll on the team. In the penalties shoot-out, former United keeper Tim Howard saved two spot-kicks from Dimitar Berbatov and Rio Ferdinand, while Cahill wasted for Everton. Leighton Baines, Phil Neville, James Vaughan and Phil Jagielka scored the winning side's penalties. Everton will now face Chelsea in the final on May 30th, after the latter beat Arsenal in the other semi-final played on Saturday.
