Belgium's Standard suffer cup setback
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Article summary
R. Standard de Liège's hopes of a first Belgian Cup since 1992/93 came unstuck against KSV Waregem, but AEK Athens FC and Zaglebie Lubin both prospered.
Article body
R. Standard de Liège's hopes of a first Belgian Cup since 1993 came unstuck against KSV Waregem, but AEK Athens FC, Beşiktaş JK and Zaglebie Lubin all prospered as uefa.com rounds up the cup action across Europe
Standard struggle
Nathan D'Haemers gave second division Zulte-Waregem a dream start against Standard with the opener on seven minutes, and their hopes rose still further when Sérgio Conceição was dismissed before half-time. Ibrahim Salou also saw red, and although Philippe Léonard soon equalised, Tony Sergeant made it 2-1 with ten minutes remaining. The other last-four tie also ended in an away win as Patrice Noukeu earned R. Excelsior Mouscron a narrow advantage against R. Charleroi SC.
Stunning strike
AEK took a significant step towards a place in the Greek Cup final as they eased to a 3-0 victory against third division Agrotikos Asteras FC in the semi-final first leg. The home team were forced to wait until just short of the hour mark before Nikos Liberopoulos finally broke through Agrotikos's stubborn resistance with a header. Vangelis Moras then doubled the advantage with ten minutes remaining before Militos Sapanis secured a one-sided scoreline with a stunning goal from near halfway.
Beşiktaş struggle
Beşiktaş advanced to the Turkish Cup semi-finals, despite losing 1-0 at Kayserispor. Striker Muhammet Akagündüz scored the only goal of the game with 21 minutes remaining to give the home team hope of reining in Beşiktaş's 2-0 first-leg advantage. However, by that stage they were already down to ten men after Kamber Arslan's dismissal and the visitors held on.
Zaglebie return
Zaglebie secured a place in the Polish Cup final after a goalless draw away to Korona Kielce saw them progress 2-0 on aggregate. The side who lost last season's final to Groclin Grodzisk Wielkopolski will now meet the winners of the other last-four game between Lech Poznań and Wisła Płock tomorrow evening. The tie is finely poised following a goalless first leg.