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FAC : Manchester City 3-0 Aston Villa


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Updated Mar 2, 2011 6:14 PM ET
Yaya Toure, Mario Balotelli and David Silva scored as Manchester City beat Aston Villa 3-0 in their FA Cup fifth-round tie at Eastlands.
Gerard Houllier must bear the brunt of the Villa fans' ire after making eight changes to his line-up for a game against talented but tired opponents, with lower-league opposition in the quarter-finals the prize for victory.
None of this will bother City fans, who can once again think about ending 35 years without a trophy thanks to a fourth-minute opener from Yaya Toure and splendid efforts from Balotelli and Silva.


As Roberto Mancini has been talking about how fatigued his players are at present, Houllier's team selection raised more than an eyebrow.
Showing improved form of late and inching clear of the relegation mire, the Midlands outfit were expected to take the fight to their opponents.
Instead, Houllier made eight changes and left Ashley Young, Stewart Downing and Marc Albrighton on the bench, offering City a helping hand their talent did not require.
When the two sides met in league combat on this ground in December, the Blues made a flying start. So they did again.
Patrick Vieira's fourth-minute header struck Ciaran Clark on the hand after Aleksandar Kolarov had swung in a corner but a penalty was not needed as the ball fell perfectly for Toure, who duly smashed home from three yards.
Villa did rally, with Gabriel Agbonlahor going close, but suddenly the energy that appeared sapped from City legs at the weekend returned.
Balotelli could not exactly be described as enthusiastic. Economy of effort seems to be the Italian's mantra.
However, the 20-year-old is a supreme talent and his superb reading of Toure's through-ball allowed him to streak clear of the Villa defence after 25 minutes.
Confidence is not a problem for the former Inter Milan star either, judging by the nonchalant manner in which he lifted a shot into the roof of the net with Brad Friedel powerless to stop it.
It was the striker's 10th goal in 18 eventful games for the Blues and Mancini must have felt fully vindicated in his decision to leave both Carlos Tevez and Edin Dzeko on the bench.
What must have been worrying though was the sight of Balotelli ruefully rubbing his right knee, which carried on for the remainder of the half, given he has already been sidelined for extended periods twice this season with a problem in the same area.
After a suitable period for dramatic effect, Balotelli emerged for the second half.
He hung around for a further 15 minutes, during which time he took on the unaccustomed role of peacemaker in a feud between Toure and former City skipper Richard Dunne and also, completely needlessly, swiped an arm into Herd's face to pick up a yellow card.
Balotelli can be accused of many things. Being dull is not among them.
The same could also be said of Silva, who has even eclipsed Tevez as City's outstanding performer this season.
And when Clark made the fatal mistake of nodding Pablo Zabaleta's cross into the Spaniard's path, the result, a blistering shot into the bottom corner, was entirely predictable.
Beaten and bruised, there seemed no obvious reason for Houllier to go through with his plan to introduce Young and Downing when the possibility of injury was the only thing on offer.
The Frenchman must have taken a sharp intake of breath when Young limped away from one challenge too, although the England man was able to continue.
City were in command though.
Tevez thundered a shot into Friedel's chest after Kolarov had fired wide from long-range, then the Argentina star was thwarted by the American once more as his fruitless hunt for a goal continued.
Having started to abandon thoughts of victory from the moment they became aware of Houllier's team, the Villa fans amused themselves with an impromptu game of headers with the ball Young used to fire a free-kick over the bar.
City were already looking ahead to Reading's arrival on March 13.

 

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• Sport
• England cricket team

England's World Cup swamped by Ireland's green tide

• Centurion Kevin O'Brien blasts Ireland to historic win
• Andrew Strauss powerless to prevent humiliation

• • 
    

• Vic Marks in Bengaluru
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 2 March 2011 21.40 GMT <li class="history">Article history
  
  Ireland celebrate their astonishing World Cup victory over a hapless England. Photograph: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images Kevin O'Brien, crashing the fastest century ever in the World Cup, conjured the greatest victory in Ireland's history. His innings of 113 from 63 balls was a sensational performance &#8211; "the best I've ever played" he said rather needlessly &#8211; and it enabled Ireland to inflict their first cricketing defeat on England by three wickets with five balls to spare.
  So after two astonishing matches in Bengaluru we have learnt two things: that on a sublime batting surface scoring over 300 is no guarantee of victory and that England's World Cup campaign, seemingly back on track after Sunday's epic match against India, is in disarray.
  England can still qualify but they probably have to win two of their last three matches. Ireland have four matches, including a game against the Netherlands, which, even in normal times, they would expect to win: they also must scalp at least one of India, West Indies or South Africa to be in with a shout.
  O'Brien was simply magnificent. Initially his innings had a Bothamesque feel circa 1981. Ireland's position appeared hopeless; they were 111 for five in the 25th over, needing 328 for victory. But O'Brien decided he would have some fun anyway. "We could have pottered around for a while just for respectability's sake," he said. But that is clearly not the O'Brien style.
  Instead there was a cheerful defiance in the manner in which he smote two consecutive sixes off Graeme Swann, who, by taking three wickets, seemed to have set England on the path to a straightforward, if rather drab, victory against one of the "minnows" of the World Cup.
  Yet within the space of half an hour, Andrew Strauss must have recognised that this game was neither drab nor straightforward. O'Brien continued striking the ball with staggering power. The Irish shrewdly took their powerplay much earlier than has been the norm in this tournament &#8211; in the 31st over. By the end of that five-over period Strauss, on his birthday, was looking far more than his 34 years.
  Suddenly the game was out of control and, with Swann's overs used up, there seemed nowhere for England's beleaguered captain to turn &#8211; though he was surprisingly reluctant to use Paul Collingwood, who at least relishes a backs-to-the-wall situation.
  That Irish powerplay began on 167 for five and with Alex Cusack, offering O'Brien shrewd support, 62 runs were scored in those five overs. Michael Yardy, a relatively successful powerplay bowler against India, went for 16 runs in a horror movie of an over that would have to be x-rated by any cricketing purist.
  Slinging the ball down from wide of the crease Yardy yielded wides and boundaries as O'Brien made merry. Neither Tim Bresnan nor Jimmy Anderson could do much better. Soon one O'Brien six to mid-wicket off Anderson would travel further than any other in the tournament so far &#8211; 102 metres.
  O'Brien, a 26-year-old former electrician, a veteran from Ireland's 2007 World Cup campaign and an erstwhile county player for Nottinghamshire, raced to 50 from 30 balls. Whereupon he accelerated. His century came up in 50 balls, 16 deliveries faster than the previous record holder in World Cups, Matthew Hayden.
  It did not make much difference who Strauss bowled. Stuart Broad, returning from his sushi-induced illness, was himself undercooked and conceded 73 runs from nine overs. Anderson, who had dismissed William Porterfield with the first ball of the innings via a wide half-volley, had bowled an economical first spell but he was impotent when he returned. Bresnan could not rediscover the yorkers he produced so unerringly against India.
  England's out-cricket faltered once again. Four catches were put down, including a critical and extremely difficult one by Strauss when O'Brien was on 91. By the end Swann and Kevin Pietersen were no longer on the field and were suffering with niggling injuries. It may be they thought the job was done when they left; it may also be that they were not alone in that.
  O'Brien kept hitting with amazing certainty until he reached his hundred and the only way that he and Cusack could be parted was through a run-out (with Cusack sensibly sacrificing himself). O'Brien then did a most remarkable thing: he managed to control the surge of adrenaline and adjust the tempo of his innings to the match situation. By now Ireland, with over seven overs remaining, needed 55 runs for victory, a modest asking rate on this surface.
  With the field spread far and wide O'Brien reined himself in and started to deal in singles and twos having previously crashed 13 fours and six sixes. He had the nous to begin to play the percentages. At the other end John Mooney, after a quiet period of reconnaissance, began to find the boundary via all parts of his bat.
  Strauss was helpless and hapless no matter how long he consulted with his senior men in an effort to stem the Irish tide. He had nowhere to turn. He needed a wicket-taker. Instead he had orthodox bowlers incapable of imposing themselves. He required a bowler with a touch of mystery on this surface; an Adil Rashid, whose googly might not be recognisable to O'Brien, rather than a Yardy firing the ball in like a dour and desperate old club bowler.
  By the time O'Brien was also run out Ireland required 11 runs from 11 balls. Trent Johnston crashed his first delivery, a Broad full toss, to the cover boundary and the game lasted only until the first ball of the final over, which was clipped through mid-wicket by Mooney.
  All around the ground, a sparse yet noisy crowd experienced a gamut of emotions: Irish joy, English despair and bewilderment among the locals, who had long since adopted Ireland as their team. All had witnessed an astonishing two hours of cricket that had set the heart racing.
  This was in stark contrast to England's innings, which was pragmatism personified once the openers, who added 91 together, had gone. In the soporific calm of the afternoon Strauss tried a paddle sweep and was bowled by George Dockrell; Pietersen opted to reverse sweep an off-break from Paul Stirling and edged a simple catch to the wicketkeeper, which prompted one statistical observation. India, who bat rather well, have scored 708 runs in two innings. Not a single run has come from a reverse sweep.
  Jonathan Trott was prosaic but effective, chugging along at a run a ball. Ian Bell was more elegant but no quicker. But then, like India on Sunday, England lost their way in their last overs. It may be that in the twilight before the floodlights take effect in Bengaluru it is tricky to see the ball. But once these floodlights took hold it was trickier still to believe what we were seeing.
  
  

 

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