AMSTERDAM – Tim Howard and Everton were unceremoniously dumped from the fifth round of the FA Cup at home on Tuesday, falling 1-0 to underdogs Reading.
The Royals, who currently stand 10th in the second flight, advanced to the quarterfinals thanks to a Matthew Mills strike in the 26th minute.
Howard's best of four stops on the night came shortly after when he shut down a free-running Jimmy Kebe.
The cup news was far better for American netminders in Germany, where David Yelldell notched two saves as Duisburg punched their Dfb Pokal final ticket with a 2-1 home win over Energie Cottbus.
Bruno Soares' foul in the area with 13 minutes remaining drew a red card and allowed Nils Petersen to pull one back for the visitors from the spot, but Yelldell & Co. held on to qualify for the May 21 championship match. Duisburg, who are 0-for-3 on previous final tries, will face the winner of Wednesday's clash between Bayern Munich and Schalke.
Should they win the trophy for the first time or finish runners-up to a Champions League-qualified winner, the Zebras would be rewarded with a berth to the 2011-12 Europa League playoff round, which directly precedes the group phase. Duisburg have not appeared in Europe since 2000.
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