AMSTERDAM — Everton netminder Tim Howard rang up seven saves to help the hosts blast DeAndre Yedlin's Sunderland 6-2 on Sunday afternoon.
The US national team star was left to thank the same post twice in the early phase of the game, with a close-range stop on former Toronto FC striker Jermain Defoe in between. Howard had little chance at the strikes Defoe and Patrick van Aanholt got by him on either side of the break to tie the game.
Howard then posted the rest of his saves as Everton broke the game open, including four in the final few moments. Courtesy of their first EPL win in five, the Toffees rose three rungs to eighth.
In the Tippeligaen, Cole Grossman set up the opener, but Bob Bradley's Stabæk still needed to flip the game late in punching their 2016-17 Europa League ticket with a wild 3-2 home victory over Alex DeJohn's IK Start.
Both American players went the distance for their respective sides, but it was Grossman who helped open the scoring just past the half-hour mark. After the teams had traded several big chances for about 10 minutes, the former Real Salt Lake midfielder curled a cross to the back post for Luc Kassi to convert.
The next phase of the contest saw DeJohn rack up no less than four notable defensive stops before Start tied the score on the edge of halftime. They hit again just after intermission to grab the lead, but Kamal Issah quickly replied for Stabæk to re-knot the game.
DeJohn had a golden opportunity to put the visitors back in front with 9 minutes left, but nodded a corner kick agonizingly wide. Mere seconds later, Ville Jalasto fired the winner, which combined with an Odds BK draw clinched at least a third-place finish for Stabæk. As such, Bradley becomes the first American to manage a European club to a UEFA tournament berth.
Meanwhile, Start remained winless in 14 and are now stuck in the survival playoff spot above the bottom two. The result pushed them four points behind the last safety position with only three left to earn from next Sunday's final match of the season.
Over in Scotland's second flight, Gedion Zelalam came on for the final 33 minutes as table-toppers Rangers suffered a 2-1 loss at second-place Hibernian. Due to their first defeat of the season, the visitors saw their league lead sliced to five points.
Switching to Germany's second flight, Andrew Wooten worked the last 22 minutes of Sandhausen's 2-1 home loss against new league leaders RB Leipzig. The attacker caused a bit of danger, but could never help conjure an equalizer as the Black and Whites missed a chance to pull within a point of the promotion zone.
Also, Caleb Stanko watched on as Freiburg fell off the top after a 2-2 home draw with Braunschweig. The title chasers slipped to second, a point shy of the Red Bulls.
Finally, in Macedonia, Cesar Romero buried a pinpoint free kick early and it stood up as Vardar Skopje maintained their slim league lead with a 1-0 derby triumph at Metalurg Skopje.
The former Chivas USA forward, stationed in an attacking midfield position, pocketed his fourth league goal and fifth of the entire campaign in the 20th minute. It was his first tally since serving a pair of red-card suspensions that cost him four games in total.
