FA Cup Quarterfinals: Everton And Tottenham Through To Play Liverpool And Chelsea

There’s been a rush of good feeling in the Bolton camp as Fabrice Muamba continues to recover from the awful events of the earlier, abortive version of this game, but the cheery mood wasn’t enough to overcome a strong Tottenham Hotspur side at home. After a tribute to the hospitalised midfielder, the match went basically as expected, with the hosts throwing bodies forward and the Trotters looking basically overwhelmed for much of the match.

EDIT: And now he has a brace.

His touch and finish is actually a bit clumsy and looks like most of his misses this year. The only difference is that it slid inside the post. If this is the goal that brings back his confidence, spectacular, but there’s nothing there that says “THE OLD TORRES IS BACK!”

It was clear immediately the Muamba was not suffering from a regular injury. The medical staff was not treating him as they would a normal injury and if that didn’t give it away, the players sure did. Players had their hands over their faces and looked to be in shock as Muamba was treated on the pitch. Their minds were clearly not on football and with both teams more preoccupied with getting notice on Muamba’s condition, the only sensible decision was to abandon the match.

Once Muamba was stretchered off, he was immediately put in an ambulance and taken to the hospital. Speculation has ranged from him suffering a heart attack to a seizure, but there is no concrete news of his condition.

Sunderland right back Phillip Bardsley scored the opener in the 12th minute with an absolute screamer of a shot after a set piece. It looked like they were more likely to score a second than Everton were to equalize for a solid 10 minutes, but the Toffees hit back with a great goal, as Cahill headed hoe from close range in the 23rd minute, assisted by Nikica Jelavic.

For more on the two teams, head over to Everton blog Royal Blue Mersey and Sunderland blog Roker Report.