No crowing from Donovan

No crowing from Donovan

Published Jan. 28, 2012 12:00 a.m. ET

There was no crowing from Landon Donovan after he led his Everton side to victory over Clint Dempsey's Fulham in England's FA Cup.

After all, the U.S. teammates will be on the same side again soon enough.

Donovan set up both Everton's goals in Friday night's 2-1 win and United States international Tim Howard was in goal for Everton.

The former New England Revolution forward has scored 15 goals for Fulham since August, including a hat trick earlier this month in a 5-2 win over Newcastle.

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''It was a little bit of an American invasion. It was nice to see Clint. In my opinion, he's been one of the players of the season in the Premier League and obviously Timmy here is nice to have.''

Fulham took an early 1-0 lead against Everton when Danny Murphy converted a 14th-minute penalty.

But Donovan, in the sixth game of his second loan spell from Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy, set up a 27th-minute equalizer for Denis Stracqualursi and then provided the assist for Marouane Fellaini's 73rd-minute winner.

It was a rare bright spot for Everton this season, which is in the bottom half of the Premier League, closer to the relegation zone than to England's last qualifying spot for European tournaments.

''Realistically, unless we go on some kind of amazing run, it's going to be difficult for us to finish in the top six and qualify for Europe so this is our last chance to win something,'' Donovan said. ''It means a lot to the guys.''

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