Goalkeeper Frank Rost blocked three penalty attempts and converted the winner himself Tuesday, lifting Schalke 04 past Werder Bremen and into the German Cup final.
In one of the most dramatic German Cup matches in memory, Schalke prevailed in the penalty shootout 5-4 after a 2-2 extra-time draw.
Rost blocked the attempt of Bremen's Fabian Ernst, who slipped on his attempt, then waved away a teammate before taking a shot himself.
PHOTO: AP
The occasional German national team keeper calmly stroked a slow shot into the right corner, sparking an eruption of joy by his teammates.
"This was an unbelievable game -- I think the spectators should be delighted," Schalke coach Ralf Rangnick said.
"Somebody had to win sometime."
With the shootout score 3-3, Ailton had a chance to win the game for Schalke but his attempt struck the crossbar.
The Brazilian had tied the match in the 96th minute with a rising shot between three defenders, equalizing two minutes after Tim Borowski put Bremen ahead 2-1.
Danish striker Ebbe Sand gave Schalke the lead in the 64th minute, sending the 61,000 fans at Auf Schalke Arena into a frenzy.
Valerien Ismael replied for Bremen in the 84th, requiring an extra period.
Ailton's goal to 2-2 capped a furious stretch of three goals in 12 minutes.
During that period, another Bremen goal was ruled offside and Ailton put another attempt off the right post.
Both teams played at a furious pace from the start, trying to salvage disappointing seasons.
Schalke was trying to wipe away Saturday's frustrating loss to Hamburger SV -- one that left the club six points behind league-leading Bayern Munich and seemingly dooming its title chances.
"This win was very important to us to keep our motivation up," Rangnick said.
Schalke's players were criticized all week in the German media as ``chokers'' who couldn't handle the title pressure.
Bremen, the Bundesliga's defending champions, have slipped to fourth and were thrashed by Lyon to be eliminated from the European Champions League.
Bolton missed a chance to move into fourth place -- the final Champions League berth in England -- with a 1-1 draw Tuesday against Southampton in the Premier League.
Also, Middlesbrough scored late in a 1-1 draw with Fulham, equalizing on a controversial injury-time penalty by Boudewijn Zenden.
One of England's least glamorous teams, Bolton took a 1-0 lead on Stelios Giannakopoulos' 25th-minute goal. A victory would have moved Bolton into fourth, but Southampton's Kevin Phillips equalized in the 69th on a half-volley that beat Bolton goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.
It was Phillips' third goal in four games.
Bolton stayed in fifth place with 53 points, trailing leader Chelsea, which has 81. Arsenal has 71 points, followed by Manchester United with 67 and Everton with 54. Liverpool is in sixth with 51.
In the battle for fourth place, Everton has played two fewer games than Bolton.
Southampton moved out of relegation with 28 points, the same as West Brom. Southampton has a better goal difference, but has played two more games than the Baggies.
'Boro got a point it probably didn't deserve in its 1-1 draw with Fulham.
Fulham outplayed Middlesbrough for the entire game, with US striker Brian McBride scoring in the 82nd for a 1-0 lead.
But 'Boro equalized in second-half injury time on a disputed penalty. Referee Rob Styles awarded the penalty when Fulham 'keeper Edwin van der Sar was called from tripping Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. A TV replay showed the foul occurred out of the area, and Fulham manager Chris Coleman disputed that it was a foul at all.
Coleman charged toward Skyles after the match, but was restrained by his assistants.
The draw improved Fulham to 35 points, seven clear of the final relegation spot. 'Boro improved to 46.
Eight matches are set for today.
The key game has Chelsea at home against Arsenal. They drew 2-2 in their other league game at Highbury four months ago.
The Blues can't clinch the title against defending champion Arsenal, but they could wrap it up this weekend when they play at Stamford Bridge against west London neighbor Fulham.
Chelsea is aiming for its first title in 50 years.
"We are almost champions, but not yet and if we can win soon it is good because we have played about 50 matches and some players could have some rest and prepare for the Champions League," coach Jose Mourinho said.
Blackburn captain Andy Todd was charged with violent conduct by the Football Association on Tuesday after his elbow floored Arsenal goalscorer Robin van Persie near the end of the FA Cup semifinal.
Van Persie collided with Todd as he turned to celebrate scoring the Gunners' third goal in a 3-0 victory over Rovers at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday. It was his second goal of the game after he had entered the game with just seven minutes to play.
The young Dutch forward lay on the turf for two minutes with blood coming from his lips.
The FA decided to charge Todd after watching videotape of the incident.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier