For April 9th I'm going back 26 years to 1995 and the FA Cup Semi-Final between Spurs and Everton at Elland Road.
My recollection is that Tottenham went into this game as clear favourites. Everton, under Joe Royle were a team containing the likes of Neville Southall, Gary Ablett, Dave Watson and Anders Limpar whereas Spurs had Nick Barmy, Darren Anderton, Teddy Sheringham and Jurgen Klinsmann, and that was just the strike force!
Elland Road was never a regular FA Cup Semi-Final venue. Indeed this was only the ninth such game at Elland Road and was the last time that the stadium was used as such. I remember on the day that Everton fans appeared to have three sides of the ground with Spurs fans occupying the newest and largest East Stand. The East Stand could accommodate 17,000 fans out of an overall attendance of 38,226 that day so maybe Everton did have a small numerical advantage but, with 3 sides out of 4 dressed in blue it certainly felt like there were a lot more Toffees in the ground that day.
Klinsmann was a wonderful player and something of a character. He joined Spurs in 1994 from Monaco for just one season before going home to Germany to join Bayern Munich the following year. He did have another 18 game loan spell at Spurs in 1997/8 and his goals helped to ensure that the club wasn't relegated when the club was in serious danger of the drop. Indeed Klinsmann's last game that season was his final game in club football. He was loved at Spurs. I recall that he used to drive to White Hart Lane on matchdays in a VW Beetle when he clearly could afford a much more ostentatious car. Man of the people perhaps? He came to the club with a reputation for diving to win free kicks and penalties and the media and opposition supporters relished the opportunity to criticise such a famous player whom they regarded as a cheat. However, on his debut he scored and then celebrated by diving in front of the Spurs fans to pre-empt the criticism and he won a lot of people over with his actions. Klinsmann scored 284 goals in 620 club appearances and 47 goals in 108 internationals. Truly world class.
For Everton, this day was the story of one man. Daniel Amokachi. He actually made more international appearances for Nigeria (44) than he made League appearances for Everton (43) but is probably best remembered in England for his two goals in this FA Cup Semi-Final. Bizarrely he apparently managed to substitute himself on. Joe Royle had told him to get warmed up and he was stripped and ready to come on whilst Paul Rideout was receiving treatment. Somehow he managed to get onto the field without Royle's permission. I suspect that Royle forgave him afterwards however as he scored Everton's third and fourth goals in a surprise 4-1 trouncing of Spurs. Klinsmann never did get his hands on an FA Cup winner's medal.
CRB Match No. 963
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