LONDON — U.S. national team defender Oguchi Onyewu scored off a corner kick to help Standard Liege defeat Sampdoria on Wednesday and advance from its group in the UEFA Cup.
Onyewu scored just after striker Igor De Camargo headed home a cross from Milan Jovanovic, helping the Belgian club to a 3-0 victory in the Group C match. Sevilla moved a step closer to joining Standard Liege by beating Partizan Belgrade by the same score.
Standard Liege has a maximum nine points through three games, three points ahead of Sevilla. Sampdoria and Stuttgart have four points each.
“We were the small team coming into the group and now we advance,” Standard Liege coach Laszlo Boloni said.
Udinese, Galatasaray, FC Twente and Metalist Kharkiv also advanced to the knockout phase.
Udinese became the first Group D team to qualify by beating Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 in a match that was temporarily suspended when visiting Croatian fans launched flares onto the field. NEC Nijmegen defeated Spartak Moscow 2-1 to prevent the Russian Club from advancing.
Milan Baros’ penalty clinched Galatasaray’s 1-0 victory over Hertha Berlin in Group B, where Edmar’s 88th-minute goal gave Metalist a 1-0 victory over Olympiacos.
Manchester City, which had already advanced, held Paris Saint-Germain to a scoreless draw and will be joined in the knockout phase by Twente, which edged Schalke 2-1.
CSKA Moscow and Saint Etienne also qualified last week.
Italian club Udinese took an early lead over Zagreb when Fabio Quagliarella took a pass from fellow Italy forward Antonio Di Natale and scored from close range. Christian Obodo added a goal in the 78th minute, just after play resumed following the crowd disruption.
Referee Alon Yefet had halted play for five minutes after Zagreb supporters started firing multiple flares, covering the field in smoke.
Before the game, a Zagreb fan fell from the stands and was taken to a hospital with head injuries and a broken nose. Also, 12 Croatian fans were stopped by police for allegedly committing acts of vandalism at a highway rest stop before the match.
Udinese leads Group D with nine points. Tottenham is next with six, and Zagreb has three.
In Berlin, Baros converted a penalty in the 69th minute for Turkish club Galatasaray, beating his Czech Republic teammate Jaroslav Drobny for the only goal against Hertha Berlin in front of 40,000 Turkish fans in the Olympic Stadium.
In the Netherlands, captain Robbie Wielaert put Twente ahead in the third minute, scoring from what appeared to be an offside position. Kenneth Perez added a goal in the 55th minute before Gerald Asamoah scored for Schalke in the 76th.
Manchester City leads Group A with seven points. Twente has six heading into its last group game at PSG on Dec. 18. Schalke was third with four.
Wednesday’s defeat was likely to pile pressure on Schalke coach Fred Rutten following recent defeats to Manchester City in the UEFA Cup and Stuttgart in the Bundesliga.
In the League Cup, Tottenham rallied to beat Watford 2-1, while Carlos Tevez scored four times to put Manchester United into the semifinals with a 5-3 victory over Blackburn.
Manchester United and Holders Spurs will join League Championship sides Burnley and Derby in Saturday’s draw for the two-legged semifinals.
In the Italian Cup, Goran Pandev earned a penalty and then scored the winner to rally Lazio to a 2-1 extra-time win over AC Milan and earn a spot in the quarterfinals.
Lazio will face either Fiorentina or Torino, who play in two weeks. Sampdoria, Udinese and Napoli have also reached the quarterfinals.
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