England dismal in Europa league

Today Liverpool traveled to Madrid and Fulham to Hamburg for some semi-final action for the Champions League's little brother. While Liverpool took the train into France then hopped on a short flight, Fulham went the entire way via bus, stopping only to play on the autobahn.

The Premier League sides managed a total of five shots between them, none of which were on goal. Comparatively, Atletico hit the target 4 times on 7 attempts, with Forlan scoring one. Hamburg fired off 17, 6 of which were on frame, but came away empty-handed thanks to some fine saves from Schwarzer.

The return legs are next Thursday, and neither Atletico nor Hamburg will need to take buses and trains.

From what I saw of the tie in Germany, our boy Clint Dempsey was looking good, making intelligent runs, dribbling at defenders, and taking some shots as the lone striker up top in the Cottagers 4-5-1. Fantastic sight considering in January it was unsure of whether or not he'd make the world cup. Unfortunately, no delightfully cheeky goals like against Juve.