Pienaar fails to shine for humiliated Spurs

Nigerian Victor Obinna scored his first hat-trick for English Premiership strugglers West Ham as they fought back to eliminate Nottingham Forest 3-2 in a weekend FA Cup thriller.

Ivorian Salomon Kalou was also on target in the famous cup competition, equalising five minutes after coming on as a substitute for Chelsea in a 1-1 draw at Everton.

Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o, winner of the CAF African Footballer of the Year title a record four times, snatched the 76th-minute winner from the penalty spot as Inter Milan edged Palermo 3-2 in Serie A.

Malian Modibo Maiga scored twice and Senegalese Lamine Sane and Souleymane Camara once each in the French Ligue 1 and Ghanaian Isaac Vorsah struck the early goal that earned Hoffenheim a Bundesliga victory.

ENGLAND

EMMANUEL EBOUE (Arsenal) Handed a rare start in the 2-1 FA Cup win over Huddersfield but did little to suggest he is likely to supplant Arsenal’s first-choice fullback Bacary Sagna anytime soon.

JOHN PANTSIL (Fulham) Bounced back from the disappointment of his own goal against Liverpool in midweek with a solid performance in Fulham defence as Spurs were crushed 4-0. Delighted home fans with his now customary solo lap of honour after the win.

BENOIT ASSOU-EKOTTO/SEBASTIEN BASSONG/STEVEN PIENAAR (Tottenham) Tottenham’s African contingent couldn’t get off the field quick enough after a humiliating loss to Fulham. Cameroon international Bassong was especially culpable for Fulham’s fourth goal, being beaten with embarrassing ease by Moussa Dembele.

YAYA TOURE (Manchester City) Had a good chance to score in the 1-1 draw at Notts County but like most of his City team-mates, struggled to get a grip on the quagmire-like conditions at Meadow Lane.

VICTOR OBINNA (West Ham) The Nigerian international scored his first hat-trick for West Ham as the Londoners came from 2-1 down to win 3-2 against Nottingham Forest.

SALOMON KALOU/DIDIER DROGBA/MICHAEL ESSIEN (Chelsea) Kalou arrived on 70 minutes to replace Florent Malouda and once again proved Chelsea’s saviour, scoring an equaliser five minutes later in a 1-1 draw with Everton. Drogba and Essien had quiet matches.

FRANCE

MODIBO MAIGA (Sochaux) The Mali international was at the heart of Sochaux’s 5-1 drubbing of Rennes, a team with the meanest defence in the French first division. The 23-year-old scored in either half to take his tally for the season to nine.

LAMINE SANE (Bordeaux) The Senegelese defender played a starring role in Bordeaux’s much-needed 2-0 win over Nice, the stuttering former French champions taking a 39th-minute lead courtesy of Sane’s strike.

SOULEYMANE CAMARA (Montpellier) The member of Senegal’s 2002 World Cup squad produced the eighth-minute header that drew French League Cup finalists Montpellier level after Nancy had rushed into a second-minute lead. Montpellier went on to grab all three points to climb to sixth in the table, level on points with champions Marseille.

GERMANY

DIEUMERCI MBOKANI (VfL Wolfsburg) The Democratic Republic of Congo striker signed for Wolfsburg last week and made his debut in the 3-0 defeat at home to Bundesliga leaders Dortmund. With just over 20 minutes left, Wolves ex-England coach Steve McClaren brought on Mbokani.

ISAAC VORSAH (Hoffenheim) The Ghana defender scored the winning header after just four minutes for Hoffenheim in their 1-0 win at Schalke. It was the tall centre-back’s third goal of the season.

ANTHONY ANNAN (Schalke) The Ghana international joined Bundesliga team Schalke from Norway’s Rosenborg on Saturday, but did not feature in the defeat by Hoffenheim. The 24-year-old replaced Croatian Ivan Rakitic, who has moved to Spanish side Sevilla.

PAPISS DEMBA CISSE (Freiburg) Senegal striker made his first appearance in his side’s 1-0 win over strugglers Stuttgart after recovering from a leg injury. The 25-year-old failed to add to his tally as the German league’s joint top scorer, alongside Bayern Munich’s Mario Gomez, with 15 goals from 18 games.

ITALY

SAMUEL ETO’O (Inter Milan) The Cameroon captain was the hero once again in a remarkable season that has yielded 25 goals in 30 games for his club. Eto’o knocked home the winning penalty as the champions came back from a 2-0 half-time deficit to beat Palermo 3-2 at the San Siro. Eto’o may have been upstaged by debutant Giampaolo Pazzini, who scored the other two goals and won the penalty, but it was the African star who earnt coach Leonardo’s praise for his determined and battling performance which helped drag the team back into the game.

HOUSSINE KHARJA (Inter) Just a day after officially signing for the champions, the Morocco midfielder came off the bench to make his debut at half-time in the win over Palermo. Pazzini may have stolen the headlines but Kharja made a vital contribution, providing muscle and energy in the middle of the pitch and his pass created Pazzini’s first goal.

HASSAN YEBDA (Napoli) The versatile Algeria midfielder or full-back has gradually forced his way into the Napoli side this season, playing more regularly as the season wears on, taking up a position either as a wing-back or in the middle. This was one of his best performances as the title challengers thrashed Sampdoria 4-0. Edinson Cavani bagged a hat-trick and took the plaudits but Yebda played his part, showing good movement, nice touches and, as always, a lot of energy.

KWADWO ASAMOAH (Udinese) He may no longer be the dominant performer in this Udinese side as he was in the early part of the season but back then the team was struggling and now they are flying, closing in on the Champions League places. Asamoah played a vital role in the 2-1 win at giants Juventus on the the inside left of midfield, providing cover for marauding Colombian full-back Pablo Armero. He also battled hard against Juve’s own enforcer Felipe Melo and lost few battles.

MEHDI BENATIA (Udinese) The Moroccan defender had the hard task of marking Juve legend Alessandro Del Piero, who was invovled in the Turin giants’ goal, but otherwise Benatia gave a solid display. He was ably supported by Giampiero Pinzi in his task and stood up to almost everything thrown at him.

SPAIN

EMMANUEL ADEBAYOR (Real Madrid) Togo striker Adebayor had a nightmare Real Madrid debut as his new employers lost 1-0 at struggling Osasuna to fall seven points behind leaders Barcelona. Adebayor, 26, joined Real on loan from Manchester City last Thursday and made his Madrid bow on 65 minutes as a substitute, but could not conjure up a debut goal as Madrid crashed to their second league defeat of the campaign.

DIDIER ZOKORA (Sevilla) Ivory Coast midfielder Zokora helped inspire 10-man Sevilla to come from behind and snatch a point in a 3-3 thriller at Deportivo La Coruna. Zokora, 30, came on in the middle of the second half with Sevilla trailing 2-1, but the visitors turned things around with two goals in five minutes to take the lead only for Laure Ruiz to equalise.