On 3 February 1960, Tottenham Hotspur secured their record win, a 13-2 victory over Crewe Alexandra in a Fourth Round FA Cup replay. It is also Crewe's record loss.
The fact that the tie had gone to a replay was surprising, since, at the time of the original match, Crewe were sitting 16th in Division Four--83 places below Spurs, who were at the top of the First Division. But Crewe managed to hold the league leaders to a 2-2 draw on 30 January, forcing a replay at White Hart Lane.
There, the hosts wasted no time in establishing their dominance. By the 30th minute, Spurs had a 6-1 lead which they extended to 10-1 by the break en route to the final score of 13-2. Inside forward Les Allen had the day's highest tally with 5, followed by center forward Bobby Smith (4), winger Cliff Jones (3), and inside forward Tommy Harmer (1).
Unfortunately, Spurs were not as prolific in the next round where they lost to Blackburn, 1-3. They got their reward the following season, however, winning a league and FA Cup double (including another Fourth Round victory over Crewe in the FA Cup by the relatively modest score of 5-1).
On 2 February 2004, K-League side Anyang LG Cheetahs returned to their former home of Seoul, but not without controversy.
Originally founded in 1983 as Lucky-Goldstar Hwangso FC, the club was first based in the Chungcheong region. But in 1990, they moved to Seoul as part of a K-League initiative to improve the league's attendances and overall financial health. Two others teams joined them in Seoul. It was a successful move for Lucky-Goldstar, who won the league that year. The following year, they changed their name to the LG Cheetahs.
In 1996, the K-League reversed its position in favor of a decentralization policy, forcing all three Seoul-based clubs out of the capital. LG Cheetahs moved to Anyang, where they won the 2000 league title as finishing as runners-up in the 2001-02 Asian Club Cup. But after the 2002 World Cup, the K-League again reversed itself, deciding that it needed a club to fill the Seoul World Cup Stadium. The Cheetahs pushed for selection, spurred by their owners, the LG Group, who saw it as an opportunity to improve their marketing presence in the city.
Local supporters were incensed by the decision, however, and formed protest groups. LG still pushed the move through, but as a conciliatory measure toward supporters in Anyang and Seoul, it change the name of the club to FC Seoul. They continue to enjoy success, winning the league in 2010 and 2012, and are the current FA Cup holders.
On 1 February 2006, Blackburn winger David Bentley became the first person to score a hat-trick against Manchester United in the Premier League as Rovers won 4-3.
The match was Bentley's first as an official Blackburn player--he signed with them the day before after spending the first half of the season with them on loan from Arsenal. Playing at home before a crowd of 25,484, he celebrated the move by putting Rovers ahead in the 35th minute, finishing off a free kick that United keeper Edwin van der Sar tipped onto the bar.
United striker Louis Saha returned the favor in the 37th minute, but a poor clearance from Rio Ferdinand allowed Bentley to double his tally four minutes later. Rovers extended the lead to 3-1 before the break when Lucas Neill converted a 45th-minute penalty kick. Then, in the 56th minute, Robbie Savage found Bentley unmarked in the United box; the winger took the chance, claiming the first hat-trick against United since QPR's David Bailey did it in January 1992 when the top flight was still called Division One.
United's Ruud van Nistelrooy, who had come on as a second-half substitute, scored a brace of his own in the 63rd and 68th minutes, but the rally ended when referee Phil Dowd sent Ferdinand off in the 88th minute--Ferdinand's first career red card, earned by having drawn a second yellow card for a challenge on Savage that left the Welshman with a gash on his shin.
The win completed a Blackburn double over United that season, which ended with Rovers in sixth place and United in second.
On 31 January 2009, defender Cheryl Salisbury made the last of her record 151 appearances for the Australian women's national team. She also finished as their all-time leading goalscorer.
Salisbury joined the national team, nicknamed "the Matildas," in 1994 and helped them achieve their first honor by winning the 1995 OFC Women's Championship. That victory qualified the Matildas for the 1995 Women's World Cup, their first appearance in the tournament.
After a first-round exit that year, repeated in 1999 and 2003, they advanced to the 2007 quarterfinals thanks to a late goal from Salisbury. Her 92nd minute strike against Canada in the final group stage match leveled the score at 2-2 and earned a critical point for the Australians, who finished one point better than Canada to take the group's last spot in the knockout stage. Although they lost there to eventual runners-up Brazil, it remains their best performance in the World Cup to date.
Salisbury continued her heroics in her last appearance, a friendly against Italy played at Parramatta Stadium in New South Wales. There, after the Italian goalkeeper fouled forward Sarah Walsh, Salisbury put the Matildas up 2-1 with a 66th-minute penalty kick--her record 38th goal for Australia.
But Italy equalized in the 78th minute and Salisbury was subbed out four minutes later. The match ended 2-2. She moved into coaching shortly afterward, taking charge of New South Wales side Broadmeadow Magic in May 2009.
On 30 January 1937, the home sides went undefeated in all 35 FA Cup and Football League matches. Of the 16 FA Cup matches that day, only one involved two top-ten First Division clubs, as 6th place Derby County rolled to a comfortable 3-0 win over 3rd place Brentford in the FA Cup. Other First Division match-ups in the Cup included 15th place Preston North End hammering 14th place Stoke City 5-1, 10th place Everton beating 19th place Sheffield Wednesday 3-0, and 1st place Arsenal crushing 22nd place Manchester United, 5-0. Both Sheffield Wednesday and Manchester United would end the season in the two relegation spots.
Arsenal's margin of victory was the largest in the Cup that day, but was both matched and exceeded in Division Two, where Blackburn beat Newcastle 6-1 and, in the day's most lopsided result, Blackpool rode over Bradford Park Avenue, 6-0.
Meanwhile, Luton Town provided the Cup's shock of the day, as the Third Division South side held reigning League champions Sunderland to a 2-2 draw. Two other Third Division South teams provided upsets, as Millwall defeated First Division Chelsea 3-0 and Exeter City beat Second Division Leicester City 3-1. Exeter's victory looked even more impressive at the end of the season, as Leicester won the Second Division, while Exeter finished 21st in the Third Division South.
Four Cup matches went to replays, including York City's scoreless draw at Swansea. It was part of a pattern for York, who had earned home replays in the two previous rounds. But the pattern broke with Swansea, who won at York, 1-3. In fact, the visiting teams won three of the four replays for that round, with the only exception being Sunderland's 3-1 victory over Luton. Sunderland (pictured) proceeded to win the FA Cup that year, beating Preston North End in the Final.
On 29 January 1995, 24-year old Genoa supporter Vincenzo Spagnolo was stabbed before a match against AC Milan. He died later that day while undergoing surgery.
According to reports, Spagnolo was on his way into Genoa's Stadio Luigi Ferraris when he and other Genoa supporters were attacked by a group of approximately 20 Milan ultras, who had traveled to the match in disguise, separate from other Milan supporter groups. The attack escalated into a massive brawl, with police using tear gas to subdue the combatants. Spagnolo, who received a stab wound to the stomach, was one of seven people sent to the hospital.
When word reached the teams at halftime, they decided not to continue with the match, which was scoreless. Italian authorities then canceled all national sporting events for the following weekend. The incident caused such sensitivities between Genoa and Milan that their visiting supporters were not allowed into each other's stadiums until 2010.
Witnesses identified Spagnolo's attacker as 19-year old Simone Barbaglia, an apprentice gardener from Milan.
On 28 January 2002, former FIFA World Player of the Year George Weah ended his 19-year international career as Liberia bowed out of the African Cup of Nations.
Weah, considered my many to be the greatest player Africa has ever produced, was born in Monrovia in 1966. After starring for a handful of African sides, including Mighty Barolle, Invincible Eleven, Africa Sports, and Tonnerre Yaoundé, he joined the Liberian national team in 1988, the same year he moved to Europe to play for Arsène Wenger's Monaco side.
For the next 12 seasons, Weah established himself as one of the world's best strikers, playing for Monaco (1988-92), PSG (1992-95), and AC Milan (1995-2000). In 1995, he won a league and cup double with PSG, while taking them to the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League as the tournament's top scorer. That year's performance earned him several individual awards, including the FIFA World Player of the Year, the Ballon d'Or, and his third African Footballer of the Year award (the previous two came in 1989 and 1994).
Despite his success at the club level, however, Weah never replicated it with Liberia. Like his namesake George Best, he is one of the most famous players never to appear at the World Cup--the closest he came was in 2002, when Liberia fell one point shy of qualification. His appearance on 28 January 2002 was his 60th for Liberia, who were eliminated from the Cup of Nations that day after falling to Nigeria, 0-1.
Weah retired in 2003 after playing for a series of different clubs including Chelsea (2000), Manchester City (2000), Marseille (2000-01), and Al-Jazira (2001-03). Afterward, he moved into politics, making an unsuccessful run for the Liberian presidency in 2005, followed by a successful campaign for the Liberian Senate in 2014.
On 3 February 1960, Tottenham Hotspur secured their record win, a 13-2 victory over Crewe Alexandra in a Fourth Round FA Cup replay. It is also Crewe's record loss.
