Wolfsburg (1) v Fulham (2):DAMIEN DUFF is hoping to bury his memories of World Cup heartbreak by guiding Fulham to Europa League glory. Duff's hopes of making his second appearance at a World Cup finals were dashed in November after Thierry Henry's now infamous handball helped France seal a 2-1 aggregate play-off win over the Republic of Ireland in Paris.
The Cottagers’ winger lashed out at officials for failing to notice Henry’s foul afterwards, but he admits his bad memories have been put to the back of his mind, partly due to Fulham’s European success this year. Roy Hodgson’s side has accounted for the likes of Uefa Cup champions Shakhtar Donetsk and Juventus to make the quarter finals, where they hold a 2-1 lead going into tonight’s second leg against Wolfsburg.
The Cottagers will set up a semi-final against Hamburg or Standard Liege should they progress and Duff admits he is desperate for the Cottagers to end the season by lifting the trophy. “Will winning the Europa League make up for losing out on the World Cup? Yes, that and more,” the 31-year-old said. “It has been an amazing journey, and in a way that night in Paris is a distant memory now . . . To get to a final and win would be just unbelievable. When we started out in the summer nobody would ever have thought we’d get this far so bring it on.”
A thigh injury to Clint Dempsey has left manager Hodgson short of attacking options tonight at the Volkswagen Arena. Bobby Zamora is struggling with an Achilles injury while David Elm has not travelled with the squad after going to hospital to have checks on the recurrence of a virus he picked up in Turin last month. Zamora trained last night but if he misses out Hodgson will have to pair midfielder Zoltan Gera with Erik Nevland up front.
Fulham were in control for the majority of last week’s first leg at Craven Cottage and they should have gone 3-0 up before Alexander Madlung scored what could turn out to be a vital away goal for Wolfsburg.
Tonight’s clash in Lower Saxony will be Fulham’s 54th match of a long season which began with a win over Lithuanian minnows Vetra in July.
