Guzan Helps Villa to Carling Cup Semis

Heading into today's Carlin Cup match against Portsmouth, Brad Guzan was riding high. The former South Carolina Gamecock was the hero in Villa's fourth round victory over Sunderland, which followed another clean sheet against Cardiff City in the third round of the competition. Aston Villa and Guzan's clean sheet streak traveled down to Fratton Park with a spot in the Carling Cup semifinals on the line.

Just 10 minutes in, Guzan would see his clean sheet streak snapped, but not by Portsmouth. Instead, it was teammate Stiliyan Petrov putting one into the Villa net, with an own goal off a Danny Webber corner kick. Despite the early set back, Martin O'Neill's men managed to take control of the game soon after, regaining a lead by the 27th minute. Guzan, meanwhile, continued his streak of keeping the opponent off the board, shutting out the Portsmouth for most of the game. He was not tested very frequently, but Guzan came up with two short range saves in the second half to help preserve the Aston Villa lead.

Guzan's streak was eventually snapped in earnest when Nwankwo Kanu scored from just outside the six yard box to cut the Aston Villa lead to 3-2. Once again, however, the Villains responded quickly, as Ashley Young scored in the 89th minute to seal a 4-2 victory. Guzan and his teammates now move on to the two-legged semifinals, where they will joined by Manchester United and the winners of tomorrow's Manchester City-Arsenal and Blackburn-Chelsea fourth round matches.

Once again, Guzan has shown that he is capable of playing at a high level when called upon despite infrequent appearances, a trend that should be comforting for USMNT fans as South Africa approaches.