FanHouse GuusHiddink

Guus Hiddink's Russia looked about ready to start calling a travel agent to book its arrangements for South Africa in June. The Russians held a comfortable 2-0 lead against Slovenia in Saturday's UEFA playoff in Moscow thanks to a pair of goals from Everton's Diniyar Bilyaletdinov.

To Slovenia's credit, the World Cup hopefuls didn't stop charging and its effort paid off when substitute Nejc Pecnik headed home a rebound from a shot by Robert Koren to make it finish 2-1. For Slovenia it was a crucial away goal as the two-leg playoff heads to Maribor on Wednesday.

As an American fan of the English soccer scene, the FA Cup remains a weird outlier. It has some appeal, yes, but the aura and mystic the well-over 100-year knockout tournament seems to be lost in the Atlantic translation.

In any event, the FA Cup signals the traditional end of the English season and Saturday at London's Wembley Stadium Chelsea beat Everton 2-0 to send short-term coach Guus Hiddink out a winner. It was the fifth FA Cup for Chelsea.