ROME - Roma beat Empoli 2-1 after extra time to reach the Italian Cup quarterfinals on Tuesday thanks to a very contentious penalty.Daniele De Rossi converted the spot kick five minutes from time, sending Empoli goalkeeper Davide Bassi the wrong way, after Piotr Zielinski was harshly adjudged to have brought down Leandro Paredes.You can see that he takes his legs away, but its difficult to tell whether it was before or after he got the ball, Roma coach Rudi Garcia said. I think the referee was in a great position to judge.Empoli almost equalized right at the end, but Roma goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski pulled off a great save to deny Francesco Tavano.Roma was jeered off the pitch by its own fans after a lacklustre performance against a team struggling at the wrong end of the Serie A table, 22 points behind the capital club.Im upset above all for my players, Empoli coach Maurizio Sarri said. What did I think about the penalty? What everyone in the stadium thought, but the club has asked me not to comment on anything, although the pictures speak for themselves.Garcia may say it could have been a penalty, but not according to his players. I spoke to two Roma players and they said it wasnt a penalty.Roma got off to the perfect start as it took the lead with less than five minutes on the clock after Douglas Maicons cross was flicked on to Juan Manuel Iturbe.Empoli levelled 10 minutes from the end of normal time when Simone Verdi beat the offside trap to race past Davide Astori and round Roma goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski before firing into the far corner.Ashley Cole made his first appearance for Roma in nearly two months — after poor form had seen him dropped to the bench. But his return lasted barely 23 minutes before he was carted off following an accidental kick to his chin from Matias Vecino.Roma will next face either Fiorentina or Atalanta. china jerseys .ca has you covered for whos in, whos out and what to expect from all 30 teams. authentic cheap jerseys . - Maynor Figueroa headed in a late goal to give Honduras a 1-1 draw with the United States in an international friendly Tuesday. http://www.nfljerseyschinashop.com/. Buffalos defensive co-ordinator had his second interview with Cleveland owner Jimmy Haslam and CEO Joe Banner on Tuesday night, a person familiar with the Browns plans told The Associated Press. wholesale china nba jerseys . The Redskins announced Monday that the quarterback who led the team to the Super Bowl championship in the 1987 season will serve as a personnel executive. jerseys nfl wholesale . No such luck. Wiggins owned the end of Parkers impressive homecoming. The Kansas star scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half, outplaying Parker down the stretch and helping the fifth-ranked Jayhawks knock off No.Each week, The Reporters put their thumbs out to the good and the bad in the world of sports. This week, they discuss the NCAAs revenue sharing, Don Zimmer, soccer language and Super Bowl 50. Dave Naylor, TSN Radio 1050: My thumb is down to world of big-time American college sports, which reminded us again this week there is no end to hypocrisy when it comes to sharing wealth with its players. This week Alabama football coach Nick Saban and Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari were rewarded with contracts worth more than $50 million each. This comes just as the NCAA is about to begin defending its right not to share revenues with players; in the lawsuit filed by former UCLA basketball star Ed OBannon, which starts on Monday. How the NCAA can argue theres not enough money in the system to compensate players when coaches like Saban and Calapari can earn more than $6 million a year should be interesting. But we just know theyll find a way to do it. Dave Feschuk, Toronto Star: My thumb is up to baseball characters. May they live forever in our memory, even as they leave us. The game lost an unforgettable one this week with the passing of Don Zimmer. In a sport built on stories, his was a pure classic. Zimmer met Babe Ruth as a boy, got married to his high-school sweetheart at home plate of a minor-league park, played with Jackie Robinson and won a World Series with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Hell probably be remembered best for charging Pedro Martinez back in 2003, when Zimmer was in his 70s at the time. As he said later, "I sure wasnt going over there to kiss him." Baseballs heroes arent always so easy to embrace. So often today we focus on money and moneyball. Zimmers life was about finding a love and fighting to keep it. He loved basebaall so much, it nearly killed him.dddddddddddd As a player, he survived two fastballs to the head. One put him in a coma, another caved in his face. He kept playing after both. He got fired four times as a manager, but he never retired. Nobody ever wanted him to. For characters as unique as Zimmer, there are no replacements. Michael Farber, Sports Illustrated: As I said four years ago, and plan to say again in 2018, my thumb is down to anybody in this country who plans to speak world cup soccer English for the next month. I dont want anyone saying a goalkeeper had a clean sheet. Clean sheets are in your linen closet. He had a shutout. The score, maybe, was one nothing, not one nil. And please dont tell me the United States needs a result against Ghana. A loss is a result, not a good result, but a result. And just so were clear, its not football here, its soccer. Alright, now carry on and keep calm. Dave Hodge, TSN: My thumb is up, though not for long, to the National Football League for deciding to ditch the Roman numeral "l" for super bowl 50, to be played in February of 2016. The use of Roman numerals began with super bowl 5, sorry, "v", and it has proved to be very successful - in creating confusion. Now that couldnt have been its intention, but what else, pray tell, was it supposed to do? Make the event seem bigger than it is? It needs no help from an ancient alphabet. But, as I said, the NFL is praised here only briefly, because it will return to Roman numerals for super bowl 51 - LI - and theres no end in sight, unless its super bowl 59, which will read LIX, and maybe the NFL wont be fond of Super Bowl licks, which come to think of it, was last seasons super bowl - Denver taking its licks from Seattle. ' ' '