Tottenham avoids massive FA Cup shock with extra-time win as Man United beats Arsenal on penalties

Tottenham endured the humiliation of being taken to extra time by Tamworth, an opponent nearly 100 places lower in English soccer’s pyramid, before winning 3-0 and avoiding one of the biggest shocks in FA Cup history on Sunday.

Defending champion Manchester United also advanced from the third round by beating Arsenal 5-3 in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw. Joshua Zirkzee converted the clinching penalty for United, which played from the 61st minute with 10 men following Diogo Dalot's sending-off.

Four days after beating Premier League leader Liverpool 1-0 in the English League Cup semifinals, Tottenham’s team of established internationals toiled against a group of part-time soccer players whose main jobs included bricklaying, selling zippers and being a financial advisor.

A massive surprise was on when fifth-tier Tamworth forced extra time with the score 0-0, only for the hosts to concede an own-goal in the 101st minute and then strikes by Dejan Kulusevski and Brennan Johnson to disappoint the majority of the 3,700 fans inside the tiny stadium called The Lamb.

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou felt compelled to bring on his top players including Son Heung-min, Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke from the substitutes' bench to eventually overpower Tamworth, which is 16th in the National League and was playing in the third round for first time since 2012.

“It’s very easy on a day like this to lose your head when things aren’t going your way and you realize the consequences," Postecoglou said, "but for the most part we stayed calm, persistent and got through.”

Ninety-five places were between the teams in the league pyramid.

"Amazing day and a shame we couldn’t get over the line," Tamworth midfielder Tom McGlinchey said. “Back to work lecturing tomorrow — back to the day job unfortunately.”

In previous years, Tamworth would have earned a money-spinning replay by holding Tottenham to a draw in regulation time. However, replays were scrapped from this season because of the increasingly busy calendar.

There was some hilarity before kickoff, with the game having to be delayed because of an issue with the netting on one of the goals. A Tamworth player got on a teammate’s shoulder to fix the problem.

The last time Altay Bayindir played for Man United, the goalkeeper conceded a goal from a corner in a loss at Tottenham in the English League Cup quarterfinals.

On Sunday, he was United's savior by saving one penalty from Martin Odegaard in normal time to send the game against Arsenal to extra time at 1-1 and then another from Kai Havertz in the shootout.

United scored all of its penalties to keep the defense of its trophy on track in the unlikeliest of manners.

Bruno Fernandes put United ahead in the 52nd minute at Emirates Stadium only for Dalot to pick up his second yellow card and leave the visitors with 10 men for the final half-hour of regulation time.

Within two minutes, Arsenal equalized through Gabriel's deflected shot and then squandered a chance to go ahead after Havertz was adjudged to have been fouled by Harry Maguire in the area.

Odegaard's penalty was heading to the bottom corner but was tipped aside by Bayindir, whose save to keep out Havertz's penalty was very similar.

Joshua Zirkzee converted the clinching penalty and that was also redemption for the Dutchman, who was substituted in the 33rd minute of a recent Premier League game against Newcastle and jeered by some United fans.

There were no problems for other Premier League teams playing lower-league opposition, though Newcastle did have to come from behind to beat fourth-tier Bromley 3-1 after conceding an eighth-minute opener.

Lewis Miley, Anthony Gordon and William Osula scored at St. James' Park for Newcastle, which earned an eighth straight win in all competitions.

Eberechi Eze's goal secured Crystal Palace a 1-0 win over third-tier Stockport, while Ipswich beat Bristol Rovers — also from the third tier — 3-0 thanks to goals by Kalvin Phillips, Jack Clarke and Jack Taylor.

Southampton beat second-tier Swansea 3-0, with Tyler Dibling scoring twice.

In Sunday's other game, fourth-tier Doncaster beat Hull 5-4 on penalties after the score was 1-1 at the end of extra time.

Man United's reward for beating Arsenal was a home match in the fourth round against Leicester, which is managed by former United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy. Van Nistelrooy was in temporary charge of United for its win over Leicester in a League Cup match in October.

Liverpool will play second-tier Plymouth away and Manchester City was drawn away to either third-tier Leyton Orient or second-tier Derby.

Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Crystal Palace's Eberechi Eze, center celebrates scoring his side's first goal of the game with teammate Daniel Munoz during the English FA Cup third round soccer match between Crystal Palace and Stockport County at Selhurst Park, London, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (Zac Goodwin/PA via AP)

Arsenal's Gabriel celebrates with his teammates after scoring his side's opening goal during the English FA Cup soccer match between Arsenal and Manchester United at the Emirates stadium in London, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes, centre, celebrates with his teammates after scoring his side's opening goal during the English FA Cup soccer match between Arsenal and Manchester United at the Emirates stadium in London, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Arsenal's and Manchester United players argue during the English FA Cup soccer match between Arsenal and Manchester United at the Emirates stadium in London, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Tamworth's Thomas McLinchey, left, and Tottenham Hotspur's Archie Gray battle for the ball during the English FA Cup third round match at The Lamb Ground, Tamworth, England, Sunday Jan. 12, 2025. (Joe Giddens/PA via AP)

Tottenham Hotspur's Mikey Moore, left, and Tamworth's Thomas McLinchey battle for the ball during the English FA Cup third round match at The Lamb Ground, Tamworth, England, Sunday Jan. 12, 2025. (Joe Giddens/PA via AP)

Tottenham Hotspur's Yves Bissouma, right, and Tamworth's Ben Milnes battle for the ball during the English FA Cup third round match at The Lamb Ground, Tamworth, England, Sunday Jan. 12, 2025. (Joe Giddens/PA via AP)

Tamworth's Beck-Ray Enoru, left, and Tottenham Hotspur's Pedro Porro battle for the ball during the English FA Cup third round match at The Lamb Ground, Tamworth, England, Sunday Jan. 12, 2025. (Joe Giddens/PA via AP)

Tottenham Hotspur players celebrate an own goal from Tamworth's Nathan Tshikuna, second right, during the English FA Cup third round match at The Lamb Ground, Tamworth, England, Sunday Jan. 12, 2025. (Joe Giddens/PA via AP)

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — In the crucial, chaotic minutes after a gunman in Uvalde, Texas, began firing inside an elementary school, a police officer now accused of failing to protect the children stood by without making a move to stop the carnage, a prosecutor told a jury Tuesday.

School officer Adrian Gonzales arrived at the scene of one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history while the teenage assailant was still outside the building. But he did not try to distract or engage him, even when a teacher pointed out the direction of the shooter, special prosecutor Bill Turner said during opening statements of a criminal trial.

The officer only went inside Robb Elementary “after the damage had been done,” Turner said.

Defense attorneys disputed the accusations that Gonzales — one of two officers charged in the aftermath of the 2022 attack — did nothing, saying he radioed for more help and evacuated children as other police arrived.

“The government makes it want to seem like he just sat there,” said defense attorney Nico LaHood. “He did what he could, with what he knew at the time.”

Prosecutors focused sharply on Gonzales’ steps in the minutes after the shooting began and as the first officers arrived. They did not address the hundreds of other local, state and federal officers who arrived and waited more than an hour to confront the gunman, who was eventually killed by a tactical team of officers.

Gonzales, who is no longer a Uvalde schools officer, has pleaded not guilty to 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment and could be sentenced to a maximum of two years in prison if convicted.

It’s rare for an officer to be criminally charged with not doing more to save lives.

“He could have stopped him, but he didn’t want to be the target,” said Velma Lisa Duran, sister of teacher Irma Garcia, who was among the 19 students and two teachers who were killed.

Duran, who showed up early at the courthouse to watch the beginning of the trial, said authorities stood by while her sister “died protecting children.”

Defense attorneys described an officer who tried to assess where the gunman was while thinking he was being fired on without protection against a high-powered rifle.

Gonzales was among the first group to go into the building before they took fire from Salvador Ramos, the officer’s attorneys said.

“This isn’t a man waiting around. This isn’t a man failing to act,” defense attorney Jason Goss said.

Gonzales and former Uvalde schools police chief Pete Arredondo are the only two officers to face criminal charges over the response. Arredondo’s trial has not been scheduled.

Gonzales, a 10-year veteran of the police force, had extensive active shooter training, the special prosecutor said.

“When a child calls 911, we have a right to expect a response,” Turner said, his voice trembling with emotion.

As Gonzales waited outside, children and teachers hid inside darkened classrooms and grabbed scissors “to confront a gunman,” Turner said. “They did as they had been trained.”

The trial, which is expected to last about two weeks, is sure to be traumatic for the victims’ families. Some are expected to testify, along with law enforcement agents, emergency dispatchers and school employees.

As testimony began, tissue boxes were brought to the families. Some shook their heads as they listened to audio from the first 911 calls, but as they heard the voices become more frantic, the cries in the courtroom were inescapable.

The trial was moved to Corpus Christi after Gonzales’ attorneys argued he could not receive a fair trial in Uvalde.

Some families of the victims have voiced anger that more officers were not charged given that nearly 400 federal, state and local officers converged on the school soon after the attack.

Terrified students inside the classrooms called 911 and parents outside begged for intervention by officers, some of whom could hear shots being fired while they stood in a hallway.

An investigation found 77 minutes passed from the time authorities arrived until they breached the classroom and killed Ramos, who was obsessed with violence and notoriety in the months leading up to the shooting.

State and federal reviews of the shooting cited cascading problems in law enforcement training, communication, leadership and technology, and questioned why officers waited so long.

The officer’s attorneys told jurors that there was plenty of blame to go around — from the lack of security at the school to police policy — and that prosecutors will try to play on their emotions by showing photos from the scene.

“What the prosecution wants you to do is get mad at Adrian. They are going to try to play on your emotions,” Goss said.

“The monster who hurt these children is dead,” he said. “He did not get this justice.”

Prosecutors likely will face a high bar to win a conviction. Juries are often reluctant to convict law enforcement officers for inaction, as seen after the Parkland, Florida, school massacre in 2018. A sheriff’s deputy was acquitted by a jury after being charged with failing to confront the shooter in that attack — the first such prosecution in the U.S. for an on-campus shooting.

Vertuno reported from Austin, Texas. Associated Press journalists Nicholas Ingram in Corpus Christi, Texas; Juan A. Lozano in Houston; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed to this report.

Former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales looks back while seated in the courtroom at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, Pool)

Former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales, right, talks with an officer as he arrives in the courtroom at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, Pool)

Family member Jesse Rizo, center, talks to the media before the trial for former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales arrives in the courtroom at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, Pool)

A man enters the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, as jury selection continues in the trial for former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

FILE - Crosses with the names of shooting victims are placed outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, May 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

People enter the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, as jury selection continues in the trial for former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A line forms at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, as jury selection continues in the trial for former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

FILE - This booking image provided by the Uvalde County, Texas, Sheriff's Office shows Adrian Gonzales, a former police officer for schools in Uvalde, Texas. (Uvalde County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)

FILE - Flowers are placed around a welcome sign outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, May 25, 2022, to honor the victims killed in a shooting at the school. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)