I almost missed the fact that Manchester United and Chelsea are playing one another in the Community Shield this Sunday! See, sometimes I get caught up in going to the same websites over and over again, and I'll neglect to check in with the obvious…Manchester United's own site. I'll often check the satellite internet news feeds and the television station websites but if I let more than a couple of days pass checking on a particular site, I'll miss out on something. This is the first time I've heard about it. Thanks to the internet, I'm not going to miss this game!
Rio Ferdinand will be filling in as skipper while Gary Neville is out, he's still out with a groin injury. In fact, the list of defense line injuries is growing and Sir Alex Ferguson is keeping an eye on how to fill in the gaps. Wes Brown is out with a thigh injury, Nemanja Vidic hurt his calf, and Edwin van der Sar did something to one of his hands.
Sir Alex spoke with the press on Friday and said, "Gary has done a bit of training and he is coming along fine, and I expect Wes to be fit for the Birmingham match.
"Vidic has pulled his calf and is another week or two away, while Edwin's injury is a bad one. He's out for 8-10 weeks, of course. So my first selection dilemma for Sunday is in goal. It is not an easy one for me.
"If you look at the games Ben and Tomasz have played, Tomasz has actually had more to do and more saves to make as he did on Wednesday [against Valencia]. So it's a little bit of a dilemma and I'll speak to them both about it."
In the past, Sir Alex has thought of the Community Shield Friendly match as a gauge in judging how fit the players are but with all of the time they've recently spent on the road, he's already got a good idea of their individual levels.
"All the players are at a good level fitness-wise and everyone should be able to give a good account of themselves. And when you play Chelsea, pride comes into it and the players want to win."
Friday, August 7, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Looking for my "Footie" soccer news I saw something that surprised me. It was on the website for Barclays Premier League. The headline read," Arshavin Expecting Tough Start." What? I thought? The Gunners lacking in confidence? The subheading said that some are questioning whether or not they'll maintain champions league status this season. As I read on, I realized it's not the team wondering if they'll maintain their status, it's speculators. The team of course, is ever certain they'll stay in the top of the table. However, due to the spending spree Manchester City went on this summer and the lack of new signings that Arsene Wenger was able to pen, some are contemplating a rough season for Arsenal. Andrey Arshavin's comment was that the start of the season might be tricky but he's confident of a top-four finish. They're starting out the season playing Everton, Manchester United and Manchester City, then the Champions League starts in September. The Gunners go in as underdogs for the Barclays Premier League title and Arshavin says the main task is getting to the group stage. Manchester City signed Emmanuel Adebayor away from Arsenal, which was quite a blow but the team feel strong without him and plan to remain one of the top of the Premiership without him.
The LA Galaxy gave AC Milan quite a workout with a 2-2 draw last week. On the Galaxy's website, a wrap up of the game was featured. David Beckham most recently spent his time away from the Galaxy on loan to AC Milan and he was very proud of the way his home team was able to stand up to the Serie A leaders.
"With teams like Milan and at that level, you want to compete against them," said Beckham, "We don't want to look silly, and we definitely didn't look silly. We played some great soccer at times. So did they."
The LA Galaxy next face of with FC Barcelona on August 1 at 8PM Pacific Coast time.
The LA Galaxy gave AC Milan quite a workout with a 2-2 draw last week. On the Galaxy's website, a wrap up of the game was featured. David Beckham most recently spent his time away from the Galaxy on loan to AC Milan and he was very proud of the way his home team was able to stand up to the Serie A leaders.
"With teams like Milan and at that level, you want to compete against them," said Beckham, "We don't want to look silly, and we definitely didn't look silly. We played some great soccer at times. So did they."
The LA Galaxy next face of with FC Barcelona on August 1 at 8PM Pacific Coast time.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Bringing Seven Back
So Michael Owen has been handed number seven. I'm sorry, I have to write that again to really comprehend this, Michael Owen has been handed number seven. I had a hard time getting that down the second time around.
I love Michael Owen. We all know I've been a huge supporter of his and I will continue to be so long as he doesn't let me down. But number seven? Wow…Sir Alex is either expecting greatness from him, or we're all placing too much importance on the jersey.
George Best wore number seven. We all know the saying, "Maradona good, Pele` better, George Best." 'Nuff said.
Eric Cantona wore the jersey. King Eric won back to back titles, player of the year, and who could ever forget that notorious kick?
David Beckham was number seven for a long time. Part of Manchester United's Treble, European Footballer of the Year and FIFA World Player of the Year. One of the most famous number seven's for Manchester United thanks to great publicity and fantastic management. If he retires from the game, he'll have modeling and cologne to fall back on.
Most recently, Cristiano Ronaldo wore the jersey. He had a record setting season in 07/08 with 42 goals. That's now ingrained in Old Trafford's history as legendary.
In between George Best and Eric Cantona, Bryan Robson wore the jersey. "Captain Marvel" was the longest reigning captain in Old Trafford's history. He's back at the club today as an ambassador. I can't help but think he must have had some sort of say in giving his blessing for Michael Owen to take the threads this time around. Would Sir Alex Ferguson has consulted Bryan Robson regarding the number? Some of us thought perhaps there would be a switch off similar to what Beckham did when Teddy Sheringham took the number ten and he took number seven. We were thinking that perhaps Rooney would give his number ten jersey to a new, incoming player and then be handed number seven.
What if we're all just making too big of a deal out of the jersey? Maybe we shouldn't be putting so much stock into the number or the shirt and just consider the man inside the clothes. What's important is how they play the game when they wear the colors no matter what number they are. Their behavior off the pitch is important, too. Representing the club with dignity and class will go a long way. Other number sevens have had trouble off the pitch with that. Think of what killed Best, his alcoholism. Cantona's temper wasn't even off the pitch when he kicked the fan and caused a commotion. Michael Owen is a solid family man and he has style. He'll be able to make Manchester United look good off the field and when he's on it, I firmly believe there are better days ahead for him.
I've said it before and I'm saying it again, I'm not writing this man off. He has had injuries but they all have. Some of his unfortunately, have come close together.
Maybe by giving Michael Owen number seven, Sir Alex is making a promise to the fans that he also knows this player has better days ahead. SAF has that ability to spot and cultivate talent, why shouldn't we believe he can do it in a man beyond his twenties?
Let's get over our initial shock at Owen's being handed the shirt and stop looking back at who's had it before him. Why don't we try looking ahead to what he can do for our team? Have faith in Sir Alex's decisions and give Michael Owen our support. He's part of our team now, he is Manchester United.
I love Michael Owen. We all know I've been a huge supporter of his and I will continue to be so long as he doesn't let me down. But number seven? Wow…Sir Alex is either expecting greatness from him, or we're all placing too much importance on the jersey.
George Best wore number seven. We all know the saying, "Maradona good, Pele` better, George Best." 'Nuff said.
Eric Cantona wore the jersey. King Eric won back to back titles, player of the year, and who could ever forget that notorious kick?
David Beckham was number seven for a long time. Part of Manchester United's Treble, European Footballer of the Year and FIFA World Player of the Year. One of the most famous number seven's for Manchester United thanks to great publicity and fantastic management. If he retires from the game, he'll have modeling and cologne to fall back on.
Most recently, Cristiano Ronaldo wore the jersey. He had a record setting season in 07/08 with 42 goals. That's now ingrained in Old Trafford's history as legendary.
In between George Best and Eric Cantona, Bryan Robson wore the jersey. "Captain Marvel" was the longest reigning captain in Old Trafford's history. He's back at the club today as an ambassador. I can't help but think he must have had some sort of say in giving his blessing for Michael Owen to take the threads this time around. Would Sir Alex Ferguson has consulted Bryan Robson regarding the number? Some of us thought perhaps there would be a switch off similar to what Beckham did when Teddy Sheringham took the number ten and he took number seven. We were thinking that perhaps Rooney would give his number ten jersey to a new, incoming player and then be handed number seven.
What if we're all just making too big of a deal out of the jersey? Maybe we shouldn't be putting so much stock into the number or the shirt and just consider the man inside the clothes. What's important is how they play the game when they wear the colors no matter what number they are. Their behavior off the pitch is important, too. Representing the club with dignity and class will go a long way. Other number sevens have had trouble off the pitch with that. Think of what killed Best, his alcoholism. Cantona's temper wasn't even off the pitch when he kicked the fan and caused a commotion. Michael Owen is a solid family man and he has style. He'll be able to make Manchester United look good off the field and when he's on it, I firmly believe there are better days ahead for him.
I've said it before and I'm saying it again, I'm not writing this man off. He has had injuries but they all have. Some of his unfortunately, have come close together.
Maybe by giving Michael Owen number seven, Sir Alex is making a promise to the fans that he also knows this player has better days ahead. SAF has that ability to spot and cultivate talent, why shouldn't we believe he can do it in a man beyond his twenties?
Let's get over our initial shock at Owen's being handed the shirt and stop looking back at who's had it before him. Why don't we try looking ahead to what he can do for our team? Have faith in Sir Alex's decisions and give Michael Owen our support. He's part of our team now, he is Manchester United.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Vidic's Ban...
Well, last blog I'd mentioned that I didn't know yet what Vidic's ban was going to be after his red card and send off from the Liverpool game. Here it is, it's ugly and it actually sounds worse than it is but it's pretty bad when you get to the bottom of my blog. The Football Association's official statement on their website confirms that Vidic is "suspended from all football until the Club have completed 2 first team matches for a Sending Off in a match played on 14/03/2009." Basically, he'll miss one match for his offence against Liverpool - denying a goal scoring opportunity for the visitors' skipper Steven Gerrard - and another because he has now been sent off twice in domestic fixtures this season.
So, Vidic won't play the away game at Fulham this coming Saturday, 21 March and the home game against Aston Villa on Sunday 5 April. If United plays on Tuesday, 7 April in the Champions League, the AV game will be held back a day…either way, the Serbian defender will not be where we need him most DEFENDING our keeper!
He's been getting goals, which has been amazing and it's saved our games more than once. But we really need him on the pitch to defend, especially against Aston Villa. These guys beat Hull. Keep in mind, Hull have been doing amazingly well. They aren't the old Hull, it's as if they've been substituted with some parallel team that look like Hull. (I'm happy for their fans, I've seen interviews and they're proud of their team – it's been a while.)
As far as Vidic's send off goes, I really appreciated how classy Sir Alex Ferguson handled it. (He always is such a class act...thus, the Knighthood--well that's how I like to see it.) Sir Alex said that Vidic made a mistake as people do. The team and he understood why Vidic had to be red-carded. SAF said they would have expected the same response against the other team if we would have been fouled against in such a manner. Vidic's previous red card was also against Liverpool, (are we seeing a pattern here?) in the 2-1 league defeat at Anfield on 13 September. Vidic was suspended for one match at that time, which was United's 1-1 draw away at Stamford Bridge on the following Sunday. Knowing that the next game he wasn't in was a draw doesn't make me feel too good about his not being on the pitch against Aston Villa in a few weeks.
Now, I don't mean to down play what Fulham can do. We beat them 4-0 in a recent FA Cup final berth and before that, we took them 3-0 in a Barclay's. But these guys are so up and down--do they know if they should scratch their watch or wind their butt? Get this: They beat Tottenham once and drew a nil with them, they drew a deuce with Chelsea, and drew nil-nil with both Liverpool and Aston Villa. They have been even more sporadic in their performance than that! It gets worse--They won against the Wanderers but lost against the Rovers—and this was during the Rovers' "rough patch." I'm not worried about them and I can only imagine no one else in Red is either...do you thing Nemanja just wanted the day off? But to take a chance with Aston Villa....
His not being there against AV is really nasty as we haven't seen them since our draw in November when we went nil-nil. (It was a cold, stormy, gloomy morning that lasted all day long.) At least this time, we're having them over to our place at Old Trafford but that didn't make a whole lot of difference last weekend against Liverpool, now did it?
The game against Aston Villa will be broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel, at 11:00AM EST Sunday, 5 April.
So, Vidic won't play the away game at Fulham this coming Saturday, 21 March and the home game against Aston Villa on Sunday 5 April. If United plays on Tuesday, 7 April in the Champions League, the AV game will be held back a day…either way, the Serbian defender will not be where we need him most DEFENDING our keeper!
He's been getting goals, which has been amazing and it's saved our games more than once. But we really need him on the pitch to defend, especially against Aston Villa. These guys beat Hull. Keep in mind, Hull have been doing amazingly well. They aren't the old Hull, it's as if they've been substituted with some parallel team that look like Hull. (I'm happy for their fans, I've seen interviews and they're proud of their team – it's been a while.)
As far as Vidic's send off goes, I really appreciated how classy Sir Alex Ferguson handled it. (He always is such a class act...thus, the Knighthood--well that's how I like to see it.) Sir Alex said that Vidic made a mistake as people do. The team and he understood why Vidic had to be red-carded. SAF said they would have expected the same response against the other team if we would have been fouled against in such a manner. Vidic's previous red card was also against Liverpool, (are we seeing a pattern here?) in the 2-1 league defeat at Anfield on 13 September. Vidic was suspended for one match at that time, which was United's 1-1 draw away at Stamford Bridge on the following Sunday. Knowing that the next game he wasn't in was a draw doesn't make me feel too good about his not being on the pitch against Aston Villa in a few weeks.
Now, I don't mean to down play what Fulham can do. We beat them 4-0 in a recent FA Cup final berth and before that, we took them 3-0 in a Barclay's. But these guys are so up and down--do they know if they should scratch their watch or wind their butt? Get this: They beat Tottenham once and drew a nil with them, they drew a deuce with Chelsea, and drew nil-nil with both Liverpool and Aston Villa. They have been even more sporadic in their performance than that! It gets worse--They won against the Wanderers but lost against the Rovers—and this was during the Rovers' "rough patch." I'm not worried about them and I can only imagine no one else in Red is either...do you thing Nemanja just wanted the day off? But to take a chance with Aston Villa....
His not being there against AV is really nasty as we haven't seen them since our draw in November when we went nil-nil. (It was a cold, stormy, gloomy morning that lasted all day long.) At least this time, we're having them over to our place at Old Trafford but that didn't make a whole lot of difference last weekend against Liverpool, now did it?
The game against Aston Villa will be broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel, at 11:00AM EST Sunday, 5 April.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Cristiano Ronaldo World Player of the Year 2008
Cristiano Ronaldo has become THE FIRST Premier League player to be announced the FIFA World Player of the Year!This has GOT to shut up some of the bashers of his talent but of course, it won't. There are too many critics that are willing to tear down an individual based on the fact that they are good looking, young and the focus of a great deal of attention. This is a well-deserved and hard-earned honor for our #7 Winger. Yesterday's match against Chelsea proves that he, Evra, Berbatov and Rooney, can work amazing magic together! Two set-ups from Ronaldo made two of yesterday's goals possible. In the first half, he completed a fantastic goal that was not counted due to a a technicality. (It should have been 4 -0) Congratulations Cristiano Ronaldo! It only makes sense that the Greatest team in the World should have the Greatest Player in the World! ***** Manchester United 2008 World Cup Winners *********** Cristano Ronaldo 2008 World Player of the Year ******
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