Rooney-less United to prove a point against Chelsea this weekend.

The stage is set for the biggest match of the season. It will be the clash of the titans as champions Manchester United will be hosting rivals Chelsea at Old Trafford as if not everything, allot depends upon the leader of the league after this match. The two have met in the Champions league, FA Cup and all loads of tournament and most of the time the result have always seen one team losing the trophy to other.

 

In other matches, Arsenal will be hosting Wolverhampton Wanderers and would be hoping to get back on track for the title while struggling Liverpool hope to get the fourth place when they face Birmingham City. Fourth placed Tottenham will be visiting the stadium of light to face Sunderland who had put up a decent show this season.

After their champions league defeat in the hands of Bayern, Manchester United will be hoping to have a positive result out of this one. Big blow for the red devils is the injury to Wayne Rooney which he received in the midweek loss.Although it is not a fracture but a ligament tear will also take a minimum of two weeks to heal as a result he may miss the return leg against Bayern Munich at Old Trafford. Other than that Manchester United will going with their usual side with Ryan Giggs, Valencia in the wing and Berbatov up front.

Knowing the intensity, the blues are all fired up to get this one away that to in front of the devils crowd. After their exit from Europe they will be hoping to lead the table after the match. With Drogba fit and Lampard providing the breakthroughs, Carlo Ancelotti’s men has no doubt to get this one.

The match timings are:

Saturday:

Manchester United vs Chelsea 12:45 Hours GMT

Arsenal vs Wolverhampton Wanderers 15:00 Hours GMT 

Bolton Wanderers vs Aston Villa 15:00 Hours GMT
Portsmouth vs Blackburn Rovers 15:00 Hours GMT
Stoke City vs Hull City 15:00 Hours GMT
Sunderland vs Tottenham Hotspur 15:00 Hours GMT
Burnley vs Manchester City 17:30 Hours GMT

Sunday:
Birmingham City vs Liverpool 15:00 Hours GMT
Fulham vs Wigan Athletic 15:00 Hours GMT
Everton vs West Ham United 16:00 Hours GMT

Chelsea face trickly Villa, Man United hoping to cruise at Reebok

Even after a huge win over Portsmouth in the midweek, Chelsea would be wondering why only “three” points??? Now with that result the premier league action has got as hot as possible… After 31 matches Manchester United lead the table with 69 points, followed by Chelsea who is a point behind and followed by third placed Arsenal who are also a point behind

This weekend there is plenty of action… After a long time, the new leaders Manchester United will be visiting Reebok Stadium to face Bolton Wanderers and are most likely to cruise over them to stay at the top. On the other hand, Bolton‘s aim will be to climb certain positions to end at a respectable stage. News for the locker room is that Wayne Rooney was reported with a knee injury but is known to be fine and looking the fixtures ahead, Sir Alex will not be taking chances. Other than that the red devils will be traveling with their usual squad with some grim chances of including Owen Hargreaves. Bolton will be without Sean Davis due to ankle injury but their star performer Kevin Davis is ready to lead the kill.

Chelsea will be hosting seventh placed Aston Villa in a tricky fixture as Villa has earlier stalled Manchester United, Liverpool and are no outsiders to the title race. Once at fourth place will will be happy to finish in that place for a prized entry into Europe.

Matches timings for the next three days are:

Saturday:

Birmingham City Vs Arsenal 1500 Hours GMT

Chelsea Vs Aston Villa 1500 Hours GMT

Hull City Vs Fulham 1500 Hours GMT

Tottenham Hotspur Vs Portsmouth 1500 Hours GMT

West Ham United Vs Stoke City 1500 Hours GMT

Wolverhampton Wanderers Vs Everton 1500 Hours GMT

Bolton Wanderers Vs Manchester United 1730 Hours GMT

Sunday:

Burnley Vs Blackburn Rovers 1200 Hours GMT

Liverpool Vs Sunderland 1600 Hours GMT

Monday:

Manchester City VS Wigan Athletic 2000 Hours GMT

Injuries and fatigue factor may spoil the world cup.

Sir Alex Ferguson was fuming over England’ manager Fabio Capello for makingWayne Rooney play for 90 minutes in the friendly over Egypt as a result he was over exerted and could not play the subsequent league match. Recently Franck Ribery was caught in a similar situation when he was reported to aggravated an existing problem by playing with an ankle injury in France’s friendly against Spain. Bayern’s management was reportedly to be furious over the matter and has complained to FIFA over the same.

 

In this ever going was between club and country the players will suffer and in the
end the fatigue may be visible in the World Cup. Nobody wants that but the we
are heading into that direction.

Given an example, in cricket last year when most of the players were playing in the
Indian Premier League (a cricket venture by the Indian Cricket Board) in
different clubs on the lines of football leagues they gave their best and the
tournament went with the same hopes in the T20 World Cup which was to be followed
in june in England. The things went in the wrong direction where defending
champion India bowed out of the tournament in the quarter finals which nobody
expected. The post defeat analysis showed the fatigue factor in the team
and also the carry forward injuries which they suffered during the IPL.
Pakistan on the other hand won the tournament because they were not allowed
to play in the IPL and concentrated fully on the World Cup.

Coming back to football, if more casualties follow the World Cup in South Africa can be a problem which may result to a flop show. Many in Europe thinks the World Cup is now second to club football because all the money and fame is in Champions League and top domestic league were they reside.

In the end I hope that the above is proved wrong and the country’s spirit remains at
the top. A win by a new country, Asian or an African nation will definitely
impact and change the thinking for the future.

Rooney’s demolition of Milan continued. Real Madrid exit Europe…

Two goals from Wayne Rooney followed by one each from Park andFletcher completed a 4-0 drubbing of A C Milan in the champions league pre-quarters at Old Trafford. Also in a major upset in Europe nine times European champions Real Madrid crashed out of this year’s campaign after losing on the aggregate score of 1-2 againstOlympique Lyonnais over the two legs as they could only manage a 1-1 draw at home in Santaigo Bernabéu.

 

It was a perfect night for the Red Devils, who were already up 3-2 from the 1^st leg and now playing in front of here home crowd. United got the early lead in the 13^th minute whenNeville gave a wonderful cross from the right which found Wayne Rooney in the Milanpenalty area, who headed past Christian Abbiati making the aggregate 4-2. United’s second came just after the half time when Nani’s great run from the left cleared half of the Milandefence and then passed a brilliant ball to free Wayne Rooney in the centre who grabbed the ball and shot past Abbiati for his second. Just at the hour mark J S Park tripled the home side’s lead when he scored a great goal of a very narrow angle from the right and things were finally wrapped up by Darren Fletcher in the 88^th minute who made it 4-0 whenRafael’s long ball found him and he sweetly headed it past the keeper.

 

Olympique Lyonnais had a one goal lead before coming to Madrid for the return leg but one thing they knew was that playing at Santaigo Bernabéu in front of 1,00,000+ Real fans is not easy. Cristaino Ronaldo put the home side in the front in the 6^th minute when Guti’s ball found him and after controlling it he shot past the goal keeper making the home side coming at par. The situation was getting tense and the proceedings were referring to extra time but just 15 minutes from time Miralem Pjanić one -on -one with Lisandro ended upPjanic scoring from close range to put Lyon in aggregate lead again. With no serious attempts on goal the final scoreline remained the same, making it worst for Madrid come true and for Lyon, the prized place in the quarter-finals of Europe’s premier event.

Beyond Injury worries, Manchester United visits Wolves for table top.

Back from international friendlies, the focus again shifts back to the ever exciting English Premier league where the fight for the title is getting hotter and hotter. This time around the league match will be scattered four days.

First up will be Arsenal hosting Burnley at the Emirates and thegunners have a good chance of going joint top of the Premier league for the first time this season or at least the second till the time Manchester United visit lowly Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux. The red devils also have a good chance to go top of the table.

 

Big blow to Manchester United is that Michael Owen will be missing the rest of the season after getting a severe hamstring injury in the final of the carling cup at Wembley stadium on 28^th February. Sir Alex said “It was more serious than we thought and he’ll have an operation on Monday. It’s a terrible blow for the lad and disappointing for us, too. He never missed a training session all season. The heavy pitch at Wembley played some part, but it’s also bad luck.” More problems for United is that Wayne Rooney is also looking
doubtful for the match as he over exerted in the England’s friendly against Egypt. The only god news for now is the confirmation of Rio Ferdinand to start which is going to be a big boost at defence.

 

The matches to be played over the next few days are:

Saturday:

Arsenal Vs Burnley 1500 Hours GMT

West Ham United VS Bolton Wanderers 1500 Hours GMT

Wolverhampton Wanderers VS Manchester United 1730 Hours GMT

Sunday:

Everton Vs Hull City 1600 Hours GMT

Monday:

Wigan Athletic Vs Liverpool 2000 Hours GMT

Monday:

Portsmouth Vs Birmingham City 1945 Hours GMT

Sunderland Vs Bolton Wanderers 1945 Hours GMT

Tuesday:

Burnley Vs Stoke City 1945 Hours GMT

International friendlies eyes experiment time for managers ahead of June.

Going distant from the leagues in Europe and else where the focus now shifts to International friendlies where nearly 100 countries are in action. And today the action hots up where most of them will play. Yesterday Brazil
comfortably beat Ireland in front of their home crowd with 2-0 score line with
Andrews scored an own goal in the first half and Robinho doubled the lead in
the second half.

 

Today there will be greater action when teams like England, Argentina, Italy, Greece, Ivory Coast etc will be in action and this is the best chance to see the preparation of the World Cup which is less than 100 days
away. Wembley stadim will lit up for the second time is a week when England
will be hosting Egypt who recently
retained the African Cup of Nations for a second time in a row. England’s coach
Fabio Capello will be expecting from Manchester United’s striker Wayne Rooney
who is in excellent form as far as the club tournaments are concerned. But bad
news for Capello is that there new captain Rio Ferdinand will not take part due
to back injury.

2006 World Cup champions Italy will be playing Cameroon in Monaco. The champions will be without their star goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and Gianluca Zambrotta but Lippi is confident that Azzurri
can will despite their below par team at the moment.

Other matches to be played on 3^rd March will be:

Macedonia Vs Montenegro

Cyprus Vs Iceland

Ivory Coast Vs South Korea

Armenia Vs Belarus

Georgia Vs Estonia

Greece Vs Senegal

Angola Vs Latvia

Nigeria Vs Congo DR

Slovakia Vs Norway

Bosnia-Herzegovina Vs Ghana

Moldova Vs Kazakhstan

Malta Vs Finland

Turkey Vs Honduras

Algeria Vs Serbia

Hungary Vs Russia

South Africa Vs Namibia

Romania Vs Israel

Luxembourg Vs Azerbaijan

Switzerland Vs Uruguay

Austria Vs Denmark

Poland Vs Bulgaria

Albania Vs Northern Ireland

Belgium Vs Croatia

Germany Vs Argentina

Italy Vs Cameroon

Netherlands Vs United States

Slovenia Vs Qatar

Wales Vs Sweden

England Vs Egypt

France Vs Spain

Scotland Vs Czech Republic

Portugal Vs China

Venezuela Vs Panama1″”>

El Salvador Vs Guatemala

New Zealand Vs Mexico

Rooney’s double made San Siro night look easy.

Manchester United won the first leg of the round of 16 knockout stage of theChampions’ league with a 3-2 victory over AC Milan at their own backyard which could be a vital when Milan will come to Old trafford to play for the return leg. In the other match of the day, Olympique Lyonnais shocked 9 times European championsReal Madrid with a 1-0 victory at home which could see them through if they are able to hold on at Santaigo in a week’s time.

At San Siro, Ronaldinho gave home side the perfect start with when he scored from a right footed shot that got deflected off Fletcher and found the net giving no chance to Van der Sar. Just as the red devils were looking to be off tracked, Paul Scholes equalised for the visitors in the luckiest of the way when the ball hit his non-kicking leg and crawled past the goal keeper to head home. The teams went into the break with all square at 1-1.

Second half started whcih truly belonged to Wayne Rooney when he headed the ball at the far corner of Valencia gret cross from the right. The English striker got his second and gave United two goals lead in the 77th minute when all the Milan defence was caught unaware when Fletcher chipped in the ball from the left and Rooney headed the free ball to make the score line 3-1. Just when the United fans were singing their victory songs Seedorf pull one back in the 85th minute but it was too late for them to get into the game.

Many opportuinities were lost and now its over the the theater of dreams in a week’s time where Milan will be thinking to win by a big margin where as United will be banking on the win and the away there important away goals.

United’s trip to San Siro to meet Becks

After a long break, the premier tournment of Europe is back and back with a big bang with 16 super powers of Europe will be starting the knock out phase of theChampions’ league. Tonight will see 99’s treblers Manchester United go to San Siro to face the Italian giants AC Milan and in the other match Real Madrid will be up against French side Olympique Lyonnais.

It will be more than a match for ex-Manchester United player David Beckham who will be facing his former club for the first time in his adopted home at San Siro. In the press conference he said “I am a Manchester United supporter and for the first time I will have to hope for them to lose”. After topping a relatively easier group this will be Unitedfirst test in Milan specially when the likes of Ronaldinho and Co. Further blow for the visitors is that thier ace wingerRyan Giggs is out due to the fracture he got against Villa which will keep him out for atleast a month. It will beWayne Rooney who is expected to take the cake and Milan will be ready to stop every inch of his movement. So in just couple of hours, the first leg will decide the future course of action, don’t miss the action at 2045 Hours GMT (0215 Hours IST).

Lyon will be all set to prove that their place in the lats 16 is not a fluke when they will be hosting Spanish giants Real Madrid for the first leg. They will be banking on the likes of Cristaino Ronaldo, Kaka to fire in this one. WIth their unbeaten run this year in the champions league it is no doubt that they are the favourites to take the fixture away and carry on the momemtum till they reach their home ground for the final in may. With both the teams playing for some important point it will be exciting to see what results takes them to the return leg a week later. That match will be starting at the same time of that at San Siro.

Fabulous four from Wayne Rooney against Hull.

Manchester United go top of the English premier league after a long gap after winning their match against Hull City by 4-0 at old Trafford with not one, not two … but all four goals from striker Wayne Rooney. It was truly Wayne Rooney’s night at the theatre of dreams. Now the focus shifts on 26th and 27th January when Chelsea andArsenal will be playing. Chelsea having the slight advantage with two games in hand. Now after the gigantic win, the red devils can only watch their rivals play.

An early goal by Rooney in the 8th minute set the tone for that match which was much awaited from the fans. The first goals came when Paul Scholes 25 yard shot was blocked by the goalkeeper which went to Rooney who made no mistakes to put the ball behind the net. The teams went in to the break with 1-0 score line with frustration on the manager’s face for not finding the net on several occasions.
Second half had everything for United fans. After some countless attacks on both the sides, Manchester Unitedfinally doubled their lead in the 83 minute when Rooney blasted the ball home from just inside the area after being teed up by Gibson which nearly took the net out of the fittings. Third goal for Rooney followed just after three minutes when he headed a great cross from Nani’s inside the penalty area. That was a much awaited hat-trick for the striker but the action didn’t end their. Hull’s humiliation ended with a fourth from Wayne Rooney deep into the injury time when he managed to find the way among many defenders wanting to clear the ball.

So the fabulous for from Rooney has sent a strong signal to their rivals and specially Manchester City with whom they will be meeting for the carling cup semi final next week at the same venue.

Fit Rio back for United for the crucial match against Hull City.

In the only match this weekend, Manchester United will be hosting Hull City where a win could take the red devils to the top of the table for a temporary period until 26th January when Arsenal and Chelsea will be playing their respective matches and if the table turn turtle for the current leaders, United can take the advantage of it and who knows their stay can be longer at the top.

Big boost for Manchester United ahead of this crucial tie is that their star defender Rio Ferdinand is fit and will be included in the squad. He was out due to back injury which kept him out since October which made him miss 19 matches. Rio’s partner at defence Nemanja Vidic is also expected to be back in two weeks as he is also recovering well from his injury. At the front Dimitar Berbatov is also fit for the day and with Mame Biram Diouf in the bench things seems to be improving. According to Sir Alex Ferguson, the time is not far when United will play in its full squad. Wayne Rooney will be waiting to score as his start has gone a bit unusual for the year.

Latest from the Hull camp is that their signing Amr Zaki will not be available for the match as he is not match fit andJimmy Bullard is also out due to knee injury which will keep him out for a month. Hull will be banking on their goalkeeper Boaz Myhill for the match at old Trafford after displaying some excellent display of football in the goalless draw against Tottenham Hotspurs last week which earned him the man of the match award.
The kick-off of the match at Old Trafford will start at 1500 Hours GMT (i.e. 2030 Hours IST) on Saturday.