All roads to Old Trafford before Wembley for the second leg.

The two leg games have always produced some of the most unpredictable results and tonight is no different from the past. Of what is going to be an epic Wednesday night match for the road to Wembley, Manchester United will be meeting Manchester City in the second leg of the league cup/carling cup at Old Trafford later tonight.

The entertaining first leg won closely won by the Manchester City by two goals from former Manchester Unitedstriker Carlos Tevez. Manchester United took away the consolation prize with an away goal scored by skipper Ryan Giggs.
Sir Alex will be hoping for Wayne Rooney to fire some more goals after his epic four goals against Hull City in the previous match on Saturday. Plenty is going off the field at old Trafford with Ryan Giggs urging the fans with the following words “The fans are going to play a massive part. It was a great atmosphere at Eastlands and our fans were absolutely brilliant. We need them to get behind us again because it really does make a difference”. The red devils will be going with their squad that played Hull City on Saturday and Dimitar Berbatov is also expected to contribute in the game. A fit Rio Ferdinand is also a high five for the home side but may have to sit out as he is advised to start his three match ban imposed by FA for his absurd conduct at Hull City.
From the City camp Tevez is looking all fired up and ready for his hostile return at his former club. He can expect some harsh words from the front row. Roberto Mancini will be preparing his defence for the occasion and special replays will be show to halt Rooney and Co.
With everything at stake for both the teams a little margin of error might result in a heavy penalty. The kick off with take place at 2000 Hours GMT (0130 Hours IST).

Moscow jinx broken by Manchester United for English clubs.

In a thrilling match in Moscow, Manchester United won with a narrow margin of 1-0 against CSKA Moscow. And again and again as always for the Red Devils the goal was scored with just 4 minutes remaining in the stipulated 90 minutes.

The match started with not much of fireworks and it was not until the middle of the first half when the first scare came for the home side with Paul Scholes firing a long ranger gave some tough time for the CSKA Moscow’s keeper with the ball bouncing just in front of him followed by a left footed shot by Manchester United skipper Gary Neville. On the other side of the half there were no serious progressions as Manchester United’s strong defence was doing its bit on the field. Half time went goal less.
In the second half, Dimitar Berbatov was given a yellow card from diving in the CSKA’s penalty area and he has to be cautious as another yellow may make him miss a match in the champions league stage. Dzagoev for CSKA had put the ball in the United net in the 54th minute but was denied by an offside flag while his free-kick led to Sergei Ignashevich shooting just wide. At the other end CSKA Goalkeeper Akinfeev saved a brilliant diving header by Nani’s from Neville’s cross. Before scoring the winning goal Antonio Valencia had a great opportuinity to score when United players showed a geat one touch game just for the shot hitting the crossbar. Just when the game was going into the final 5 minutes or going into Manchester United’s time Nani chipped the ball to Berbatov in CSKA’s penalty area who headed it to Valencia who scored with a neat right kick from a very acute angle giving no chance to the keeper. The scored remained as it is the final whistle which makes United take a giant step into the next round. Without the services of Rooney, Giggs, Evra Manchester United had put up great show and not to forget Nani’s appreciating role on the left wing.
In the other match of the same group, VfL Wolfsburg and Besiktas JK shared a point each with a goal less draw in Germany making the group wide open for the rest of the 3 teams to qualify along with United who is certain to go into the next round.

Manchester United travels to Moscow with plenty to expect.

In what could be a tricky fixture, Manchester United will be travelling to Moscow to play against CSKA Moscow. It is seen that the premier league sides have not enjoyed much of success there and it will be hoping that Manchester United to go against the record. The Red Devils will be high on confidence after last weekend win against Bolton Wanderers and so far they are having a perfect start to this year’s champions league campaign with a win over Turkish side Besiktas and Germany’s Wolfsburg.

There is plenty of worry for Sir Alex as Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, Patrice Evra, Ji-sung Park and Darren Fletcher will all be missing the trip to CSKA Moscow. While Dimitar Berbatov and Nemanja Vidic may have to sit on the bench considering their injury worries. Edwin Van der Sar will be starting of what could be a big relief for Sir Alex. Although he made his comeback in the Bolton match last weekend, this will be the first real test for the Dutchman. Other than that all other are expected to play and some good play will be expected from Valencia, Micheal Owen, Paul Scholes etc to make it easy for United. One good thing to cheer for the away side is that United are unbeaten in 13 away games in the UEFA Champions League but the worry is that they have suffered against Russian clubs in the past.
The other two teams in Manchester United’s group i.e. Besiktas and Wolfsburg will be locking horns in Germany with plenty to expect from the result as they both have lost to the leaders and the match could prove vital once the second leg starts after this match.
The Red Devils match will be starting at 1945 Hours GMT while the other match of the group will be starting at 2200 Hours GMT.
A test for United to score without the services of Rooney, Giggs, Berbatov, Evra, Fletcher.
A 1-0 score line in United’s favour in expected considering the present team.

It is his time: Wayne Rooney

Ever since, as a sixteen year old, he scored a match-winning goal against then Premier League champions Arsenal in 2002-03 season, ending their proud 30 match unbeaten stretch, people have known Wayne Rooney was going to be something special. Even the commentator said “ ladies and gentlemen… introducing 16 year old Wayne Rooney”. At the time seemingly Everton through and through, Rooney immediately identified himself as being skillful, brave, imaginative and certainly competitive. It was a surprise to no-one when he was voted BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year at the end of 2003 – the year he made his England debut in a friendly against Australia.

It was a big decision for an eighteen year old to make to leave Everton and join the might of Manchester United in 2004. After all, he was loved at Goodison Park and his family were all loyal supporters. To go to a club where the pressure is as great as it is at Old Trafford and then have to justify the highest ever fee paid for a player under 20 years old – nearly £26 million -could have been too intimidating for many young players. Not Wayne Rooney, though. Most people will remember the hat-trick he scored on his United debut against Fenerbahce in the Champions League when he fully signalled his arrival. And from then on, he has gone from strength to strength; which is a good analogy, really. Strength, after all, is a large part of Wayne‘s game – physical and mental. Because of his strong competitive spirit and physical strength, he has often been guilty of going just over the edge and finding himself in trouble with officials.
He does seem, though, to be developing, as a mature 24 year old, the mental strength to cope with the pressures better. On the pitch, Rooney has clearly responded to his manager’s calls for people to step up and fill the gap left by the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid. And unlike David Beckham who ruined he career just because of his wife, Mr. Rooney has just got better. He is scoring goals and obviously relishing in the responsibility of being the focus of the team’s attacks. He also is enjoying playing in far more central and advanced parts of the pitch.
So with all of above one can say that he is in the golden period of his career…

In the absence of premiership this weekend…

After a long time, there will be no premiership action this weekend (a rare scenario) as many players playing in different leagues around the world will be out in national colours to play in the world cup qualifiers. It is a day when John Terry will be playing alongside Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard may pair up with Wayne Rooney in the front. In the UEFA region, England will be playing against Ukraine among others.

While in South America, Argentina play a must win encounter against Paraguay and thier will be huge expectations from Lionel Messi, who play for Barcelona in Spain, to fire in order to save his country from not qualifying for the first time in two decades. Carloz Tevez will be using his city experience for his country to win this match.
Nowdays as the players are engaged with clubs most of the time, national coaches have some tough time when it comes to national duties as they have less time together as compared to their league counterparts. As soon as the qualifiers are over the players have to quickly adjust to the league conditions where they are for most part of the season.
As the league is off, the attention is diverted to off field actvities where everything related to shoes, jerseys, training kits etc takes the center stage and of course players as indivisuals. While you read about players in specific areas immediately some or the other player’s name comes to our mind. So who do you think they are… It is expected that the defenders should be like a wall, the midfielders should be Mr. Dependable and the strikers has to be a “lightning strikes twice-thrice…” material who score while others are caught unaware. So who is your favourite player on the EPL pitch which matches these qualities in different categories?