Dec 21
Manchester United Make History As World Champions
Rooney scored the only goal of the game in the 73rd minute and Van der Sar denied Quito with quality saves to crown Manchester United as World Champions and officially the best club football team in the world (we already were, but it’s nice to have FIFA and UEFA bowing down to us, don’t you think?).
This was a much-improved Manchester United performance and against a spirited Liga de Quito side who gave the European champions a run for their money and were it not for Edwin van der Sar’s brilliant keeping, might have tied or even gone on to win the game.
It was just as sweet to see Arsenal and Liverpool battle to a draw at the Emirates a few hours later. The result now leaves United with two games in hand to Arsenal (a point behind and Liverpool (7 points ahead).
Realistically speaking winning those two games in hand will give United a leg up going up against Liverpool in the reverse Premier League fixture at Old Trafford, and if Chelsea draw or lose at Goodison Park the title race is well and truly open and, dare I say it, there for the taking for the World Champions.
And before I sign off, some food for thought – we are quick to criticise our players when they fail to live up to our impossibly high expectations. At times like these it’s only fair to stand up and salute the professionalism the team has shown through this (to some quite pointless) competition and the way key players (Rooney, Rio and VDS came to mind but the rest did their part as well) stood up and did the job for the club – the same players (Rooney and VDS especially) who have gotten much stick for their less than stellar performances this season.
Bring on Stoke and Boro, and hopefully the WORLD CHAMPIONS can turn it around in the league and take the title third year in a row.
Note: You can read the full match report by the excellent Tom Clark, or follow the discussion in the match thread.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Manchester United vs. Barcelona: Champions League Final Live Blog
- Who the f*** are Man United?
- Will United Meet Great Expectations?
- Hargreaves’ Injury History Is Shocking
- Thursday links and some pre-almost-weekend mumbling
Tags: Match Reports
Opti (541)
Stephen (479)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Craig Mc (345)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
@Nino: Yes Boruc is a class keeper and I do like Akinfeev and Malifeev of Russia. The ones you mentioned in the EPL are all as old as EVDS but they are great keepers. I actually think Friedel is the best in the league and the keeper I would want backing my team in a big game. He is clutch in big games.
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@RedDevilEddy: Sorry mate but I think Ricardo is very average.
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@Craig Mc: It’s a combination of the two Bro. I mean what’s the point of playing with a DMF when the other team sets up ten men behind the ball? Why not overlap your fullbacks more often? United does not try to alter their game to break down these negative defensive formations. That’s because Fergie is not a tactician but just a man manager. This team really misses Queiroz in my opinion or at least a quick thinking innovative assistant that has tactical genius written all over his forehead. Also, our forward play with their backs to the goal and too far up for us to be effective against these kinds of defenses.
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@Craig Mc: for me too Bro! actually looking forward to it! hope the standard of footie we’re playin improves though
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@Craig Mc: R. Madrid are fucking shite and have been so since 2003, when they sacked Del Bosque after he won them a Double. I think Ronaldo moving there now would be tantamount to a semi-retirement as the current team consists of has-beens and also-rans (Cannavaro, RVN, van der Vaart, YSB Heinze). They only reason why then have won the La Liga for the last two seasons because Barcelona were in transition from their own League-CL double in 2006. I think Ron will stay for another year or two at the current best team in the world but you’re right; Ronny is stuck between a rock and a hard place but it is a situation of HIS OWN making so I don’t really sympathise with him lol.
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@Mountfort: Ronaldo will never be Pele, Gretzky, Orr or Montana. He hasn’t got their class. Even though i love him, he’s a spoilt ethnic punk that has had too much thrown at him and he has been corrupted by it. He’s not the first. One who was even worse than him was Diego Armando Maradona.
And I agree about your Mourinho comment 100%. It’s really to bad that the league never learned more from Ferguson’s teams and Wenger undefeated Arseanl side that played attractive attacking football. But you see, too many teams with no talent picked up on Mourinho because they felt that was a system that their team’s could play and keep the score low. And to think there are those dreaming of Mourinho as Fergie’s successor. To them I say SHUTUP!
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@Craig Mc: Accurate truths from my bro the Craigmeister. Well said mate. The league is killing the skillful players, and that alone is unforgivable because they put fans in the seats. What would suit Fergie well is for Nani to go to Spain and then win the European player of the Year award.
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@phoenix red: Belated Merry Christmas to you mate and may you have a happy and eventful 2009.
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@Grognard: yo Bro, having a good one? off the box i mean! too tired to debate, gotta crash
I’ll chat tomorrow, United till the day i die 
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@Nino: I totally agree with you. I feel thatin some key areas the team is getting old and slow. We needed to bring in new players to compete for those positions and if that meant a year with no trophies, so be it. But at least try to play entertaining Man Utd football.
Mark my words, people are laughing at Arsenal this year but Wenger is a genius and he knows what he’s doing. Add a defensive midfielder to that team and some grit and experience and they will be very hard to beat. But he is right to bleed these young players now.
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@Nino: Lowered expectations means more like settleing for hamburger rather than waiting for Filet Mignon. So your girlfriend doesn’t qualify for that because you never settled for average.
Mad TV had a little sketch every week for years called Lowered Expectations and it was all about people settling for crap.
Shooting for the stars is no guarantee you will get all your dreams. But experience has taught me that you have far less of a chance of attaining greatness by sitting around waiting for it.
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@Craig Mc: Right now I bet Barcelona is looking very appetizing to him eh?
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@Craig Mc: That’s one of many things they should do.
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@Grognard: thanks Bro, these days i’d just settle for happy, got some stuff to chat about bro, but not now, too tired! Whats the story with the anti smiley police? and i’m not talking about ronny bashers
United till the day i die 
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@Grognard: Hell Grog, now wouldn’t that be bloody awesome mate
. Little Man Nani in Spain, and developing into one of Europes best. We live in hope Bro.
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@Nino: Nino, I agree mate. I am not saying that Real Madrid are in any way great, but Ronnie really wanted the move there
.
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@Grognard: Decided to have an alternative Christmas dinner this year, we had the finest of irish beef fillet, and very nice it was too, would love to see the same served up at United!
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The fact that UEFA introduced the away goals rule in the 90′s was probably the saving grace of the Champion’s League. We would have otherwise seen the Stoke’s of Europe rearing their ugly heads.
I think something like that should be introduced in the Premier League: teams get an extra point for every two goals they score away from home. I don’t know if the following idea will work in real life, but (mostly away) teams who register less than five shots on target in a match should be punished heartily (either by a hefty fine or by a single point deduction).
I think Grognard already said this, but also something like the system used in the Amsterdam Tournament should be implemented to reward the good guys who try to play offensive attacking football. Not necessarily a point for each goal scored (or you would see the likes of Man Utd and Arsenal on nearly 200 points at the end of the season! lol!) but something like an extra point for scoring three or more goals in a win or a draw. Minus points should be also deducted for a 0-0 for both teams.
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I was just thinking….a special incentive for any team who breaks the 80-goal barrier in a Premier League season: an extra five free points! And an extra 10 free points for any team who can reach the magic 100-goal mark over 38 games. Now THAT would really spice up any title race!!!
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@phoenix red: I’ll settle for a succulent Middlesbrough stew made with a four or five goal spree which has been long over do.
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@Nino: wow man points galore! seriously man that will never happen specially with the cunts that is running the FA, i’m glad that my spanish roots have been playing attractive football, specifically my grandma’s homeland of barcelona.
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@Nino: I personally have no problem awarding a point for every goal scored regardless of whether they are home or away goals. If leaders are going to have 200 points at the end of the season, then so be it. They would be worthy leaders. Imagine no points for 0-0 draws. A team that won 25 games during the season and scored 80 goals would have 155 points without counting their points in draws.
However a team that wins 10 matches and draws 15 and scores 40 goals gets a total of 70 points. Hardly rewarding if they don’t try to score or win a game. It’s what teams like that deserve. Lets look at two hypothetical leaders and see the difference in their points with one playing attacking football, and the other playing defensive negative football.
I planning a very meticulous examination on how we can improve the game. I’ll post it in the near fututre.
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@Nino: Yes but it ewould not help the bad teams as they would no that that was an impossibility for them and therefore, they would still play their negative ten men behind the ball style. As if Stoke would ever get delusional enough to open up their style because they thought they had the talent to score over 80 goals. But how about punishing teams that finish 0-0. Zero points for a 0-0 tie. Two 0-0 tie in a row and a points subtracted from the teams point total. I bet you that would stop the walls from being formed.
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@Grognard: When I proposed the 80-goal idea, I did not necessarily have the likes of Stoke in mind. I was targeting teams in the top half of the table who do have the talent to score 80+ goals, especially outfits like Chelsea and Liverpool who try to win the title playing crappy one dimensional football (the number of absolute bore-fests those two have played out in recent seasons whenevre they’ve met is enough to reduce a grown man to tears!!)
I do especially think, however, that away teams who set out to play 10 men behind the ball should be severely penalized by whatever means possible!
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Or how about a completely radical change? Only award points for a win and none for a draw (even a score draw) or loss. That would really see teams going for the jugular, as they know they’ll finish empty handed if they don’t win the game. However, I realise the downside of this rule would be a scenario where a team scoring first would try and protect the lead for the rest of the game, and so there would probably be a lot of scrappy 1-0 wins. But if the opponents equalised it would put pressure on the team to score again and try and seize the three points and so the game would open up once again.
It’ be really funny though to see the points column of the league table in multiples of three!
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@Nino: Yes but when you propose revisions to a league they have to be made with all teams in mind. There needs to be incentive for the bottom of the table clubs too. 80 goals is just not realistic for them so it would not push them into altering their style. Penalizing them for defensive play is more the way it should go because it forces them to at least think positively and attack. On that we definitely agree. And it’s not just away teams. Many of the bottom feeders set up the ten men behind the ball at home too, especially when they are tied with 20 minutes to go. Four points for a win and and extra point for every goal after the first in a game as well as no points for a 0-0 draw. Lets watch them squirm then. Imagine a 4-0 win for a team would net them 7 points rather three. 4 points for the win and three for every goal after the first. Give it some time and everyone would catch on. It would bring quality and excitement to the game and quickly faze out pretenders like Liverpool if they want to play one dimensional boring football.
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@Nino: I already suggested that although I amended it by making a bit of a compromise by just not giving points away for 0-0 draws. 1-1-, 2-2- etc get a point because they scored goals and tried to attack. Sure some teams will win some scrappy 1-0 games but in the back of their minds 1-0 only means 4 points in my system. 2-0 would get them 5 points and so on. Remember that a win is 4 points and points for goals happen only after the first goal is scored by each team. So if a team wins 3-2, they get 6 points and the losing team gets 1. Might seem like harsh punishment in a game but it will promote winning at all costs and scoring goals. This kind of point system would bring a renaissance of attacking and enjoyable football, I’m convinced of this. But the powers that be are to bone headed and stubborn to consider anything to help improve the game. Instead they will wait until the game is half dead due to the upcoming depression or recession and they’ll wonder why the seats are half empty. If finances become problematic, more and more fans will stay away, especially if the product is poor and boring. One day they will get a rude wake up call. But now many think the Grognard is just a radical trouble maker who’s thinking is science fiction and totally insane.
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given is having the game off his life right now!
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this is silly a week now and not yet a new post, i hate to say this but this site may die a slow death with this much inactivity
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well im changing the channel!
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NEWCASTLE SCORE!!!
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@Grognard: I read your earler post were you stated that the old guard are holding us back, I agree in theory, but its not thier fault, its Fergies, it baffles me how he cannot see how playing 2 or 3 of these guys at the same time seriously slows down our attack, throw in the ineffectual Park and the forever spinning but going no where dangerous Fletcher and you have the backbone of a rubbish team.
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@dan(u-ol): did I not show you that you never jinx it!
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@Liam: this is depressing to watch
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@dan(u-ol): For the first time this season, I am getting really worried about Liverpool, I now believe they mean business. I hate them
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Man-U-cho, i wouldnt worry about liverpool too much. Liverpool do look good at the minute but lets see if they are still in the same position in 2 months time before we call them real title challengers. They have some tough looking away fixtures coming up so maybe they will drop points there. They also struggle to finish off lower teams at home and have continued to do it this year too with draws against hull, fulham etc. I think chelsea are the main team to beat so forget liverpool for the minute. I just hope we can get a nice comfortable win tomorrow against boro and then a good 10 match winning streak full of goals and no more 1-0 wins.
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@Matthew: Goal difference could be a factor hey,
Fulham are leading Stalin’s cunts right now, which is sweet indeed 
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Man-U-cho, true but the title hasnt gone to goal difference ever or at least not that i can remember. I see what your saying though and yes we do need to improve our goal difference much more. However lets wait to end of feb and early march to see if liverpool will be proper challengers. After all last year arsenal were top until march time when they surrendered their lead and handed us the title. If pool are top around that time then i may start to worry but at the minute im more concerned about our own poor performances and then chelsea to worry about the scousers. Time will tell though.
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@Craig Mc: You confuse me here, let me get this straight(I think I’ve asked you this before). You KNOW if Ronaldo and Nani stay, their presence adds value to United, but yet hope they leave because you’d like to see them develop elsewhere and because fans don’t appreciate them? Why would you hope to that the team gets weakened? On Ronaldo…maybe the refs would be a little more protective of him if he wasn’t a SERIAL DIVER even before he started getting hacked a lot? I can’t really blame the refs who hasten not to give decisions in his favour, its a case of boy who cried wolf with him.
@Nino: Do you think that’d ever happen, don’t you see the way the English press praise teams like Sunderland, Stoke, Bolton as “brave” and praise thuggish defenders like the Stoke Idiot that got sent off and Terry as brave English- type defenders. Unless there are some radical changes within the FA, that’ll never happen.
@Grognard: A question. You claim to have supported United for over 4 decades, so when United were rubbish in the 70′s and 80′s and had a long barren spell(we weren’t playing attractive footie that time), how did you cope? Did you constantly take breaks from United and then come back when they’re playing well and winning again?
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Craig Mc, i gotta agree with the point Rd just gave on ronaldo getting protection from the refs. He brings some of it onto himself when he starts diving around and the refs give him the free kick so they feel they have to balance it out by giving some of the real challenges oh him the other way. He really doesnt help himself ronaldo by acting like a 6 year old girl going down to every challenge even though some of them hardly touch him. Its embarrasing to watch and also gives everyone the ammunition to claim he is a diver. Now fair play to ronaldo he has cut out alot of his diving and thats good but he still does go down too easily sometimes. But yes he should get some protection against the thugs that just want to break legs and shouldnt really have anything to do with this sport. Go and play fu**ing ice hockey if you wanna do that. But my point is that if ronnie wasnt so two faced and going down too easy then the refs would protect him better as they would no more times than not that it was a serious tackle if he is on the ground holding his leg and is not just him faking injury to get that player sent off.
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Hahahaa…Fulham got a last-min equaliser against Chelski…brilliant!!!
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love it when Chelski drop points, absolutely love it
Now bring on Boro 
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Ignore Liverpool, they are not important. Chelsea is where our battle is, and with 3 games in hand we are 7 points behind them. I’ll take that!
Middlesborough tomorrow night should cut that to 4, and our next premiership game then is….. Chelsea at Old Trafford. We could be 1 point behind, with 2 games in hand over them.
I’ll take that too
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@Man-U-cho: If I remember correctly, Arsenal were in a similar position last season. Look where they ended up!
I wouldnt worry about Liverpool, they are shite. Newcastle is not a team, the only thing that keeps them from playing in Conference is Shay Given. And Bolton suck without Anelka. I wouldnt worry about them, they will slip up. They are overrated and they will lose their belief during January because they will lose more games, they will draw and they will make mistakes. That is what the Scousers are about. Dont worry, they will slip.
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@Traverse: Ive said it before and I will say it again: We are in a much better position that some people will have us think. We can definately beat Fulham and Wigan at Old Trafford, and we have the easisest games left. We are 2 points in front of Chelski if we win those two games, and 1 behind Liverpool and they still ave to comt to the fortress that is Old Trafford. Cheer up lads, 2009 is gonna be great!
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@antsBoy: luved it!!!
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@Fred The Red: I’ve always said that the brunt of the blame falls at Fergie’s feet. He continually puts out useless lineups and stands firm with a group of players that are either well past it or were never good enough to start for this team. And the only time things are going to change and this team starts looking different is with a regime change. After twenty years that would sound a bit too drastic and very risky but I also see a man who is nearing 70 and who cannot go forever. If and when the right person is available for the job, I think he should be given the position and Fergie must then go quietly in the night. I won’t say the game has passed him by but I will say that it is obvious to me and others that he is not putting in the time and effort nor showing the passion and emotion for the job that he has in past years. At times I feel the inmates are running the asylum as too many are allowed to get away with bloody murder and the intensity and passion has left not only the team, but it’s manager. It all starts and ends with Fergie.
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Eight goals in two days by Liverpool. We’re at one. How many can we expect from our game tomorrow with Boro, one, two? When Liverpool starts scoring at will while we are stagnant and dull beyond belief, you know the world is messed up beyond repair. Jeez I hate football this season everywhere other than Germany. At least the Bundesliga is fun and entertaining still, and sick shit like Liverpool leading is not the shite of the day.
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@Rd: I have been a supporter of United since 1977. Frankly they weren’t bad in the 70′s but yes they stunk in the 80′s Still, I was a fan because as a kid you latch on to a team that captures your imagination by the style of football they play. In 1977, I like the way United play the very few times I got to see them. And living in Canada it was very hard to support or follow the team up until the formation of the Premier League because frankly, the tv coverage here in Canada was crap. I must have seen a dozen United games from 1977 to 1991. I stayed loyal but other than what I read by buying British magazines, I had a very limited knowledge of what I was supporting. Unlike the Bundesliga and my other favorite team Bayern Munich who I saw and read about regularly. In North America there was a tv program from the mid 70′s right up to the end of the 80′s called “Soccer Made in Germany” It was a condensed 1 hour long highlight of the previous week’s game of the week. Over a 34 game Bundesliga schedule I would see Bayern play on this program at least a dozen times. I got very familiar with that team, their players and their style of play as well as the rest of the league too. Add to that the numerous times I got a chance to watch Germany play in the Euros and Wolrd Cup as well as other tournaments and I was spoilt on German footy. During that long period of my youth I got very little English football. In fact until the late 80′s when a Saturday morning 2 hour highlight package started airing, the only thing we got was the FA Cup Final. I got to see much more of Liverpool and Spurs and to be honest, I was a pretty good fan of Spurs during the Glenn Hoddle, Ozzie Ardiles era. As for Manchester United, not much but I still had my loyalty switch turned up to high despite my lack of exposure to the team.
My love and total devotion and passion for the team really got it’s rebirth in 1992-93 with the formation of the Prem. All of a sudden we got more games on tv in Canada and for whatever reason there seemed to be more United games than other teams. I was exposed to a young Giggs, Schmeichel, Hughes, Robson etc and I just loved the team and the way they played. But I became fanatical when I first saw Cantona wearing red. By that time I was seeing at least 15 games a season but by 1999 I was seeing probably two thirds of a season and nearly all their European games. Over the past three years with the start of Setanta I get to see and record every United game played except the odd Carling Cup tie. So now I am living the dream. Do I love United more than Bayern? Yes but only barely. I still have a passionate love affair with the German club and German football and that will not change. Imagine the feelings I had before the 1999 Euro Final when I knew one of my two loves would win and the other would lose. And how it happened left me numb as I wasn’t quite sure how to react. Perhaps I didn’t show United all the love I wanted on that evening in Barcelona, but I sure made up for it last year in Moscow when I was heard screaming from joy 100 miles away on Vancouver Island.
So there you have it, my history with United. I wished I was closer to experience the team more often for most of my youth and young adult life, but those are the breaks.
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@Traverse: Everybody seems to be eliminating Liverpool while worrying about an injury riddled and one dimensional Chelsea that are over loaded at a few positions but woefully empty at others. Unless the January window improves their lot, I’m starting to believe that Liverpool may be the biggest threat after all. They just aren’t losing like in past years.
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