Man Utd retain Community Shield Man Utd retain Community Shield

After a pleasing pre-season, players have now gone back to busine s, with the new Premiership season fast approaching. The first competitive match for the amazing club from Manchester was played today, Sunday 10th August, exactly one week before the Premier League opener against Newcastle. Their opponents were last seasons FA Cup winners, Portsmouth, which beat Man Utd on their way to clinching the 2007/08 FA Cup trophy.Many were predicting Josh Reaves Jersey a difficult match for the Red Devils, with the absence of Rooney, Ronaldo and Anderson being the main reason behind this. Also, the need for a striker to partner the existing strikeforce lacked firepower for Man Utd up front. Gary Neville started the match with the captains DeAndre Jordan Jersey armband, with this match being his first start in 17 months after he was hit by an injury that put him out of most of last seasons games. Van der Sar kept the number 1 jersey and looks set to do so for most of the coming campaign. The other players were Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Fletcher, OShea, Scholes, Giggs, Nani and Tevez.Brown (for Neville 66), Carrick (for OShea 66) and Campbell (for Nani 78) came on from the substitute bench. However, none of them could get the much-awaited first goal of the season at the Wembley. The match went goalle s for the 93 minutes played, and a shootout was required to decide the winner. Portsmouth went first, but Diarra wasted his chance by shooting over the bar. This Trey Burke Jersey gave Man Utd the advantage, as they went on to score all their penalties. Van der Sar saved Mvuembas shot, and Glen Johnson shot the fourth penalty wide, to give Man Utd a clear victory in the shootout. It was the second competitive shootout victory in a row, after the Red Devils defeated Chelsea in Moscow last May. youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhdR0WKkgmQ Ferguson has promised to bring in a new striker by next Sunday to cover the clubs striker worries. Although Rooney is expected to return for the Premiership start Nate Hinton Jersey , one cannot expect him to be on top of his form. Saha continues to recover more than play football, but Jason Kidd Jersey Ferguson wants to keep him. Campbell may become a good striker for the club if given the chance, but expecting too much from the young lad would ruin his career. Tevez is apparently the only real striker for Man Utd for the Newcastle encounter and the following early matches of the league.RATINGS FOR COMMUNITY SHIELD (out of 10)Van der Sar: 6Neville: 6Evra: 7Ferdinand: 6Vidic: 6Fletcher: 6OShea: 6Nani: 6Scholes: 6Giggs: 6Tevez: 8 (Best Player)Substitutes:Brown: 5Carrick: 6Campbell: 6
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