Yes It's Real Madrid

A Mouth Watering Game Awaits

Yes Real Madrid it is. Yesterday draw had paired Man United against Spanish giant of Real Madrid. High profiles match indeed. A game that many people hope to see in the final not in this stage.

So we will see the return of Ronaldo to Old Trafford. The place where people adored and loved him, that made him a living legend. The place that turned him from ordinary to world class player. Since his departure to Madrid in 2009, Ronaldo had becoming much better player. His duel with Messi for the quest of the best player in the world had developed him into mature and wise guy. Though there issues regarding his displeasure in Madrid his focus towards each game he played never shattered. Overall Real Madrid is a great team with great players inside.

Man United sure rely on RVP- Rooney partnership to destroy Madrid. RVP definitely had created a new dimension in Man United attacks. It was more dynamic and lethal. Rooney seemed to enjoy the role of sidekick for RVP while the Dutchman had been scoring for fun.  The only worried is  in a porous defense. The midfield although Scholes and Giggs seemed to fade away, the emergence of Tom Cleverley that clique well with Carrick had given more steady performance.

So both had the finest attacks in Europe with great attacking flair. Madrid is not invincible and Man United have a slight advantage over Madrid in that as group winners they will get to play the second leg at home.

Full last-16 draw

Real Madrid v Manchester United

Arsenal v Bayern Munich

Celtic v Juventus

Milan v Barcelona

Shakhtar Donetsk v Borussia Dortmund

Valencia v Paris Saint-Germain

Galatasaray v Schalke

Porto v Málaga

First legs to be played 12/13/19/20 February 2013

Second legs to be played 5/6/12/13 March 2013

The 2013 final takes place at the new Wembley on Saturday 25 May.

Will He Leave Man United

Manchester United Attract Interest For Javier Hernandez

19 December 2012

http://www.express.co.uk?

MANCHESTER UNITED may have to fend off Barcelona for Javier Hernandez in the January transfer window.

Barcelona have emerged as a target for Hernandez, who has found first-team opportunities hard to come by this season at Old Trafford.

Hernandez, who is known affectionately as ‘Little Pea’, has been unable to get regular football for United as Robin van Persie has been scoring goals for fun this campaign.

Couple with that, Hernandez has tended to perform better coming off the bench, with his double last month away at Aston Villa a point in proof.

Spanish football site fichajes.net has it that Barca coach Tito Vilanova needs cover for David Villa who is destined to leave the Camp Nou.

They also claim that Barca are willing to offer £15m to take Hernandez away from Old Trafford.

United bought Hernandez for £6m in 2010.

UCL Knock Out Stage Draw

Man United Could Face Real Madrid

Now it’s time for more heart beating time, time for the UCL knockout stage. The draw will be conducted at FIFA place in Switzerland. However this time there will be no live telecast, but it can be watched online at UEFA.com anywhere in the world. Starting at 10:30 a.m. in the U.K. and 11:30 a.m. local time in Switzerland. So for Malaysia viewers it should be about  6.30 pm today.

So this time , only two English club managed to go through. With AC Milan and Real Madrid as the runner ups, both could be the potential opponents for Man United. AC Milan is having no so good season at Serie A same to Real Madrid, however the Spanish giant still a formidable team. They could halt Man United progress. Furthermore UCL is a different ball game with Real Madrid chance to qualify next season UCL automatically now depend if they could win this cup.

After been ruled out games against Arsenal and Galatasaray, others potential games were against Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Valencia and Celtic. All are very good teams but Man United should be the favourite to advance if Man United were to meet them.

I hope Bayern will meet Real Madrid and that would be something.

Group	Winners	Runners Up
A	Paris St Germain	FC Porto
B	Schalke 04	Arsenal
C	Malaga	AC Milan
D	Borussia Dortmund	Real Madrid
E	Juventus	Shakhtar Donetsk
F	Bayern Munich	Valencia
G	Barcelona	Celctic
H	Manchester United	Galatasaray

Man United 3-1 Sunderland

Easy Win But No Clean Sheet
Man United 3-1 Sunderland
Old Trafford 15 December 2012

It was relatively an easy win for Man United who could easily scored at least four goals at the first half with Rooney wasted two chances. Robin Van Persie scored his 12th league goal of the season for Man United first.Then Tom Cleverley scored his first goal at Old Trafford. It was a beautifully crafted goal with great skill to execute. Then RVP striker partner Wayne Rooney scored just before an hour mark to make it 3-0.  Man United ex player Frazier Campbell scored in 72th minutes to give to scoreline 3-1 until the end of game.

In first half Man United really gave Sunderland a football lesson. The Devils were no match against the visitor  in all department. It was lucky for Sunderland as Man United could only managed two goals. They should grateful to their goalkeeper performance that kept the scoreline low.

At the second half also showed the supremacy of the host. They passing the ball confidently and smoothly. Pressing hard on the opponents. But somehow reducing it in the final 20 minutes. And it was sad that Man United could keep the clean sheet when Campbell scored.

After all it was much better performance by the Devils. Cleverley clearly wanted the midfield position to be his permanently. Rooney had gained his finishing touch again. Now he had scored five goals in four games.  If RVP- Rooney partnership continued to score, it surely benefited Man United.

Man United will travel to Swansea before Christmas and at home for Newcastle match for the remaining games in 2012. Surely Man United will lead the league entering the year. 

Fergie Wants Moyes

Sir Alex Ferguson Tips David Moyes As His Manchester United Successor

16 December 2012

http://www.express.co.uk?

SIR ALEX FERGUSON is backing David Moyes as the preferred choice for his successor at Old Trafford – even though Pep Guardiola wants the job.

Sir Alex feels Everton manager Moyes is better suited at guiding Manchester United in the long term. And the Scot feels current Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho should be considered ahead of Guardiola.

Former Barcelona coach Guardiola is eyeing up the Reds as his next job once Fergie retires. The pair are even understood to be meeting this weekend in New York.

Fergie, who turns 71 at the end of the month, has made it clear to both United chief executive David Gill and the Glazers – the club’s American owners – that he backs Moyes.

The Scot admires the former Barca man but feels his close friend Moyes, 49, offers a better understanding of English football’s demands.

A source close to one of the United senior players revealed: “The talk about Manchester United appointing Guardiola is a little premature.

“He actually has two preferred choices – David Moyes and Jose Mourinho.

“Moyes and Fergie are close and Fergie begrudgingly admires how Moyes has ‘outfoxed’ him and many other teams over the years.

“Fergie admires Jose greatly but there are concerns that Jose’s manner and media links could make him become bigger than the club.”

David Moyes, a Scottish like Sir Alex Ferguson thus made them had mutual respect for each other. Moyes became manager of Everton in March 2002. Rumoured as a possible assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United before the appointment of Steve McClaren in 2002. So now he is already reached his tenth anniversary at the club. And he is the third-longest serving manager in the Premier League and the English football league system as a whole, behind Ferguson and Wenger.

However what made his is so popular were his achievements at Everton, despite operating with a limited budget. When he came in 2002 Everton was battling against the relegation. The season ended with Everton successfully stayed at The Premier League.

Under him also saw the emerged of England sensational, Wayne Rooney, who was still a teenager under his guidance.  Rooney who famous to score a goal that defeat the invincible Arsenal in October 2002. His goal ended Arsenal's 30-match unbeaten run. The goal came five days short of his 17th birthday, made him the youngest Premier League scorer at the time.

Rooney was not the only one. Under Moyes Everton kept producing very talented young player. Included in the list were Gary Naysmith, Leon Osman, Tony Hibbert, Ross Barkley and Jack Rodwell (just to mention a fews). He also have the niche to turn unknowns becoming big names. He signed Tim Cahill in 2004, Thomas Gravesen, Mikel Arteta, Stephen Pieenar, Leighton Baines and now the most sought after Marouane Fellaini.

Well if he was given a club like Man United, I believed he will be successful by far. He is tough but his man management might equal Sir Alex. He could bring more success to Man United.

And FIFA Said..There Was No Official Record

FIFA Refuses To Recognize Messi as Record Holder for Most Goals in a Year   

14 December 2012

http://bleacherreport.com

Anticipation built over the past few months as Barcelona and Argentina superstar Lionel Messi neared Gerd Muller's 1972 mark of 85 goals in a calendar year.

When the little man finally broke the record, scoring his 86th goal on Dec. 9, the football community was left in awe of the accomplishment, knowing they had seen something that had never happened before.

Over the past few days, though, that last part has been called into question.

First, the Football Association of Zambia claimed that legend Godfrey Chitalu scored 107 goals in 1972, a number that eclipses Messi's own mark.

Then, Brazilian club Flamengo came forth with a claim that striker Zico scored 89 goals throughout 1979, a number that is higher than Messi's (though the Argentine can still pass it).

Finally, a movement has begun to have Pele recognized as the record holder for his 127 goals in 1959, a number supported by FIFA in its biography of the Brazilian great.

With all of these claims to the record, FIFA, football's world governing body, addressed the situation on Friday: They do not recognize the record, at all.

In an interview with BBC Sport, FIFA spokesman Alex Stone said:

It's not an official Fifa record.

We don't have a database which details every football game played in every country from around the world since day one of their formation.

It's certainly nothing to do with bias—if we can confirm records from our tournaments we like doing that.

It's the sort of data fans and the media like to see.

It's a record where someone in the media obviously collected statistics from somewhere and noticed Messi was about to pass that record.

To sum up, the record that Messi apparently broke was by no means an official record. Hence, neither Messi nor Chitalu nor Zico nor Pele will be officially recognized as the holder.

Further, whatever person or group of persons that compiled the data for the record obviously disregarded many leagues; otherwise, the claims of Chitalu and Zico would have arisen sooner. I mean, who knows how many more claims might come forth over the next few weeks?

With so many football leagues all over the world and seasons of statistics to compile, maybe this statistic is just not meant to be kept.

It's Muller, Not Its Zico, No It's Messi..It's Godfrey..Who

LIONEL MESSI SET TO BE STRIPPED OF GOAL RECORD

13 December 2012

http://www.express.co.uk

LIONEL MESSI may have his goal-scoring record stripped from him just days after breaking it – thanks to a player from Zambia.

The Zambian Football Association have said they will provide evidence to FIFA that Kabwe Warriors striker Godfrey Chitalu scored 107 goals in 1972.

Messi’s two goals at Real Betis on Sunday overtook Gerd Muller’s official 40-year-old record of 85 for a calendar year. Messi then took his tally to 88 with two against Cordoba last night but a Zambian spokesman said: “We have this record. We have commissioned an independent team locally to go back into the archives and record minute by minute each of those goals.

“We will then send that to CAF [Confederation of African Football] and FIFA so that we can show that, while Messi’s record is there, while Muller’s record is there, the actual record holder in terms of goals per calendar year is an African. It’s actually Godfrey Chitalu.” - 

From Wikipedia

Godfrey Chitalu (22 October 1947 in Luanshya, Northern Rhodesia – 27 April 1993 in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Gabon) was a Zambian footballer who is widely regarded as the greatest Zambian player ever as he holds his national team scoring record and was voted Zambian footballer of the year five times. As well, he was selected by CAF as one of the best 200 African footballers of the past 50 years in 2006.

He is also famous for holding a record of 107 goals scored in the season 1972. However, Zambian researchers found out they were actually 116 throughout the calendar year. This includes 15 goals in CAF competitions, 91 goals in FAZ tournaments, 5 goals in friendly games, 3 goals in the NFL Trophy and 2 goals in the NFL Benevolent Fund Match. The research was presented in the year 2012 after Lionel Messi broke the alleged world record of Gerd Müller. Nevertheless, a FIFA spokesman declared that an official FIFA world record had never existed as they did not keep track of domestic competitions.

Upon retirement, Chitalu took to coaching and was in charge of the Zambia national team when the entire squad perished in a plane crash off the coast of Gabon on 27 April 1993.

Man City 2-3 Man United

Van Persie Late Strike Win The Game

In any derby games there was no love lost. And last weekend the 164th Manchester derby, played at Etihad Stadium on 9 December 2012, proved that. Before the game the red half of Manchester was leading the league with three points ahead of Manchester City. The Citizens who just been dumped from European action with miserable results, needs to win in front of their home crowd to heal the wound. It was need to win game for both, with City was more desperate. The possible of six point lead by Man United was not acceptable for the champion.

So it was no surprise  at least for the first 15 minutes Man City was much better team. They controlled the ball and the game however creating none clear chances. However against run of play Man United scored. It was classic Man United counter attack. From the left flank De Gea released the ball to Evra. Man United fullback then dispatched the ball to Van Persie who chest the ball beautifully to Young. Then the Man United winger surged forward toward Man City goal. Rooney was there to collect Young square pass. Despite being followed by three defenders Rooney coolly ran with ball. Suddenly he made a relatively weak reverse shot that nicely went to back of net with Man City keeper, John Hart rooted.

Then in the 29^th minutes Rooney strike again. This time from the right flank. After broke Man City attack, the ball fell to Rooney who then passed the ball to Carrick. The England midfielder sent the ball wide to Valencia. In the same time Rafael made an overlapping ran on the line. Valencia quickly passed the ball to on the run Rafael who surged toward unguarded space. The Brazilian then dispatched perfect ball toward Rooney. Nobody was tracking down Rooney so he had a lot time and space to make a shot. And this time it was more clinical finish from Rooney's right boot.

Though Man City was better team in the first half and dominating the game, they creating no clear chances so Man United was deservedly lead the game with 0-2.

In the second half Man United almost nailed the game when Van Persie shot hit the bar. The rebound was quickly taken by Young who tapped the ball into empty net. However Young goal was incorrectly ruled out for offside. And seconds after that Yaya Toure scored. It game on. The goal surely galvanized Man City to find the equalizer. Then came the equalizer and they must thought that they had secured a dramatic draw thanks to Pablo Zabaleta's 86th-minute strike - but Van Persie stepped up in added time to swing in a 25-yard free-kick that clipped Samir Nasri's outstretched leg and nestled in the far corner to clinch all three points. Sure a heartbreak for Man City. After been kick out from the Europe, lost to Man United was not something that Man City wants. This was showed by the way their fans acted. Purely frustration.  Still they had FA Cup and League Title to win. But as the champion of England their Europe performance was awful.

As of 9 December 2012, there have been 164 competitive meetings between the teams. United have won 69 and City 45, the remaining 50 games finishing as draws. 

Aff Suzuki 2012: 1st Semi Malaysia 1-1 Thai

Thai snatched a vital away goal

It was game to remember by Malaysian and the players. Harimau Malaya took on Changsuk  at Stadium Bukit Jalil last night (9 December 2012 @ 8pm) in the first leg of AFF Suzuki 2012 semi final. Though Harimau Malaya had showed their improvement in this tournament but against the Thai it was a different ball game. The Thai is red hot favourite for this year campaign. They were solid at the back and ruthless in front.

But Harimau Malaya obviously had prepared for this massive game. Backed by almost 80,000 people in the stadium, our national team was upbeat. Both team quickly on the attack. Although the visitor first to create chances it was Malaysia seemed to dominate the game in the first half. Without Safee Sali, Mat Yo was the lone the striker but he was never a letdown throughout the game.  His skill and physical strength times and times created trouble to the Thais. Safiq the skipper was pushed a little forward to support Mat Yo.

Malaysia created more chances while The Thais could hardly find their rhythm. Solid defense by Aidil and Co left the Thais with frustration.

In what was arguably the tournament's best game so far, Mat Yo opened the scoring in the 48th minute when he glanced a header into the bottom corner, after great work down the right by Mahalli Jasuli. However, the Changsuk hit back 11 minutes from time when Piyaphon Buntao's excellent cross was powered home by Teerasil Dangda.

It was sad that Harimau Malaya could not hold on until the final whistle. Thais are surely happy with the vital away goal that made Malaysia task in Bangkok really difficult. All not lost yet as there are still 90 minutes left. Go and Get Them Tiger.

Man United December Fixtures

2 December 2012
Reading	3-4	Man United
6 December 2012
Man United	CFR Cluj	03.45 Thursday
9 December 2012
Man City	Man United	21.30 Sunday
15 December 2012
Man United	Sunderland	23.00 Saturday
23 December 2012
Swansea	Man Utd	21.30 Sunday
26 December 2012
Man Utd	Newcastle	23.00 Wednesday
29 December 2012
Man Utd	West Bromwich	23.00 Saturday

Man United November Results

3 November 2012
Man United	2-1	Arsenal
8 November 2012
Sporting Braga	1-3	Man United
11 November 2012
Aston Villa	2-3	Man United
18 November 2012
Norwich City	1-0	Man United
21 November 2012
Galatasaray	1-0	Man Utd
24 November 2012
Man Utd	3-1	Queens Park Rangers
29 November 2012
Man Utd	1-0	West Ham United

AFF Suzuki 2012: Harimau Malaya Through To Semi

Harimau Malaya Beat Garuda 2-0

The Tigers delivered when it matter most. After barrage of criticism especially on the first game against Singapore, Harimau Malaya proved that they still have it. In the scintillating game, showered by December rain, they gave superb performance to see off the Indonesian.

It was a must win game or face the humiliation, worse the wrath of Malaysian. Before the game Harimau Malaya already lost a speedy winger in K Gunalan. Not so good news as K Gunalan was having a good tournament tormenting the opponents from the left flank. In was Azimuddin Akil who be recalled as Zaquan Adha bowed out due to injury.

However it was Indonesia that settled down first in slippery condition. Malaysia had a nervy start as Indonesia pummeled relentless seeking an early goal. In the first 10 minutes Indonesia had more control of the ball while Malaysia made the chasing. Malaysian defense had to work hard to deny Indonesian speedy forwards. Aidil especially made numbers vital tackles and also Farizal the keeper made a few decent saves. It was Indonesia looked comfortable with the ball while Malaysia ball control and possession were awful.

As when the game progress Malaysia finally settled down. They played in their own game as the game plan drafted by Raja Gopal. Not following Indonesia rhythm Malaysia cooled down with possession football at midfield then quick to attack.

Suddenly Malaysia scored.  In the 20^th minutes, Mahali Jasuli, the leftback, send a perfect cross that met with Azamudin at far post. His first timer hit at the back of the net. Then three minutes later it was Mahali’s turn to get on the score sheet when he burst into the Indonesian penalty box to score from a tight angle to double Malaysia’s lead. It was made happen by the skillfully Wan Zack who made the assist.

Indonesia answered by bringing their Lionel Messi, Andik. He surely had the trickery to beat Malaysian’s player however his poor finishing made Malaysia relieved.

Malaysia picked up from where they left in the second half and continued with their very discipline game. So in the defense. They stood stoutly to stop the Indonesia. Though Indonesia kept press forward, they created no clear chances, while Malaysia had a few chances to kill the game. Final whistle it was Malaysia 2-0 Indonesia.

It was a great game indeed. Malaysia will take the Thais in the semi. With the first round of the leg will be held in Bukit Jalil, Harimau Malaysia must make all chances count. Thai is much better team, may be the best in this tournament. But a good team does not guarantee a title. There is always chance for Harimau Malaya. Just don’t write off their chance yet. There will be 180 minutes of battle, so Malaysia fans and the Ultras keep your support to the team.

WE ARE TEAM MALAYSIA