Manchester United Win Community Shield
Portsmouth Defeated on Penalties at Wembley
Manchester United won the Community Shield at Wembley after a penalty shoot-out. The traditional game to open the season between the Premier League champions, Manchester United, and the F.A.Cup winners, Portsmouth finished goalless after ninety minutes and was decided by penalties.
Injury Problems for United
United dominated the match with Carlos Tevez the ‘Man of the Match’ but they were unable to take advantage of their superiority and win the match in normal time. Manchester United were without two of their star strikers, Cristiano Ronaldo who is recovering from an operation on an ankle injury, and Wayne Rooney who is suffering from a virus, thus explaining their lack of fire power. However, Sir Alex Ferguson was able to welcome back is captain, Gary Neville, from long-term injury and he replaced Wes Brown at fullback.
Portsmouth NewStrike Partnership
Harry Redknapp, the Portsmouth manager, changed from his preferred tactics of five in midfield supporting a lone striker to enable him to play his two strikers, Peter Crouch signed from Liverpool during the summer and Jermain Defoe who joined from Tottenham Hotspur in the January transfer period.
United's Dominance
The match was a story of missed chances by United as Portsmouth held them off in whatever way they could. David James for Portsmouth was the busier goalkeeper and his team were grateful to him and to the benevolence of the United forwards who fluffed so many chances as they remained in the game.
Penalty Shoot-out
The penalty shoot-out to determine the winners started badly for Portsmouth when Lassana Diarra hit the first penalty over the bar without troubling Edwin Van der Saar in the Manchester United goal. As he did in the Champions League Final against Chelsea in Moscow last May, Carlos Tevez stepped up and coolly put away the first penalty for United. Jermain Defoe scored the next penalty for Portsmouth and although the goalkeeper got his hand to it, the shot was hit too powerfully. Ryan Giggs then put United back into the lead which became more secure when Arnold Mvuemba’s penalty was saved. Michael Carrick was successful with United’s third penalty and victory was secured when Glen Johnson missed Portsmouth’s fourth penalty attempt.
The match referee was Peter Walton who was a late replacement for Mark Clattenberg who had to step down due to financial problems for some business concerns with which he is connected. The official attendance at Wembley was 84,808.
New Season
Having retained the Community Shield, defeating Chelsea on penalties in last season's game, Manchester United will be pleased to have started the season by collecting a piece of silverware but their lack of power in front of goal will have further strengthened Sir Alex Ferguson’s desire to sign a goal scoring striker before their opening Premier League fixture against Newcastle United at Old Trafford next weekend. Dimitar Berbatov, the Tottenham Hotspur and Bulgaria striker, has been at the top of his list all summer and he may increase his efforts to secure the players transfer during the coming week.
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