That’s the opinion I bemoaned when looking at the recent result of three senior English teams playing in the UEFA Champions Cup.
MANCHESTER UNITED vs WOLFSBURG
The build-up was tremendous.
The England manager Fabio Capello was watching and Old Trafford was buzzing seeing its home team - who haven’t been beaten on their turf in the Champions league for four and a half years.
It was raining but that didn’t affect the pace and skill on display, as 6.7millions viewers watched ITV1, including the pub I was at, The innisfree, on Wednesday 30th September.
When Berbatov came on, replacing Michael Owen, on the 24th minute, many in the pub suspected something was affecting Owen; it now turns out a previous groin injury was affecting this pace.
In the 35th minute, the strike by Berbatov was too high to make a goal – united had started slowly but the pace did pick up - thanks to Wolfsburg.
At first, it seemed that both teams didn’t really care about scoring but when Wolfsburg showed their ambition by scoring first blood, well that seemed to jolt the Premier league champions to show some form.
The strong mid-shot by Edin Dzeko on the 56th minute, with his striking partner Grafite, did get the match moving, particularly since the only talking point until then was Michael Owen coming off after 19 minutes, due to a flare up of an old groin injury.
But I can only imagine the excitement of the Manchurians when United equalised, thanks to Ryan Gigg’s free kick three minutes later – which is when I found out from the room next door that Chelsea had scored, thanks to Nicolas Anelka, although the people in that room admitted the game was rather dull.
Then again, the Blues were without the suspended Didier Drogba, so I wasn’t surprised the game, against APOEL Nicosia, wasn’t charismatic.
Back onto Manchester United, the game was now starting to be worth watching, as Wolfsburg and United kept trying to find a way to win this match; neither team wanted to settle with a draw.
The breakthrough came thanks to Manchester’s Michael Carrick. His strike in the 77th minute was stunning; beautifully hit in the left-hand corner - it maintained the Reds’ record.
United’s Wayne Rooney needs a lot of work – his passion won’t score goals - but overall a good game for both United and Chelsea.
A well deserved congratulations to Ryan Giggs, who’s scored 150 goals for the team who spotted his talent when he was still a teenager.
It’s just a shame that hooliganism has reared its ugly head again, as Old Trafford suffered an unnecessary pitch invasion.
Stewards – yes they do work for the privilege of seeing the match free – had to restrain a lone but grotesquely overweight Manchester fan during the first half of the match.
Although he was ejected from the stadium, UEFA will still investigate the matter and come to a decision at the end of this month.
Here's a
link to the innisfree pub.
£££££££
Meanwhile the England football manager, who must have been paying close attention to Michael Owen, has decided to ban the wives and girlfriends of his team from the football World Cup of 2012.
South Africa will miss out on what happened in Baden Baden, Germany – extra revenue at nightclubs, boutiques getting their (or their husband and boyfriends) money but respect must be given to Mr Capello.
When a new manager comes in, they usually want to introduce their style of doing things. This is true of any organisation you’re at; whether it’s working for the food department at IKEA or a new editor at a newspaper.
Unfortunately the lax system under the previous England manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson didn’t do the team any favours, especially since the squad didn’t beat the quarter final hoodoo of failing on penalties.
Everybody should have someone to share their lives with, sportspersons are no exception; having someone by our side does enrich our lives.
But the situation in Baden Baden did get out of hand and this time, even the Football Association - which has had its own fair share of controversy, regarding Miss Farah Alam - has refused to pay for the wives and girlfriends to fly to South Africa.
It’s also clear that Fabio is only giving footballers a place on the team by merit; that alone means we should have a squad that wins things and won’t be coming home early.
£££££££
I’m so pleased the Daily Mirror newspaper has serialised the story of Michael Shields, a Liverpool football fan wrongly jailed in Bulgaria.
Both he and his family went through four years of hell, as Mr Shields was convicted of attempted murder in 2005 in the European country of Bulgaria - for a crime he didn’t commit.
He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It just goes to show how difficult it can be for fans to follow their team in another country, so for all of you who have booked their tickets for South Africa in 2012, I truly wish you well and hope you have a great time.
For more on Michael Shields, click
here.
Until next time, peace.
Light and Love
Andria
X
PS please don’t hesitate to visit my other internet site:
www.andriagreaves.com
