Manchester United News

Today the red half of Manchester is on the mind, seeing how the Devils played an excruciating Champion’s League match last night. I watched it on ESPN, but my wife (an indifferent fan of football at best) summed up the match better than I ever could by falling asleep at halftime. A fairly lucky Rooney blast was the difference (coming only moments after a gorgeous Christiano Ronaldo backheel goal that was ruled offside) and of course they will gladly take the three points. But is Manchester turning into Chelsea? Ugh.

More bad news for Manchester yesterday included the report that Owen Hargreaves will be out for at least another month as his knee continues to trouble him. (Obviously making him unavailable for England as well.) Hargreaves Owen-like ability to stay healthy might make United rue the day they purchased him; especially with Nani, Anderson, and even Carlos Tevez providing indifferent results after a very expensive off-season.

Who’s the Best?

Below find a link to (big surprise) Phil Ball’s latest Spanish roundup. Good stuff in there, but also interesting because Phil looks at the ever-changing question of whom is the best in the world. Ball suggests that it might be Barca’s Leo Messi, who has certainly played like it lately.

What we all know for sure, however, is that the title of anointed one changes all the time. Kaka will probably win this year’s player-of-the-year awards, and he is, without question, a deserving candidate. He was also named the best player in the world by FourFourTwo magazine. Christiano Ronaldo, however, was “the best player in the world” last spring, and Ronaldiho was “the guy” just a little over a year ago. Last year also, don’t forget, Fabio Cannavero was world player of the year. This year’s European season is only a few weeks old but it already looks like Leo Messi and Cesc Fabregas must now be considered in any argument about the best players in the world.

In other words, the game right now lacks a truly clear-cut number one. Which is probably good for the game, and good for debate.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=468523&root=europe&cc=5901&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1

Weekend Matches: September 15-16

Happily, club football is back on the field and back on the air. No more of this international nonsense. For me the pick of the litter this weekend is Sienna v. Milan, but that is purely for personal reasons. (Believe it or not, I am wearing a Sienna shirt right now. In fact, I kind of wish I was relaxing in the beautiful piazza of Sienna right now, but I digress.) Bayern v. Schalke should also be a good game, as should the Sevilla game, particularly for the chance to see if Dani Alves is as good on TV as he is live. The best English option this weekend is probably Spurs v. Gunners, but even that doesn’t get me very excited. Manchester United gets Christiano Ronaldo this week, so their attacking potency should increase.

I will be back later with a book review. Enjoy the games this weekend.



Saturday

7:00am Everton vs Manchester United Setanta Sports

8:30am Tottenham vs Arsenal FSC

9:30am, Bayern Munich vs Schalke 04 GolTv

10:30am West Ham vs Middlesborough FSC

12:00pm Chelsea vs Blackburn FSC

2:30pm Lazio vs Empoli FSC

4:30pm Sienna vs Milan FSC



Sunday

9:00am Juventus vs Udinese FSC

11:00am Murcia vs Atl. Madrid GolTv

1:00pm Sevilla vs Recreativo GolTv