Lassana Diarra of France poses during his official presentation for Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Monday Dec. 22, 2008. Diarra signed a 4 1/2-year contract after Madrid reportedly paid Premier League club Portsmouth in the region of 20 million euros ($28 million) for the 23-year-old France midfielder.
The year 2008 has certainly been one to remember for Manchester United Football Club. Champions of England, champions of Europe and now champions of the world due to their 1-0 victory over Liga de Quito in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup.
They did it the hard way. Completely dominating possession and play in the first half, United were in control of the game. That was until Nemanja Vidic elbowed Claudio Bieler in the face – and the Red Devil ended up seeing red. However, despite their numerical disadvantage, United still tried to play positively rather than try and close the game out and rely on the lottery of a penalty shoot-out, which saw them qualify for the competition after defeating Chelsea on spot-kicks in Moscow seven months ago.
Inspired by the prompting of Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, Sir Alex Ferguson’s side were rewarded Rooney, the adidas Golden Ball winner fired past the outstanding Jose Cevallos in the 73rd minute, which proved to be enough. Yet the English side were forced to rely on the heroics of Edwin van der Sar who pulled off two world-class saves to frustrate Alejandro Manso, who claimed the adidas Bronze Ball.
FIFA Club World CUp 2008 Final standings/Participants
1st – Manchester United (ENG)
2nd – Liga de Quito (ECU)
3rd – Gamba Osaka (JPN)
4th – Pachuca C.F. (MEX)
5th – Adelaide United FC (AUS)
6th – Al Ahly (EGY)
7th – Waitakere United (NZL)
Top scorers
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) 3 goals; Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka), Masato Yamazaki (Gamba Osaka) and Christian Gimenez (Pachuca) 2; Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) 1 – along with 12 others.
Manchester United hit three goals in a five-minute period to overpower Japanese and AFC champions Gamba Osaka 5-3 in their Club World Cup semi-final on Thursday.
Substitute Wayne Rooney scored twice moments after coming on after Masato Yamazaki had pulled the score back to 2-1 with a sharp finish in the 74th minute.
Darren Fletcher also got on the scoresheet after being brought off the bench as the game exploded into life after Nemanja Vidic and Cristiano Ronaldo had scored with first-half headers.
The European champions, favourites to become the first British team to win the seven-team FIFA tournament, will face Ecuador’s LDU in Sunday’s final in Yokohama.
Yasuhito Endo pulled a goal back from the penalty spot for J-League side Gamba before Hideo Hashimoto smashed his side’s third, the sixth goal in 17 crazy second-half minutes.
Ronaldo mesmerised the crowd of 67,000 with some dazzling but often ineffective footskills and was overshadowed by Rooney.
The England striker scored with his first touch after coming on in the 74th minute and tucked away a superb through ball from Ryan Giggs five minutes later.
Scorers:
Gamba Osaka: Masato Yamazaki 74, Yasuhito Endo 85pen, Hideo Hashimoto 90+1
Manchester United: Nemanja Vidic 28, Cristiano Ronaldo 45, Wayne Rooney 75, 79, Darren Fletcher 78
Halftime: 0-2
Referee: Benito Archundia (Mexico)
Russian powerhouse CSKA Moscow and Reebok have announced a long-term kit deal that runs until 2013. Under the agreement, which starts on 1 January 2009, Reebok becomes the official supplier of football kits and match balls to CSKA Moscow.
As part of the press conference the new home and away 09/10 kits for the club were unveiled. For the home kit, the traditional “army ” colours have been selected – red shirt with blue inserts and blue shortss, while the away kit is white with red and blue details. Reebok has also prepared a backup set which is black.
Ecuador’s Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito (or LDU for us simpletons) beat Mexican powehouse Pachuca 2-0 in pouring rain on Wednesday to reach the Club World Cup final and set up a potential showdown with Manchester United.
Argentine forward Claudio Bieler gave the Copa Libertadores champions the lead in the fourth minute, pouncing on a ricochet to score after his initial effort had been blocked.
Midfielder Luis Bolanos added a second goal for Quito-based LDU with a curling free kick in the 26th minute after a disputed handball decision on the edge of the penalty box.
Pachuca will now play the loser of tomorrow’s Manchester United / Gamba Osaka semi-final for 3rd place in the tournament.
