Summer World Series

[themanwho]

gestern fand das erste spiel statt:

Chelsea 4 Celtic 2

An outstanding Alexei Smertin goal and two second-half Mateja Kezman strikes lit up Chelsea’s impressive victory over the Scottish champions in Seattle.

The general temperature in Seattle was 88 degrees at kick-off, and the game started slowly. Chris Sutton showed good movement early on, but not as good as Adrian Mutu who raced behind Celtic’s defence on to an excellent Gérémi chip, but he was thwarted by goalkeeper Magnus Hedman as he tried to slip the ball under him.

At the other end Carlo Cudicini got sucked out to a long Ross Wallace cross and finished up trying to head the ball on the edge of his area from Craig Beattie who flicked it over him. Fortunately John Terry had read the situation, ducked out of Cudicini’s jump and ran round behind to clean up.

Mutu put in a couple of good crosses and looked like the Mutu of old, but it was Joe Cole who penetrated next, stealing the ball and darting through the middle before just overhitting his pass for Eidur Gudjohnsen.

Chelsea played a 4-3-1-2 formation rather than a diamond with Gérémi on the right looking strong in his natural position, Smertin in the middle and Scott Parker on the left.

Wallace sent in a stream of good crosses, and in the 14th minute Terry stretched wonderfully to divert his header away from Sutton.

Smertin, who shone at Oxford in the first friendly, put Chelsea ahead two minutes later with a spectacular goal. He ran 30 metres with the ball, played it square to his right, got it back, ran square to his left across Joos Valgaeren and blasted a 25 metres left-footer past Hedman into the top corner.

He didn’t score at Oxford, he didn’t score in his year at Portsmouth, he hasn’t scored in 42 internationals for Russia, but he’s looking the find of the summer.

Smertin continued to defend superbly in midfield, and Terry belied his lack of training with his interceptions, but Celtic equalised in the 27th minute when Sutton flicked on Mohamed Sylla’s pass for Beattie to get beyond Robert Huth and slide a shot low across Cudicini. The goalkeeper got a good hand to the ball but just couldn’t turn it beyond the post and it crept in agonisingly slowly.

Ten minutes before half-time, Cole made a penetrating right-wing run from Cudicini’s sharp throw following a fine catch, and skinned Stephen McManus who tried to trip him and failed, pulled the ball back well and Valgaeren cleared desperately from Eidur Gudjohnsen.

Mutu took the corner and Huth’s powerful header was brilliantly headed off the line by Wallace.

But at the other end Didier Agathe got behind Mutu with a powerful run and crossed dangerously, Sutton flicked for goal and Huth blocked well for a corner.

Both sides made half-time substitutions, and lined up as follows for the second-half. Chelsea: Cech; Gérémi, Johnson, Huth, Babayaro; Smertin, Makelele, Lampard ©; Gudjohnsen, Kezman, Robben. Celtic switched to 3-5-2: Hedman; MacNamara, Balde, Laursen; Petrov, Sutton, Lennon, Pearson, Wallace; Hartson, Beattie.

Arjen Robben made an immediate impact. He raced inside Jackie MacNamara and pulled a low ball back for Gudjohnsen to choose his spot from 15 metres, smashing the ball inside Hedman. Two-one.

At the other end Chelsea survived John Hartson’s diving header from Stilian Petrov’s well struck cross, Glen Johnson getting a crucial deflection. Despite the heat the game remained very open.

Celtic opened up beyond belief when Gudjohnsen found space on the left from Robben’s chip upfield and set Mateja Kezman free to place the third goal past Hedman. Fifty-eight minutes gone.

Two minutes later Gudjohnsen and Robben combined again to put Kezman away, and when Hedman blocked his run past him the ball bounced back off Kezman and went only just wide.

Celtic made a triple substitution with 25 minutes left: McGeady for Petrov, Fernandez for Lennon and Petta for Wallace. Almost immediately Stephen Pearson hit a 25 metres right-footer which Petr Cech athletically turned over, but from Bobby Petta’s resulting right-sided corner Beattie headed in. Three-two.

Chelsea began to look tired, and José Mourinho sent on Paulo Ferreira for his first Chelsea action at right-back, pushing Gérémi up the right and taking off Gudjohnsen.

As at Manchester United at the end of last season Johnson looked very comfortable at centre-back, and with five minutes remaining won the ball, raced through the middle, fed the cleverly sprinting Kezman who finished confidently past Hedman to seal the victory.

It made it an extremely impressive afternoon for Mourinho’s side.

------------

heute wird das ganze fortgesetzt mit manU vs bayern, um 22:00 live auf DSF!

[Cristiano Ronaldo]

Ich freu mich schon wahnsinnig auf das Match und bin sehr neugierig wie sich die Neuen so anstellen.

Hoffentlich wird die diesjährige Vorbereitung genauso erfolgreich wie die letzte, da haben wir ja Barca, Juve und Celtic regelrecht niedergeführt.

[Cristiano Ronaldo]

Sir Alex Ferguson's squad is down to the bare bones ahead of United's USA Tour opener against Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich on Sunday.

Euro 2004, the Copa America, injuries and suspensions have enforced the absence of the vast majority of Fergie's first-team squad, ensuring that youth looks set to be given its chance on the big stage.

Sir Alex has already hinted at starts for Phil Bardsley and Jonathon Spector, while the likes of Paul McShane and Chris Eagles may also see substantial action during the tour.

Bojan Djordic and Luke Chadwick both find themselves in the squad after loan seasons at Red Star Belgrade and Burnley respectively, and will be pushing to show what they have learned in their time away from Manchester.

Alan Smith looks assured of making his debut upfront for the Reds, as he is only one of three recognised forwards in the squad - Ryan Giggs and David Bellion are the others.

Sunday's clash will be United's first meeting with Bayern under the helmsmanship of their new boss Felix Magath, who faced United in last season's Champions League as Stuttgart boss.

The Bundesliga giants have injury worries of their own as they prepare for the tour, as rising star Sebastian Schweinsteiger and striker Claudio Pizzaro recover from a knee injury and a fractured skull respectively.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ManUtd wird die Begegnungen mit B-Besetzung absolvieren - was ich aber gar nicht mal schlecht finde.

Es sind einige wirklich sehr interessante junge Spieler im Kader auf die ich mich echt freue.

Zum Beispiel auf Bardsley, Spector und McShane, die in der MU - Reserve in der Verteidigung schon oft auf sich aufmerksam gemacht haben und auf Eagles (auf den am meisten!), Djordic (war vor 2-3 Jahren mal Jugendspieler des Jahres bei MU und ist nachher auf einmal von der Bildfläche verschwunden, hatte echt nicht gewusst das er nur ausgeliehen ist) und auf Chadwick, der schon ja vor einigen Jahren schon einige Einsätze im ersten Team hatte (kann mich erinnern wie er der Sturm Graz - Verteidigung um die Ohren gelaufen ist in der Champ. League vor 2-3 (?) Jahren.

Hier der Kader von MU für das Turnier:

Goalkeepers:

Tim Howard, Roy Carroll, Ricardo

Defenders:

Wes Brown, Jonathon Spector, Phil Bardsley, Rio Ferdinand, John O'Shea, Paul McShane

Midfielders

Roy Keane, Chris Eagles, Kieran Richardson, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Nicky Butt, Luke Chadwick, Bojan Djordjic

Forwards

Alan Smith, Ryan Giggs, David Bellion.

Players joining the squad in Chicago: Phil Neville, Gary Neville.

Players joining the squad in New York: Gabriel Heinze, Kleberson, Diego Forlan

Giggs und O'Shea werden für das erste Spiel gegen die Bayern ausfallen wegen kleiner Verletzungen

So würde ich aufstellen:

Bellion - Smith

Richardson - Keane - Butt - Chadwick

McShane - Ferdinand - Brown - Bardsley

Howard

[themanwho]

O'Shea statt McShane, dann bin ich auch zufrieden. hab gar nicht gewusst, dass manU heute ohne soviele stars (van nistelrooy, scholes, saha,.........) antritt. bayern spielt heute, wie ich bereits auf DSF gehört habe, mit top-mannschaft (inkl. ballack und kahn).

[Pinturicchio]

Also, muss sagen, das Auftaktspiel war alles andere als schlecht.

[themanwho]

Also, muss sagen, das Auftaktspiel war alles andere als schlecht.

extrem hohes tempo bei temperaturen über 30C°, dazu sechs tore verteilt auf zwei klasse mannschaften - fussballherz was willst du mehr

[goleador2000]

New boy Cisse scores twice as Liverpool hammer Celtic

NEW YORK, July 26 (Reuters) - New signing Djibril Cisse scored twice as Liverpool hammered Celtic 5-1 in the Champions World Series in Hartford on Monday.

Celtic, playing their second match in three days, offered little resistance at Connecticut's Rentschler Field.

Liverpool went in front after four minutes thanks to John Arne Riise before England striker Michael Owen added a second goal on 17.

Former AJ Auxerre marksman Cisse, leading scorer in the French Ligue 1 last season, found the net twice in the second half while Swiss international Stephane Henchoz notched his first goal in more than five years with Liverpool.

Craig Beattie replied from the penalty spot for Celtic.

It was the second consecutive defeat for Celtic, who lost their tour opener 4-2 to Chelsea in Seattle on Saturday.

The series features 11 friendly matches at eight venues across the U.S., involving club sides from England, Italy, Scotland, Portugal, Germany and Turkey.

The next match is on Wednesday with Celtic taking on Manchester United in Philadelphia.

[themanwho]

ManU führt zur Pause gegen den AC Milan durch ein Tor von Scholes mit 1-0. Erstmals sind er und Mikael Silvestre nach dem Urlaub wieder dabei. Van Nistelrooy und Saha bleiben in Europa.

[grünweißesBlut]

weiß wer den endstand

[R€n€]

Manchester United : AC Milan 1:1*

33 Min. Scholes 90 :laugh:Sheva

penalty shootout: 8:9

mfg

R€n€