Video Highlights: Manchester United Expose Arsenal As The Frauds That They Are Plus a Special Thanks to TheScore.ca

I just finished watching what was arguably our most gutsy performance of the year. I’ve been in Whistler at the Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival this week and for some reason, I was having a bitch of a time getting the game over Sopcast or TVUPlayer… None of the hotels digital cable channels seemed to be showing it, until I found the live broadcast from The Score HD… You guys saved me this week and I really do have to give respect to all the people behind the scenes at Canada’s best sports network. Thanks for having the foresight to show a good game (I’m talking to you Sportsnet, Fulham-Reading…. captivating…)

Anyways, I have to be honest, I thought for some time that Arsenal are an embarrassment to our league and it was effectively validated today. The amount of diving, gamesmanship, shirt-pulling and out-and-out cheating was so obvious that I think any Arsenal fan needs to have a long look in the mirror and ask themselves why, or even how, they could support such a petulant team. Your goal shouldn’t have counted, Adebayor was cheating and he knew it. Luckily for them, Arsenal had a 12th man today in the referee who was giving every single borderline call Arsenal’s way and in many cases allowed Arsenal to basically dictate the call. My example was the corner that was given midway through the second half. The referee had effectively ruled a goal kick and then every Arsenal player threw up their arms and shouted and the referee REVERSED HIS CALL. That is unacceptable. I don’t care if the referee was wrong, if they made the call, they shouldn’t be allowed to reverse it. When a team can plead with the referee and get the calls they want, it throws the credibility of the game into question. Adebayor should also have been given a straight red for his dangerous and cynical tackle on Anderson. It was from behind, it was late, it was two footed and studs were showing. He hooked his feet around Anderson and put both boots directly into Anderson’s right ankle. That was a deliberate attempt to injure a fellow professional and the referee only gave a yellow, no wonder Hargreaves was furious. How can Arsenal fans continue to support this? They are a truly pathetic bunch and deserved exactly what their mark asses got today.

However, even with all the cheating and soft calls, Arsenal were beaten by a much better team. I will acknowledge that Arsenal have skill and they have some quality players, they have their own attacking style but their accomplishments there are undermined by their cynicism and petulance. They are an embarrassment to football and a stain on the credibility of the English Premier League. Wow they beat a Milan side with an average age of 65. Good for them. They couldn’t even beat Liverpool.

And what of Hargreaves? Absolutely unfucking believable what he pulled today. I think that was a vintage Manchester United goal and Hargreaves took the shot so well. We were all waiting for a shot from Ronaldo (doubtlessly, Jens Lehmann was) and Hargreaves just hooked it over the wall and into the left side of the goal. His celebration capped his greatest week in his career. While he always possessed defensive solidity, his attacking prowess and sheer technical ability are above and beyond most of the players in England. He is the definition of a complete player and he is a better player than David Beckham ever was (except for England against Greece) and I will argue that with anybody. If a team is going to win the title these days, in the climactic stage of the season, they need their middling players to step up and become outstanding players. Hargreaves is a future United legend. Observe.

Van Der Sar was the man of the match. Our defense looked shaky and I don’t think Pique is ready yet after watching him today. I think Silvestre is a better, more experienced option at this vital stage of the season.
VDS came up with some huge saves (some of which were from our own team) and he showed safe hands all the way. He deserves a Champions League and Premier League double and he is an absolute rock for us. Why oh why did Fergie sign Barthez over Van Der Sar back around the turn of the century?

And Ronaldo. What to say of him? His penalty was so cheeky and full of confidence that you know Jens Lehmann will never forget the look on Ronaldo’s face. That stutter step and complete stop… A penalty so nice, he took it twice. Lehmann even guessed right both times and couldn’t keep the ball out of the net. I will acknowledge that Lehmann is better than Almunia… Kind of, anyway.

Chelsea will beat Wigan tomorrow and it all comes down to April 26 now. If we win all of our games from here on out, we’re set. If we beat Chelsea, it’s over. Even if we lose or draw, we are still ahead on goal difference. How cool would it be for us to meet them in the Champions League Final as well?

United ensured that we remained in the drivers seat today with a performance that wasn’t perfect, but was effective. Arsenal got their just desserts.

Champions League Video Highlights: Manchester United Humiliate Roma With Goals From Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo

For those of you who didn’t read my pre-match predictions and half-time evaluation, check them out because I refer to a few things in this post that you kinda have to read the others to appreciate. They’re just to your right there.

So, Roma have been exposed. Roma had much more possession, about 10 times more shots, and what seemed like around 35 corners… They couldn’t score. Which Manchester United blog officially predicted a shutout? Oh yes, that’s right, this one. Makes up for my call that Vidic would score from a corner (really wide of the target on that one) and I was also wrong about Roma being red carded, although I really do think that Roma’s style of play needs to be examined further.

My half-time post was a bit vitriolic, but seriously, Roma are a bunch of dirty cheats who got exactly what they deserved. The amount of diving and kicking of United players was absolutely appalling. There’s just something so slimy about Roma’s approach to football that I firmly believe that they are the antithesis of what children should watch in order to become better footballers. Roma do not set a good example on the field.

Ronaldo’s goal was a classic center-forwards strike. Just getting up high, with pace and then really scuttling the ball into the net. You can tell he got the wind knocked out of him but that’s because he was bodychecked to the deck by one of Roma’s players. Still scored though.

Rooney’s goal was a pure Ruud Van Nistelrooy goal if I’ve ever seen one. But good on him, he kept his cool and was in the right place at the right time. We came so close to adding a third which would have effectively ended the tie. Hell, even CNN seems to agree. Still, Roma need to come to the Theatre of Dreams and beat us 3-0 in order to face Barca in the next leg. I think that could be a seminal game in the history of this team- much as our clash against the then-mighty Juventus was seen as the moment when the 99er’s proved that they truly were good enough.

Oh yeah, what’s that thing about Ronaldo and big games and him not showing up?

Champions League Preview: Manchester United Faces Off Against the Thugs from AS Roma

I really think that the scenes were saw at Rome’s Stadio Olympico last year were amongst the most disgraceful you will ever see in football. To think that the Eye-Talians lined up  a bunch of fucking riot police against  our own support while their murderous ultras were being supervised by a bunch of pansy-looking stewards… I mean, if you actually watch some of the footage from the riot closely, you can see that some of the “police” are wearing jeans, t-shirts, and trainers under their riot gear. That was a set up, because the Eye-talian ultras are so ingrained in their respective teams culture, that there was definitely complicity and corruption on the part of the Roman police officers… But hey, corruption in Italy?Not like that’s ever happened or anything… Much less with footaball.

Anyways, there was no more poetic justice than getting those greaseballs back to the Theatre of Dreams and literally tearing them a new asshole. 7-1 will go down in history as a sequence of numbers you can say to any true Man United fan and promptly conjure up proud memories. Even Alan Smith scored for Christ’s sake.

So, my predictions today are as follows:

- United to play a 4-5-1 collapsing into a 4-3-3 during counterattacks.

- Roma will get a man sent off for deliberately attempting to injure Cristiano Ronaldo.

- Vidic from a corner.

- Roma to be shut out.

Bold predictions I’m sure. But I have a feeling that things are going to go our way tonight (this afternoon for me. On the west coast of Canada, the game kicks off at 11:45 am). I really can’t call correct score, but I really think that the boys at the back are gonna do the business. If Van Der Sar is in form, I think Roma are in serious danger of being embarrassed again, but this time in front of their home fans. I think they’re really gonna come at us and try to score early and I think it will be their undoing.  I can see them pushing forward in numbers (which because they play with no forwards, opens up their midfield) and then us basically just trying to hit them on the break- which we should be able to do. Manchester United is the world’s greatest counter-attacking side at the moment.

I can see the lads bringing a nice lead back to Old Trafford, but it may not be as easy as I’ve predicted.

Check back for highlights and reaction after the match!

Referee denies legitimate goal in Gold Cup semi-final to give America 2-1 win over Canada

UNBELIEVABLE!

After letting in two crappy goals in three crappier minutes, Canada almost achieved the impossible by fighting back against the U.S.A in the gold cup semi final. Well, actually we did achieve it, but the referee and the linesmen conspired to gift America the win by denying Canada’s LEGITIMATE injury time goal that would have evened it up at 2-2 forcing golden goal extra time. Absolutely disgraceful. The ball clearly was headed down by the Americans into the path of Atiba Hutchinson who slotted home, while he was initially in an offside position, the Americans played him onside by heading the ball into his path. Further replays showed that the Canadian was in line with the American defense. But still, they ruled it offside. There was simply no way America was going to be allowed to lose that game.

Seemingly determined to give America the win in front of their home crowd, the referee offered soft calls on the Americans all night long. The one exception being the yellow for Landon Donovan’s disgustingly cynical simulation, which if you ask me should have been a straight red. Another straight red should have been shown to Bocanegra in the eleventh minute for the tackle which wound up sending Julien De Guzman literally head over heels. By the way, the challenge was two-footed and studs-up. Straight red in my opinion. The red card finally did come out in the 88th minute, but come on… As if that wasn’t long overdue.
If you ask me, the tournament officials would have been pretty pissed off if America had lost this game. I mean, this is their tournament to win and its on home soil… Once the videos hit youtube I’ll make sure I post them so we can all see how America was gifted their spot into the finals.

The final game of the 2007 Gold Cup is no longer legitimate. Fact.

Fistfight breaks out at a Boston Pops concert (we got the video)

The Boston Pops are a really high-profile orchestra and this was supposed to be the debut night of their season. After a “shush” gone wrong, a full on toupee-grabbing brawl broke out right in the balcony, they had to stop the show and everything. Check it out.

Am I the one who said Americans may not be as violent as we thought. Yeah, I take it all back. If there’s full-on fistfights breaking out at a goddamn Boston pops concert, what’s next- knifefights in church?

Yeesh.