Pro Eleven Headline News
Manchester United Beats Liga de Quito 1-0 to Win Club World Cup
Manchester United beat Ecuador’s Liga de Quito 1-0 to win the FIFA Club World Cup today in Yokohama, Japan.
Wayne Rooney, winner of the award for the tournament’s best player, got the winner for the European soccer champion, which was reduced to 10 men for most of the second half when defender Nemanja Vidic was sent off.
“The sending-off affected us in terms of our penetration,” United coach Alex Ferguson said at a press conference. “I thought we were heading to extra time because 10 men with an hour to go is a very long road.”
United is the second European team to win the $5 million global club championship after AC Milan last year. Sao Paulo and Internacional, both from Brazil, are the two other champions. A sellout crowd of 68,682 watched the match.
United squandered chance after chance before Rooney broke the deadlock on 73 minutes, side-footing the ball past the Quito keeper after a pass from Cristiano Ronaldo.
“It’s unbelievable, to be European champions was great but now we can say we are the best in the world,” United defender Rio Ferdinand said. “Maybe there could have been more goals -- we created a lot of chances and I hope the fans enjoyed the performance, especially in the first half.”
Quito, which won Ecuador’s first Copa Libertadores title in July, almost stunned the favorites after only three minutes when defender Jairo Campos just failed to get a touch from a free kick with only United keeper Edwin van der Sar to beat.
United dominated the rest of a half in which Quito didn’t have a shot on target or a corner. Rooney forced keeper Jose Cevallos into a diving save with a volley, and later chipped onto the roof of the net.
Tevez Miss
Striker Carlos Tevez missed with a header after Ronaldo eluded the Quito defense, and Park Ji-sung shot hard and straight at the keeper before stabbing a shot high and wide.
The match changed on 49 minutes, when Vidic was judged to have elbowed forward Claudio Bieler after both players tussled on the ground. That let the Ecuadorian team back into the match and midfielder Alejandro Manso almost gave the underdogs the lead with a long-range effort on 63 minutes, forcing Van der Sar into a full-stretch save.
Seven minutes later the goalkeeper was again in action, saving low to his right from Neicer Reasco.
Manso was at the center of Quito’s most threatening moves, almost leveling on 89 minutes when his long-range shot off the outside of his foot forced Van der Sar into another diving save.
Continental Champions
“Manso is our core player, he was able to demonstrate his ability and great speed,” Quito’s Argentine coach Edgardo Bauza said. “Unfortunately even after Manchester lost one player we weren’t able to take advantage. We had two or three chances but we weren’t able to capitalize.”
The Club World Cup is contested by continental soccer champions. It was formed in 2005 from a merger between the FIFA Club World Championship, played once in Brazil in 2000, and the Intercontinental Cup, which was played annually between the South American and European champions.
Ferguson made four changes from the side that beat Asian champion Gamba Osaka in the semifinal. Captain Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Nani made way for Rooney, Michael Carrick, Rafael and Park.
“It will be a springboard for us, I think there will be a bounce in the club,” Ferguson said. United plays its next Premier League game at Stoke on Dec. 26.
Gamba, the second Japanese team to win the Asian Champions League after Kashima Antlers, beat Mexico’s Pachuca 1-0 in the third-place playoff earlier. Striker Masato Yamazaki scored in a match strewn with missed chances.
Gamba won’t qualify for next year’s Champions League unless it wins Japan’s annual knockout Emperor’s Cup tournament. The team finished eighth in this year’s J-League.
“It wasn’t ideal football but once the score was 1-0 we managed to control the game until near the end,” Gamba coach Akira Nishino said. “My players aren’t euphoric, perhaps because there are still important games for us to come.”
David Beckham will wear No 32 at AC Milan
David Beckham impressed the locals from the start when he was unveiled as an AC Milan player last night, by speaking Italian at his first press conference.
And the first big question of the latest chapter of his globe-trotting career was swiftly answered when it was revealed that he would wear the No 32 short - "it was the first one I was offered," he said.
Dressed in a blue jumper, jeans, mirrored sunglasses and a scarf against the chill he smiled and waved at the small group of fans who had gathered to welcome him.
After landing at Milan's Malpensa airport he headed off to a private clinic for a medical, which he reportedly passed with flying colours.
As he left the airport he said: "I am honoured to be here and to play for one of the most successful clubs in the world. I have played for the biggest club in England, the biggest club in Spain and now I want to play for the biggest club in Italy."
AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani said Beckham would stay with Milan until March 8. He added: "We resolved numerous problems, much larger than you would normally have when you buy a player – with the US League, with Galaxy and with all the Beckham entourage."
Beckham also was keen to emphasise that his stay in Milan would be strictly football. "Fashion had nothing to do with coming to Milan," he said. "The red and black shirt and the history of the club took me here."
