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FRAZWRITER FRASER WILSON
#Kilmarnock left back in 2nd half is Rory McKeown. This adds to speculation that the deal to bring #Ajax legend Pique to Rugby Park is off!

Benji schreef:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3jrckqsJxE&

new york times schreef:Manchester United 4, M.L.S. All-Stars 0
Manchester United Dismantles M.L.S.’s Best in Repeat of Last Year

HARRISON, N.J. — Once again, one of the richest soccer clubs in the world, which boasts some of the best players on the planet, showed a team of the best Major League Soccer has to offer that you get what you pay for, or don’t.

For the second consecutive year, Manchester United proved to be rude visitors, defeating the M.L.S. All-Star team, 4-0, before a sellout crowd of 26,760 at Red Bull Arena on Wednesday night.

“You hope you can stand tall, but we don’t pretend that our players are the caliber of Manchester United,” M.L.S. Commissioner Don Garber said at halftime, when the score was only 2-0. “There’s no question there’s a risk for us, but at the end of the day it’s worth exposing our league to the best in the world.”

There is a difference between exposing the world to the league’s best and being exposed by the defending champions of the English Premier League. In 2010, the Red Devils dropped in and punished the M.L.S. stars, 5-2, in Houston. This year, United began its summer tour with three games against M.L.S., each game ending in a one-sided victory, including a 7-0 dismantling of the Seattle Sounders.

On Wednesday, M.L.S. Coach Hans Backe showed his intentions from the outset by starting three forwards — Thierry Henry, Omar Bravo and Omar Cummings — with only three midfielders. David Beckham, once a star midfielder for Manchester United, was slotted into the central midfield to direct the attack. It seemed to work well the first 16 minutes or so, as Beckham sprayed pinpoint passes to the flanks and the M.L.S. squad had a couple of scoring chances, but all for naught.

“I think David was phenomenal,” Backe said after the game. “So competitive, still very hungry. Even losing, 4-0, I was quite pleased and thought the first half was very even.

“If you go 4-4-2 against Man United, they will punish you, so we tried three in the midfield. The difference was in the final third of the field, where they were sharper and took their chances.”

Manchester United took a 1-0 lead in the 20th minute. Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov exchanged passes at the top of the M.L.S. penalty area. Rooney took a second pass from Berbatov, who drew the defense to him with a run through the area while Rooney slid the ball to Anderson, who beat goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon low to the far post.

The home team would have been content to finish the first 45 minutes a goal down, but it was not to be. In the final minute of the half, United’s South Korean midfielder Ji-Sung Park, voted man of the match, controlled a pass from Ashley Young, one of United’s off-season acquisitions, in the top corner of the penalty area. Park cut the ball around defender Sean Franklin, pushed it forward and struck a left-footed shot past Mondragon high to the near post.

“That one before the half put us in a comfortable position,” United Manager Alex Ferguson said. “Early on we found the pitch difficult and the ball too light. After trying some longer passes, we shortened up with more combinations.”

After Backe made a handful of substitutions to start the second half, including replacing Henry, United was right back to business.

In the 51st minute, Rooney again collaborated with Berbatov, releasing a pass that sent Berbatov into the penalty area with defender Geoff Cameron on his hip. Berbatov muscled Cameron out of the play and, as the substitute goalkeeper Tally Hall rushed off his line, lifted a neat little chip with his right instep that bounded off the crossbar. Berbatov was there to control the rebound with his chest and calmly tuck it into the net for a 3-0 lead.

Minutes later, Danny Welbeck, one of United’s rising stars back after a season on loan with Sunderland, cracked a shot past Hall from the top of the penalty area.

“It’s not embarrassing,” Beckham said. “You’re playing the best team in the world. Manchester United is a team that if you don’t capitalize, they can kill you, and they did.

“Once they got that first goal, that was it.”

Chelsea bereikt akkoord met Anderlecht over Lukaku
Uitgegeven: 6 augustus 2011 19:37
Laatst gewijzigd: 6 augustus 2011 19:47

AMSTERDAM - Anderlecht en Chelsea hebben zaterdag een akkoord bereikt over de transfer van Romelu Lukaku.

De 18-jarige spits moet alleen nog een medische keuring van de club uit Londen doorstaan, meldt de Belgische grootmacht op de website.

Lukaku was zelf vrijdag al een vijfjarig contract overeengekomen met de 'Blues'. Lukaku werd door meerdere clubs begeerd, maar had alleen oog voor Chelsea.

"Ook bij een club met drie spitsen voor één positie zal je altijd wedstrijden spelen, want die clubs werken zeventig matchen op een jaar af", meldde hij.

"En er kan nog van alles gebeuren bij grote clubs. Er kunnen nog spelers verkocht worden, waardoor ze me nodig hebben."


Win-winsituatie

"Het is jammer dat we Romelu -die door Anderlecht ontdekt en opgeleid is- moeten laten gaan, maar de transfer is een win-winsituatie voor de speler én de club.”

“De directie maakt zich sterk een goede vervanger te vinden om het gemis zo snel mogelijk op te vangen", reageerde Anderlecht-manager Herman Van Holsbeeck.


Vervanger

Anderlecht heeft al een vervanger op het oog voor de jonge aanvaller. De Brusselaars zijn in gesprek met AS Monaco om Dieumerci Mbokani over te nemen.

De 25-jarige Congolees debuteerde in Europa op huurbasis voor Anderlecht, maar tekende later bij Standard Luik. Na vier jaar vertrok hij afgelopen zomer naar Monaco, dat hem al snel uitleende aan VfL Wolfsburg.

wimpey schreef:En dan Mbokani als vervanger halen.

Die gast kan er echt helemaal niets van.