FA Cup - Manchester Utd v Portsmouth - 27 Jan

zocoss SG

Round 4 ~ Saturday, 27 January 2007

vs

Manchester Utd v Portsmouth
Ch 24 - 1:15 m - (Live)

Man Utd : Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Neville, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Silvestre, Evra, Heinze, Ronaldo, Park, Fletcher, Carrick, Scholes, O'Shea, Richardson, Saha, Giggs, Rooney, Solskjaer, Larsson.

Portsmouth: James, Johnson, Primus, Campbell, Traore, Lauren, Davis, Douala, Pedro Mendes, Taylor, Kanu, Mwaruwari, Cole, Ashdown, Thompson, Hughes, Stefanovic, O'Neil, Kranjcar, Douala, O'Brien, Koroman, Pamarot.

zocoss SG

CRISTIANO RONALDO will not play against Portsmouth today after being given an extended holiday.

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson let the in-form winger jet off to Dubai last week and wants to make sure his starlet does not burn out ahead of the title run-in.

And yesterday Fergie dismissed any chance of Portugal international Ronaldo, 21, joining Real Madrid.

He said: We only sell the players we want to and we are not selling Ronaldo. He has developed so much as a player and a person since he has been here, we are not even thinking about selling him.

And Old Trafford idol Eric Cantona also praised Ronaldo. He said: He is a world-class player. Hes one of the family, the same as Wayne Rooney.

Dead_Man_Inc SG

who will be watching? Laughing

zocoss SG

Man u start with a weaker line-up... Hmmm... Rolling Eyes

zocoss SG

Man Utd 2-1 Portsmouth

Wayne Rooney ended Portsmouth's brave resistance to send Manchester United into the fifth round of the FA Cup. United were denied a goal when Nemanja Vidic's header crossed the line before being cleared by Pedro Mendes.

Portsmouth were under the cosh for most of the game but hung on until Rooney came off the bench on the hour mark. Rooney tapped in a Ryan Giggs cross to break the deadlock and added a second with a superb chip before Kanu deflected home a late consolation.

This tie will be rightly remembered for Rooney's magic but for most of the game it seemed likely to be Mendes who would be the main man. It was hugely ironic that it was the Portuguese international who cleared Vidic's header given his personal history at Old Trafford. While playing here for Tottenham in January 2005 he famously had a shot from the half-way line cleared by United keeper Roy Carroll when the ball had also crossed the line.

Earlier this week Mendes had said he was owed some luck in Manchester - and fortune was certainly on his side here. But given the amount of possession United enjoyed - and the chances they created - they should have been in control well before Rooney's introduction.

They were given a scare by O'Neill's early surge into the box but Tomasz Kuszczak came out well and that was the only time he was meaningfully employed before the break. At the other end Sol Campbell and Linvoy Primus had their hands full but David James was also on hand when needed.

The former England keeper had to clear with his feet when Lauren deflected a Giggs cross towards his own goal and also tipped Michael Carrick's header over the bar. Pompey did threaten again at the start of the second half when Primus nodded over but after that it was all one-way traffic with United completely on top.

Another controversial decision saw Henrik Larsson's superb strike ruled out and when James turned a scorching shot from Paul Scholes round the post it appeared that Pompey were destined to hang on - until Rooney decided otherwise.

His first goal was a simple tap-in after Larsson had released Giggs but his second - a precise finish into the top corner from outside the area - was absolute genius. Pompey had the final word when Mendes' shot ricocheted off Kanu to beat Kuszczak but it is Rooney's contribution that will live long in the memory.

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Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson on Wayne Rooney's second goal:

"Having the vision and audacity to do it at that time in the game is really great. "It was a fantastic goal and I remember Eric Cantona doing that in the FA Cup against Sheffield United. "It was nice to get Wayne scoring and the chip really was world class."

Portsmouth coach Joe Jordan on his side's defeat:
"It is hard to take when you have put as much into the game as we did for 70-odd minutes. "We looked reasonably comfortable and I thought we would have the opportunity to take them back to Fratton Park. "We can take a lot of plusses from some individual performances in the game - but not from the result."

zocoss SG

Manchester United 2-1 victory over Portsmouth at Old Trafford in the last 16 of the FA Cup.

Watch Rooney's Fantastic Goal against James Razz

zocoss SG

The Goals that wasn't given...

Vidic's: Ball had crossed the line

Larsson wasn't Offside

Referee something wrong...

imprezaWRXSTi22B SG

fantastic goal. why din he do something like that against arsenal last week? Sad

well at least man utd is back to winning ways

zocoss SG

Wayne the wonder-sub
Redknapp's men are undone as Rooney is called from the bench to show his genius with two-goal masterclass

Eric Cantona would greet his great goals for Manchester United with an imperious stare to match his upturned collar.

Yesterday, Wayne Rooney scored a carbon copy of one of the Frenchmans legendary chip shots and celebrated with a sheepish grin that broke into a full mega-watt smile as he was mobbed by astounded team-mates.

Rooney started a dramatic afternoon at Old Trafford on the bench but his introduction after an hour changed the whole theme of a gripping FA Cup-tie from injustice to genius.

United had felt cheated. Pedro Mendes, once robbed of a goal at Old Trafford himself, got lucky when he cleared a Nemanja Vidic header from behind the line.

Then the normally-placid Henrik Larsson exploded with fury after his brilliant volley was wrongly ruled out for offside. To add insult to injury, David James broke more hearts with a series of outstanding saves in front of England coach Steve McClaren.

Rooney stopped Uniteds followers feeling sorry for themselves within seconds of replacing the ineffective Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. A crunching tackle had the Theatre of Dreams roaring its approval and the roof came off with 13 minutes left when he broke into the box to turn in a cross from Ryan Giggs.

Rooney, 21, then produced a moment of magic that will be talked about for years. With seven minutes left, and Sol Campbell backing off on the edge of the area, Rooney conjured the perfect chip that left James rooted to the spot as the ball soared over him, dipping at the last moment to end up in the top left-hand corner of the net.

Memories of Cantona came flooding back as the new King of Old Trafford was swamped in the mass of bodies that greeted his 11th, and easily most outstanding, goal of the season.

CKeer SG

Originally posted by zocoss:
[b]The Goals that wasn't given...

Vidic's: Ball had crossed the line

Larsson wasn't Offside

Referee something wrong...[/b]

Ya! I watched yesterday's match and saw Vidic's header clearly crossing the line and Larsson is definitely not offside. Evil or Very Mad

I've to say, Larsson is really a shrewd signing. His finishing and plays are absolutely World-Class despite his age. Also, Vidic is now an aerial threat to opponent's defence with his goal-bound headers.

Anyway, yesterday was a good day for me. Got to watch Singapore triumph over Malaysia and through to the Final and United through to the 5th Round. Mr. Green

Cheers.
C.K

imprezaWRXSTi22B SG

i din watch larson yesterday. but against arsenal he was pretty ordinary....

and everybody is like disgusted with my off topic thread on singapore's win.... sad Crying or Very sad

Mr. Green

iceFatboy SG

I still believe Saha should have started for the Gunners' match and Larsson being the sub... hey Larsson is 30+ what you expect??

iceFatboy SG

with the UCL starting again, it will be the make or break time again...