Sir Alex Ferguson has challenged Wayne Rooney to beat last season’s scoring tally of 20 goals after the United striker’s finish was enough to earn Manchester United a 1-0 win over Birmingham City at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Rooney’s 34th-minute finish was the difference as United shrugged of the absence of usual centerbacks Rio Ferdinand with a thigh complaint and Nemanja Vidic to a calf injury, to record an opening day win.
“He took his goal well,” Ferguson said. “The header was a good one and his following up for the rebound was quick and he reacted the right way. Hopefully, that gets him on the road, after his goal last week, to a very significant total for us this season because it’s good if you can get two or three strikers that get you more than 20 goals. He’s capable of that and we’re not asking the impossible of the boy.”
PHOTO: AP
United, who will be looking to win their fourth consecutive title this season, got off to a positive start as they seemed intent on proving the club still has attacking potential without Cristiano Ronaldo following his transfer to Real Madrid in June.
Dimitar Berbatov failed to make the most of a clear early chance inside the box as goalkeeper Joe Hart rushed out, while Rooney also had a good opportunity from the rebound that was foiled by the committed Birmingham defense.
Hart had to again be on top form soon after as a wonderful curling Rooney effort from 25m was destined for the top corner until Hart acrobatically leapt to punch over the bar.
Birmingham, did try to break with the ball on occasion as James McFadden persevered down the left wing, but he rarely had a teammate to choose from in the United box as the away side got most men behind the ball, a policy that worked until Rooney finally scored.
He watched his header from a Nani cross cannon onto the base of the post, but fortunately for him the ball bobbled back and he easily tapped over the line.
In a remarkable 60 seconds of play, however, Birmingham could then conceivably have been 2-1 up.
Firstly, Cameron Jerome unleashed a terrific 20m shot that just went wide courtesy of a slight Paul Scholes deflection and from the resulting corner, Patrice Evra was forced into a fine diving header off his own line to keep out Franck Queudrue’s effort.
The half should have been concluded with a second goal for United, but Darren Fletcher somehow missed from point-blank range after solid work from Evra down the right wing.
After the interval, Rooney saw a speculative 40m effort force Hart to go full stretch, but the pace of the game was distinctly less intense than the first half.
Lee Carsley saved Birmingham when he cleared a Berbatov effort off the line with 20 minutes to go, before the visitors also had a golden chance with 12 minutes remaining.
Christian Benitez could not beat Foster from close range, however, as the United keeper made a stunning save to divert the ball to safety.
Rooney had the last chance to cap off a brilliant performance with another header as the end approached, but he steered Ryan Giggs’ cross wide.
Birmingham manager Alex McLeish was satisfied with his side’s attempt and was impressed with how they did not shrink from the challenge of playing the champions at Old Trafford.
McLeish said: “We have to use that as a confidence booster, we can go into the next game with the evidence of a great performance. I was very encouraged by it. The players should take enormous credit from that because they have to play in that cauldron without being intimidated.”
When Joan Monfort took photographs of Lionel Messi with a baby for a charity calendar almost 17 years ago, he knew the long-haired young man would make it big in soccer. He could not have imagined the little boy would as well. The baby in the photos — which have gone viral — was none other than Lamine Yamal, the Spanish wunderkind, who at 16 is showing such promise that he is already being compared with the greats. He is the youngest person to have played for Spain and the youngest to compete in the European Championship. The long-forgotten photo from 2007
Taiwanese tennis ace Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jan Zielinski of Poland on Friday advanced to the mixed doubles final at Wimbledon, just one step away from clinching their first mixed doubles title at the tournament. Hsieh and Zielinski, who won the Australian Open title earlier this year and who had reached the semi-finals at the French Open, battled past second seeds Michael Venus and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand 7-6, (7/0), 6-3. In the first set, the Taiwanese-Polish duo saved a set point, pushing the set into a tiebreaker. They clinched the set by winning the tiebreaker with seven straight points. The duo
CHALLENGE SET: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Poland’s Jan Zielinski are to play against New Zealand’s Michael Venus and Erin Routliffe in the mixed doubles semi-finals Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and her Polish partner, Jan Zielinski, on Thursday advanced to the mixed doubles semi-final at Wimbledon in a tight battle that ended in a super tiebreaker. The seventh-seeded duo, who won the Australian Open mixed doubles title earlier this year and reached the semi-finals of the French Open, needed 125 minutes to beat Britain’s Jamie Murray and the US’ Taylor Townsend 7-6, 6-7 (10-5). Hsieh and Zielinski took the first set with a 7-2 win in the tiebreaker and seemed poised to close out the match in the second set tiebreaker when they took a 4-0 lead. With the Taiwan-Poland
Modern pentathlon has obstacles ahead as it bids farewell to the horse at the Paris Olympics and prepares for a future more familiar to fans of Ninja Warrior and Tough Mudder. The blend of fencing, freestyle swimming, show jumping, pistol shooting and cross-country running caused a commotion at the 2021 Tokyo Games when a German coach struck a horse that refused a fence. The sport was dropped from the initial list for the 2028 Los Angeles Games, but reinstated after the governing Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM), led by 77-year-old German Klaus Schormann, decided the equestrian element would be replaced by