Both great blogs with talented authors worth checking out even if you aren’t interested in my stuff.

Cheers!

Thousands of Canadians will put their World Cup hopes behind a top European nation, Argentina or Brazil. Often this is a nation which they will claim some blood allegiance to (true or not). As I said yesterday when I talked about supporting England. I don’t think there is anything wrong with this. It’s the biggest soccer competition on the face of the earth. It’s the biggest freaking sports competition on the planet. Enjoy it anyway you want. I seriously don’t care. Just enjoy yourself.

What will piss me off about this World Cup is the attitude these “fans” will show towards Canada. These people who never dedicate an ounce of their time to watching soccer will suddenly claim a higher ground saying “Canada sucks at soccer” (and to be fair with the state of our national team at the moment there is very little comeback, shouting Gavin McCallum over and over again will probably achieve very little) or the infamous “I just don’t like their playing style I’d much rather watch Spain.” Really? You don’t like their playing style. Can you tell me Canada’s fucking playing style? Please describe to me why the soccer purist in you can’t stand watching the Canadian national team?

I probably shouldn’t be getting so upset about this but aside from bringing immense joy to the soccer fan in my the World Cup also brings out some real pricks. During the rugby World Cup next year I’ll probably watch a little. But I will not be masquerading any prior knowledge and if Canada doesn’t qualify (they may have already qualified or not qualified I have no idea) then I will not start putting down Canada’s rugby community by saying that Canada’s rugby team sucks.

Anyways now I’ve got my anger out-of-the-way I can move on to something a little more cheerful. The World Cup is tomorrow. Yes folks tomorrow!

There are only so may ways I can say that I’m super excited. But I thought I’d leave you all with some mindless predictions before all the fun kicks off so here are my picks for the countries to advance out of the groups (in the order of first, second) :

Group Stage:

1. Group A: Uruguay, Mexico
2. Group B: Argentina, South Korea
3. Group C: England, USA
4. Group D: Serbia, Germany
5. Group E: Netherlands, Denmark
6. Group F: Italy, Paraguay
7. Group G: Brazil, Ivory Coast
8. Group H: Spain, Chile

Round of 16:

1. Uruguay over South Korea
2. Germany over England
3. Netherlands over Paraguay
4. Brazil over Chile
5. ?Serbia over USA
6. ?Argentina over Mexico
7. Denmark over Italy
8. Spain over Ivory Coast

Quarterfinals:

1. Brazil over Netherlands
2. ?Germany over Uruguay
3. ?Argentina over Serbia
4. ?Spain over Denmark

Semifinals:

1. Brazil over Germany
2. ?Argentina over Spain
3. ?3rd Place Playoff
4. ?Spain over Germany

Final

Brazil over Argentina

Goalkeeper of the Season
Edwin Van Der Sar

Defender of the Season
Patrice Evra

Midfielder of the Season
Darren Fletcher

Forward of the Season
Wayne Rooney

New Player of the Year
Antonio Valencia

Young Player of the Season
Darron Gibson

Manchester United Raised Player of the Season
Paul Scholes

Goal of the Season
Rooney @ Arsenal

Match of the Season
Manchester United 4:3 Manchester City @ Old Trafford

Player of the Season
Wayne Rooney

My hope for the United formation tomorrow is as follows:

——Van Der Sar——

-Rafael–Vidic-Ferdinand–Evra-

-Valencia-Carrick-Fletcher-Nani–

——-Berbatov——

——Macheda——-

Although I expect to see:

——Van Der Sar——

-Neville–Vidic-Ferdinand–Evra-

——Scholes——-

–Nani-Carrick-Fletcher-Park–

——-Berbatov——

As I said earlier, I don’t know if playing Berbatov up front by himself against a stern a defense as Bayern Munich will be enough. That being said, I think Sir Alex will go with Berbatov up front on his own with hope that Nani and Park will offer sufficient support.

Despite Park’s recent form I still think that Nani and Valencia provide the most danger on the wings and what United need more than anything tomorrow is a goal. I think United are at their best when there are lots of midfielders high up the park pressuring, that’s why I think going with the most attacking wingers in our line up is the right decision. Still a 4-4-2 leaves you very open to counter attacks, and in Munich United’s five man midfield were overrun, so a four man midfield may just get obliterated. Still it’s a very interesting debate, we’ll have to wait for tomorrow to see if Sir Alex gets it right.

I’ll leave you with a video and pleas from Sir Alex and Ryan Giggs for a raucous atmosphere tomorrow, similar to the one we saw against Barcelona in 2008. COME ON UNITED!

Sir Alex: Old Trafford has got that suction towards the goal when we are really in full flow and the crowd is really up for it. The ball just seems to get sucked towards the Stretford End. It’s an amazing feeling. There are too many of these moments to mention where we decide games in the last 15 minutes. It’s not always entirely because of the team, it’s because of the fans too. They make it happen. Hopefully that’s the case against Bayern. There’s no better sight. Last minute goals are not by accident. It’s the nature of our stadium, it’s the nature of the way we take risks to win the game.

Ryan Giggs: We’ve all seen some great nights here and hopefully this can be another one. We are all part of that – the players, the fans, coaches. There is no better feeling as a player with the Old Trafford crowd behind you on a Wednesday night. A big European game against Bayern Munich is what you become a professional footballer for; this is what you look forward to. You know that the crowd are going to get behind you and you know that it makes it very difficult for the opposition. If we’re keeping the ball the crowd gets behind you. That is what we are trying to achieve, we are trying to create that atmosphere. It is mostly down to the players to get that atmosphere going and playing well, getting shots off, putting in tackles, getting crosses in. Then we know that the crowd will get behind us. We want to get off to a good start, but Bayern are a good team as well and there are going to be moments in the game when they might keep the ball, and that’s where we all have to be patient. But hopefully in the end it will be one of those special Old Trafford nights.

So what’s left to do. Well depending on how the Champions League run goes Manchester United have some where between six and nine games remaining in the season. The first comes against Bayern Munich, which could be the most crucial. With the title race out of United’s hands they need to focus on the Champions League quarterfinals at the moment. A win puts United in the semi finals, and should help boost confidence for the league title run. So the match against Bayern is vital. With Rooney most likely out injured (the media is flip flopping on this daily), United will need to look else where for some fire power going forward. I’m not huge on playing Berbatov up front by himself is such a big game for the second time in less than a week so I wouldn’t mind seeing him paired up with Macheda in a 4-4-2. Could leave United a little weaker in the midfield, but they need goals.

After the Bayern game United’s attention will switch back to the league where we face Blackburn away, Manchester City away, Tottenham at Old Trafford, Sunderland away and Stoke at home on the final day of the season. In order to win the league I think United will need to get maximum points out of these last five matches. For me the two most difficult are the first two against Blackburn away who have only lost twice at home all season, and Manchester City who have already beat us once at home this season (in the Carling Cup first leg). Depending no the fitness of Rooney I think these two games call out for a 4-5-1, but in the final three games of the season I say just go for it and play 4-4-2. It’s going to be very tight but if United win all five of their remaining league games they will finish on 87 points which I think would win the title.

So despite the doom and gloom after the Chelsea result, Manchester United are very much alive and could still be victorious in Europe or at home, which I think would be one of Sir Alex’s best achievements to date when considering the injuries United has dealt with the season, the loss of Ronaldo and Tevez and the sheer squad size of Chelsea. It’s time to prove that Manchester United is just better.

From today onward till the end of the tournament we should be seeing daily updates.

So please come check it out and enjoy!

Flowers of English Football, the Flowers of Manchester

Geoff Bent

Roger Byrne

Eddie Colman

Duncan Edwards

Mark Jones

David Pegg

Tommy Taylor

Billy Whelan

Ken Rayment

Tom Cable

Walter Crickmer

Tom Curry

Bert Whalley

Alf Clarke

Donny Davies

George Follows

Tom Jackson

Archie Ledbrooke

Henry Rose

Frank Swift

Eric Thompson

Bela Miklos

Willie Satinoff

We’ll never die, we’ll never die

We’ll never die, we’ll never die

We’ll keep the red flags flying high

Cheers and Enjoy the Holidays!