Premier Soccer News

Manchester United 0 Portsmouth 1

(Sulley Muntar: Pen 78)

Kuszczak brings down Baros for the penalty 

(Source: Soccernet)

A few days ago, Sir Alex Ferguson revealed to the media he was going to retire in three more years. I believed that was a big mistake, have he not forgotten what happened the last time he said something like that? The team blew their title chances and went on to win nothing for that season.

Boy was i right… Man U were kicked out of the FA cup by Portsmouth and together with it, their treble dreams…

Lets look at the statistics… The devils had 19 shots on goal and 9 shots on target compared to Pompey’s miserly 6 shots on goal. The Red devils had enough chances to wrap up the game with Ronaldo and Gang being time and again denied by last minute clearances of the line.

Disaster struck when Fergie took off Van der sar for Tomasz Kuszczak during the break. Probably he wqas injured or something, whatever the reason, it was to have a great impact on the game. The latter keeper got sent off in the 76th minute.

The refree gave what was perceived as a harsh red card but the penalty would not have mattered as Baros was to have scored anyways even if Tomasz Kuszczak didn’t bring him down. As all three subs were utilised by Fergie at that time, Ferdinand pulled on the keeper’s gloves and made a brave attempt to save Muntar’s shot. He did guess the right way, alas… it was just not United’s day…

Luck proved to be against them in their search for the equaliser as they battled till the end. Equal credit to Portsmouth for hanging on and defending solidly.

Sir Fergie must be scratching his head and he should seriously reflect on his mistake of annoucing to the media of his retirement plans… especially at such a crucial point in the season when the club were challenging for their second treble.

Bryan