Manchester United vs Chelsea live soccer
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Competition- England FA Community Shield
Date/Time-August 9, 2009 - 10:00am US/Eastern time
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Manchester United  | vs | Chelsea  |
| Date / Time: | Competition: | Live / Repeat: |
| August 9, 2009 - 10:00am | England FA Community Shield | Live |
Manchester United vs Chelsea live streams and TV channels
Manchester United v Chelsea - Community Shield Match Preview
Aug 6th 2009
The curtain raiser for the English Premier League season, the Community Shield, takes stage at the Wembley Stadium on Sunday, August 9.
European runners-up and EPL title winners Manchester United will face Roman Abrahamovic’s FA Cup heroes Chelsea.
This encounter will mark Manchester United’s third straight appearance in the Community Shield. The Red Devils will also be battling against Chelsea in this same single-match tournament for the second time in three games since 2007. How will Chelsea deny the Mancunians from clinching their third consecutive Community Shield title?
Changes in both sides
The excitement in the build up to this big clash has taken another tone after both Chelsea and Manchester have made important makeovers in their club.
Portugal’s superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina’s fierce forward Carlos Tevez are presently nothing more than heroes of the past in the recent history of Manchester United FC. Now the attention will be on Ecuador’s Antonio Valencia and mostly on the Red Devils’ new number 7 player Michael Owen. Speaking to the media this week, the former Real Madrid striker stated:
"The team has lost two players - Tevez, who scored a few, and Ronaldo who got lots over the last two seasons,
"There's a big hole to fill, and I hope I can help plug it in terms of goals. I can't do it on my own - but I will help out."
If Chelsea haven’t made the most of the transfer market so far, they can find a new sight of breath in AC Milan’s former maestro, Carlo Ancelotti.
So the battle will not be featuring Drogba v Ronaldo, or Ferguson v Mourinho. Instead, the spotlight will be on Michael Owen, Antonio Valencia, Wayne Rooney, Berbatov and even Nani up against Carlo Ancelotti’s midfield triangle composed of Joe Cole, Lampard, and Deco.
Mind games
Mind games may not be part of the talking ahead of this Community Shield clash. Chelsea’s new boss Carlo Ancelotti has made it clear that confronting Ferguson with words was not something that he’ll love to do.
The Italian rather fed the press with some info concerning his players. Talking about Michael Ballack’s recent injury worries, Ancelotti revealed in the London Evening Standard:
"For the next match against United he [Michael Ballack] will be ready."
The Italian boss continued:
"We have this week before the game and I want to control the physical condition of all my players
"We have to improve a little over next week but I’m happy with the condition of the team."
Match Analysis
The Community Shield’s last two matches went all the way down to penalties and Manchester United emerged winners on both occasions. A supernatural Van der Sar disgraced Chelsea in the penalty shootouts of the Community Shield in 2007 when Manchester United eventually won 3-0 on penalties after playing a 1-1 draw in normal time.
Facts also show that Manchester United have never lost against Chelsea (managed by Avram Grant at that time) since the Blues controversially beat them 2-1 in the 2007/08 EPL season.
So how will Carlo Ancelotti and his men get to break this curse?
Analytically, there is no favorite ahead of this Community Shield game although a vast majority of football fans may tip Chelsea as prospective winners.
The Blues ended their 2008/2009 campaign on a fresh note as they edged past Everton in the final to clinch the FA Cup trophy at the Wembley Stadium. Contradictorily, Manchester United were on the losing side in the Champions League final in Rome and that defeat seems to have largely reduce the fear of other teams towards the Red Devils.
Certainly, Manchester United are more of an attacking side than Chelsea. Alex Ferguson’s men are poised to bring trouble on Chelsea’s back line comporting captain John Terry who was subject to a lucrative transfer from London to the blue side of Manchester.
However, the Red Devils will also have to watch out on their own abilities in front of goal. Manchester United can be wasteful at times and this may come to their own peril come Sunday, August 9.
Many may predict that the game will go to the extreme and that a penalty shootout will once again be the ultimate solution to separate the winners from the losers.
But then again, Manchester United may not be favored should the match go this way. The Red Devils have lost twice on penalties since they beat Tottenham in the final of the Carling Cup:
Weak efforts against Everton in the semis of the FA Cup saw Manchester United miss out on a final date against Chelsea, while unluckiness cost them defeat against Bayern Munich in the final of the Audi cup.
A victory for Manchester United against Chelsea in the Community Shield will not only boost the club’s spirit ahead of the new season; it will also help the current Fifa World Club Cup champions to respond to a big, though short, question that has been coming out from the mouth of the public:
Have the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo and of Carlos Tevez transformed Manchester United into a much weaker team?
Maybe Chelsea will make it hard for the Red Devils to find a straight answer.
