With the tournament almost over time has come to reflect on the (almost) unmitigated disaster that has been the World Cup for Manchester United. It could have been worse - only one United player got seriously injured - but not by much. Elsewhere United will wake up to many rumoured targets having their price vastly inflated after performing well on the biggest stage of all. Meanwhile the player Fergie had been looking to offload in order to fund a summer transfer splurge- Ruud van Nistelrooy - had such a stinker of a tournament that the Reds might not be able to give him away. Then, best of all, two of United's bright young stars were involved in an on-pitch altercation that would lead to dressing room unrest only for one of them to have as good as demanded a transfer anyway!
The omens were dire right from the start. Wayne Rooney's broken fourth metatarsal, sustained at Stamford Bridge on April 29th, led to six weeks of will-he-won't-he national anguish and implied threats of legal action. The relationship between club and Football Association seems to have sunk to a new low after England used a half-fit Rooney much earlier in the tournament than anticipated. Fortunately rumours of discord between player and club manager have been thoroughly and convincingly rubbished by the Scouse star. Phew! At least Rooney is coming back in one piece - his metatarsal having remained intact and no further injuries having been sustained. His mental state after being sent off against Portugal may be a different matter. A difficult season could be waiting.
The World Cup has left United's transfer strategy in tatters too. The pre-tournament favourites - Torres, Riqulme, Mascherano - all performed well and will have seen their stock rise. Even Michael Carrick did well in his one and only appearance against Ecuador and was unlucky to have been dropped for the quarter final. The point being an already expensive shopping list just got a whole lot pricier. While United's true transfer budget is remains open to question the apparent failure of the management to pay a £26m interest payment suggests it might not be all that large. Even if the Reds are successful in their £15m bid for the Tottenham player then the whole budget could conceivably have been blown in one fell swoop.
What of van Nistelrooy now? The Dutch player has slipped from first choice club and national striker of worldwide repute at the start of the season, to sitting on the bench at Old Trafford and being dropped by his national manager by the end of the World Cup. He is 30 and if the old adage that 'you're only as good as your last game' is true - then United are unlikely to get the £15m they had been seeking. Strikers of Ruud's class don't come onto the market very often but United are not holding a very good hand.
van Nistelrooy, of course, is being hounded out of United not because of his performances but because of the ongoing dispute with Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese winger and the Dutch striker are known to dislike each other, despite the denials to the contrary, with the antipathy culminating in a heated training ground row. Fergie sided with Ronaldo not because of some higher principal but because he's the future of United. Or so we thought. With the apparent on-field dispute between Rooney and Ronaldo the end may well have come for the latter at Old Trafford.
While Ferguson's expediency may have seen him back the former Sporting Lisbon player against van Nistelrooy, that very thinking will see him do the same for Rooney - should it come to that. The push and shove on the pitch may have been handbags at dawn - it is the apparent demand that the referee show the Scouser a red card that could be impossible to forgive. Ronaldo denied it post match, claiming to have only been asking for a free kick. That the Argentinean referee had already given the infringement places the youngster's claim in doubt.
Indeed, some media have suggest that Wayne Rooney has pledged to never again play with Ronaldo. The Sunday Mirror, not always the most reliable of sources, quoted Rooney as saying that he can: "never play with him again. I am going to ****ing sort him out." Even Mary "Alan Shearer" Poppins urged Rooney to "lamp him [Ronaldo] one." This came after television cameras caught Ronaldo whispering into the Scouser's ear prior to kick off, gently butting him in the head before he walked away. The winger apparently told Rooney that he was "going to get him sent off".
Not in recent memory has a Red acted in such an apparently unsporting way towards a teammate and it is hard to see how he can return to United with any level of popularity unless a reconciliation is forthcoming. The mild mannered and always dignified Spurs coach Martin Jol called Ronaldo "a disgrace to football" - it sums up the general feeling in football. However, had Ronaldo not been a United player the media witch-hunt that is now taking place would probably have been focussed on Rooney instead such are the vagaries of Fleet Street.
It's an argument that may be moot in any case. Ronaldo has pledged his allegiance - in front of live television cameras - to a leading candidate for Real Madrid's Presidency (who in fact lost). If he acted in the belief that he had no intention of returning to United then that is probably one explanation for the below-the-belt goading of a fellow teammate. With Villa Mir losing the election in Madrid, Ronaldo faces a very difficult return to pre-season training.
As for Rooney, he may well be spared a Beckhamesque lynching in the wake of his red card. Indeed, there would appear to be much sympathy for the player who at worse was clumsy in treading on Ricardo Carvalho's balls and then petulant in pushing Ronaldo away. Some may argue that he could not have caused much damage with the boot - the Chelsea player had little in the gonad department in the first place. Although the collective moaning by Lampard, Gerrard, Cole and co post match appears to be an attempt to cover up for the team's obvious inadequacies.
It's not all bad, thankfully. Elsewhere Louis Saha, Michael Silvestre and Tim Howard played so little that they will return fresh for the new season. It's a minor bonus in a disastrous World Cup for United. Although Nemanja Vidic sustained a serious knee injury, the period out will be six to eight weeks, rather than months like Michael Owen. Most of all, Rooney has returned physically fit at least. We can be thankful for small mercies.
:: united rant :: - a Manchester United fanzine
The omens were dire right from the start. Wayne Rooney's broken fourth metatarsal, sustained at Stamford Bridge on April 29th, led to six weeks of will-he-won't-he national anguish and implied threats of legal action. The relationship between club and Football Association seems to have sunk to a new low after England used a half-fit Rooney much earlier in the tournament than anticipated. Fortunately rumours of discord between player and club manager have been thoroughly and convincingly rubbished by the Scouse star. Phew! At least Rooney is coming back in one piece - his metatarsal having remained intact and no further injuries having been sustained. His mental state after being sent off against Portugal may be a different matter. A difficult season could be waiting.
The World Cup has left United's transfer strategy in tatters too. The pre-tournament favourites - Torres, Riqulme, Mascherano - all performed well and will have seen their stock rise. Even Michael Carrick did well in his one and only appearance against Ecuador and was unlucky to have been dropped for the quarter final. The point being an already expensive shopping list just got a whole lot pricier. While United's true transfer budget is remains open to question the apparent failure of the management to pay a £26m interest payment suggests it might not be all that large. Even if the Reds are successful in their £15m bid for the Tottenham player then the whole budget could conceivably have been blown in one fell swoop.
What of van Nistelrooy now? The Dutch player has slipped from first choice club and national striker of worldwide repute at the start of the season, to sitting on the bench at Old Trafford and being dropped by his national manager by the end of the World Cup. He is 30 and if the old adage that 'you're only as good as your last game' is true - then United are unlikely to get the £15m they had been seeking. Strikers of Ruud's class don't come onto the market very often but United are not holding a very good hand.
van Nistelrooy, of course, is being hounded out of United not because of his performances but because of the ongoing dispute with Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese winger and the Dutch striker are known to dislike each other, despite the denials to the contrary, with the antipathy culminating in a heated training ground row. Fergie sided with Ronaldo not because of some higher principal but because he's the future of United. Or so we thought. With the apparent on-field dispute between Rooney and Ronaldo the end may well have come for the latter at Old Trafford.
While Ferguson's expediency may have seen him back the former Sporting Lisbon player against van Nistelrooy, that very thinking will see him do the same for Rooney - should it come to that. The push and shove on the pitch may have been handbags at dawn - it is the apparent demand that the referee show the Scouser a red card that could be impossible to forgive. Ronaldo denied it post match, claiming to have only been asking for a free kick. That the Argentinean referee had already given the infringement places the youngster's claim in doubt.
Indeed, some media have suggest that Wayne Rooney has pledged to never again play with Ronaldo. The Sunday Mirror, not always the most reliable of sources, quoted Rooney as saying that he can: "never play with him again. I am going to ****ing sort him out." Even Mary "Alan Shearer" Poppins urged Rooney to "lamp him [Ronaldo] one." This came after television cameras caught Ronaldo whispering into the Scouser's ear prior to kick off, gently butting him in the head before he walked away. The winger apparently told Rooney that he was "going to get him sent off".
Not in recent memory has a Red acted in such an apparently unsporting way towards a teammate and it is hard to see how he can return to United with any level of popularity unless a reconciliation is forthcoming. The mild mannered and always dignified Spurs coach Martin Jol called Ronaldo "a disgrace to football" - it sums up the general feeling in football. However, had Ronaldo not been a United player the media witch-hunt that is now taking place would probably have been focussed on Rooney instead such are the vagaries of Fleet Street.
It's an argument that may be moot in any case. Ronaldo has pledged his allegiance - in front of live television cameras - to a leading candidate for Real Madrid's Presidency (who in fact lost). If he acted in the belief that he had no intention of returning to United then that is probably one explanation for the below-the-belt goading of a fellow teammate. With Villa Mir losing the election in Madrid, Ronaldo faces a very difficult return to pre-season training.
As for Rooney, he may well be spared a Beckhamesque lynching in the wake of his red card. Indeed, there would appear to be much sympathy for the player who at worse was clumsy in treading on Ricardo Carvalho's balls and then petulant in pushing Ronaldo away. Some may argue that he could not have caused much damage with the boot - the Chelsea player had little in the gonad department in the first place. Although the collective moaning by Lampard, Gerrard, Cole and co post match appears to be an attempt to cover up for the team's obvious inadequacies.
It's not all bad, thankfully. Elsewhere Louis Saha, Michael Silvestre and Tim Howard played so little that they will return fresh for the new season. It's a minor bonus in a disastrous World Cup for United. Although Nemanja Vidic sustained a serious knee injury, the period out will be six to eight weeks, rather than months like Michael Owen. Most of all, Rooney has returned physically fit at least. We can be thankful for small mercies.
:: united rant :: - a Manchester United fanzine
