FIFA Updates

By Simon Evans

HOUSTON, July 29 (Reuters) – Manchester United’s teenage
Italian striker Federico Macheda believes he can challenge the
club’s senior players for a first-team place this season and
make a lasting impact on the Premier League.

“I am ready and I hope that the manager will choose me for
more games. I think this could be my year,” he told Reuters
after scoring twice in a 5-2 pre-season win over Major League
Soccer’s All Stars on Wednesday.

The Rome-born forward, who turns 19 next month, made an
instant impact on his debut in April 2009 with a superb winner
against Aston Villa but his progress was hampered last season by
injury.

It was clear from his aggressive display in the friendly in
Houston that he is determined to make up for that lost time.

“I had played in the previous tour games but I hadn’t been
very happy with my performance, so I really wanted to show to
everyone that I was ready,” he said.

“We’re getting close to the start of the season and so I’m
really pleased with those two goals. I have to continue doing
well. I have to be ready for any chance that the manager (Alex
Ferguson) gives me.”

With Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen perhaps not ready to fire
on all cylinders at the start of the season, and Dimitar
Berbatov still trying to find his best form at Old Trafford,
Macheda knows he could get a chance early in the campaign.

“Last season I had a lot of injuries—I was out for nearly
five months and so I couldn’t really show my ability—but this
season I hope to have more space and show what I can do,” he
said.

TREMENDOUS COMPOSURE

Macheda’s opening goal against the All Stars was aided by a
dreadful pass from MLS defender Kevin Alston but the Italian,
who United captured from Lazio’s youth team, showed tremendous
composure to finish the chance.

Ferguson, whom Macheda calls a “splendid person and a
fantastic coach”, said the goal confirmed what he and his staff
had long believed about the Italian’s finishing ability.

“We always think Macheda is the best going through on the
goalkeeper that we have,” Ferguson said. “He’s outstanding at
that in these positions. When he went through, I expected him to
score. It was a well taken goal.”

That is praise indeed from a manager who can call on
strikers of the quality of Rooney, Owen and Berbatov.

The arrival of Mexico striker Javier Hernandez provides yet
more competition for places in attack but Macheda shrugged off
the suggestion he has a new rival for a starting spot.

“I think we have seven strikers in the team and they are all
a challenge, bringing in one more or having one less doesn’t
make much difference,” said the Italian.

“He (Hernandez) is a good lad, very confident and with a lot
of quality. He’s calm, respectful and he has been well received
by the players,” Macheda said of the 22-year-old, who also
scored on Wednesday when making his debut for the club.

Macheda said he had long observed the techniques and methods
of top strikers, none more so than his childhood hero former
Netherlands and AC Milan forward Marco van Basten.

“When I was a kid, I constantly watched videos of Marco van
Basten, he was always my idol, a great striker,” he said.

(Editing by Stephen Wood; To query or comment on this story
email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has still not decided which players will fall foul of new Premier League regulations on squad size, forcing them to move on from the club.

New rules for next season have declared that each side must name 25 players after the close of the summer transfer window. With the club’s extravagant spending spree, their current first-team stands at a bloated 37 players and needs to be cut down in size.

Speaking to Sky Sports News after last night’s 2-1 defeat to New York Red Bulls, Mancini insisted he didn’t know the identity of which of his stars would be sold.

“We must do a list with 25 players. For this, I think that some players remain out of the list and for them it’s better that they leave the club,” Mancini revealed.

“We are not sure whether it’ll be [Craig] Bellamy, [Michael] Johnson, [Nigel] De Jong it is impossible now to know which players will be on the list.”

For more news on England, visit Goal.com’s England section and join Goal.com USA’s Facebook fan page

NEW YORK, July 25 (Reuters) – English Premier League club
Manchester United suffered the first defeat on their pre-season
North America tour when they were upset 2-1 by the 10-man
Kansas City Wizards in Kansas City on Sunday.

Despite having Jimmy Conrad controversially sent off late
in the first half for a harsh tackle, the home team held on to
record a memorable victory over their far more illustrious
opponents.

In front of 52,000 fans at Arrowhead Stadium, the Wizards
opened the scoring in the 11th minute through midfielder Davy
Arnaud before Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov levelled from the
penalty spot in the 41st.

Just one minute later, Kansas again edged ahead when Kei
Kamara headed Ryan Smith’s corner past Ben Amos, although
subsequent television replays did not confirm whether the ball
had crossed the goal line.

A scoreless second half concluded a game played at a
breakneck pace that featured several near misses.

United coach Alex Ferguson opted to field a relatively
young side, with Amos, Ritchie De Laet and Mame Biram Diouf
lining up with more experienced players Ryan Giggs, Paul
Scholes and Berbatov.

(Writing by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Laguna Seca, California;
Editing by Ian Ransom; To query or comment on this story email
sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

By Steve Keating

TORONTO, July 15 (Reuters) – Manchester United’s first
North American Tour in six years got off to a subdued start on
Thursday when the world’s richest club was left grounded in
Chicago by bad weather and forced to delay its arrival in
Toronto.

An already short stay in Canada was trimmed to a little
more than 24 hours for the Red Devils, who will open their four
city tour against Scottish Premier League runners-up Celtic on
Friday before leaving for the second leg of the trip the next
morning.

The stormy conditions denied organisers an opportunity to
promote the match and make one final push to boost ticket sales
for an event that is going head-to-head with the Toronto Indy
being raced on city streets this weekend.

While the Indy is offering free action, promoters of the
Manchester/Celtic friendly are asking fans to fork out between
$90-165 for a contest that will be missing the players who
represented their countries at the World Cup in South Africa.

Certainly the Red Devils did not receive the type of
fanfare normally reserved for the world’s most famous soccer
club when they arrive for a match.

Only a handful of reporters, two photographers and two
television cameras attended the delayed media briefing that
featured just one player, Darren Fletcher.

The Scotland captain appeared to draw the short straw but
was not forced to give up much of his time, fielding just five
questions before a team media officer abruptly ended the news
conference.

“It’s great to be here in Toronto and all the players are
looking forward to it,” Fletcher said. “We’re excited to get
our first game of the pre-season after 10 days of training all
the lads are itching for their first game.”

Arriving in Toronto just four days after the World Cup
final, Manchester will wrap up their visit in Houston on July
28 by providing the opposition for the Major League Soccer
All-Star Game.

In-between, United will take on the Philadelphia Union
(July 21) and Kansas City Wizards (July 25) before a trip to
Mexico, where they will help Guadalajara open their new stadium
(July 30) as part of a deal to sign Mexican striker Javier
Hernandez.
(Editing by John O’Brien; To query or comment on this story
email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

By Steve Keating

TORONTO, July 15 (Reuters) – For much of the soccer world a
Manchester United jersey is the equivalent of the little black
dress, something every fan’s wardrobe must have.

So when United begin their four-game North American Tour in
Toronto against Celtic on Friday wearing the new kit, their
legions of supporters will likely rush to buy the shirt that
the teams says has already set a record for demand.

“It’s a massive business,” the club’s commercial director,
Richard Arnold, told Reuters. “A lot of work goes into that,
it’s a year-round activity. We are already planning what future
shirt designs will look like two, three years out.”

Designed by Nike and adorned with the logo of their new
sponsor Aon, the world’s largest insurance brokerage believes
the four-year sponsorship deal—which reports have valued at
$120 million to $130 million—can help the company build its
global brand name and boost business.

The sponsorship is viewed as one of the most prestigious in
sports due to United’s massive popularity and a global fan base
that is estimated at 333 million worldwide.

At $1.84 billion, Forbes magazine valued United, owned by
the Glazer family that also own the National Football League’s
Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as the most valuable sports franchise in
the world.

“We’re partnering with the number one club in the world in
the number one sport in the world,” Aon Chief Executive Greg
Case said in a telephone interview after remotely ringing the
opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange from Chicago.

Aon has been preparing for the start of the United deal for
over a year and Case said the return on the sponsorship has
already been noticeable and that the company is confident it
will see “multiples of return off the investment.

“We have multiple ways we’re looking at measuring impact
and I must tell you we’re already well ahead of where we
thought we’d be at this point in time,” he said. “We’re seeing
it in client response and client interest in Aon.”

The Red Devils, who arrived in Toronto just four days after
the World Cup final, kickoff their first North American tour
since 2004 against the Scottish Premier League runners-up and
wrap up their visit in Houston on July 28 when they provide the
opposition for the Major League Soccer All-Star Game.

In-between, United will take on the Philadelphia Union
(July 21) and Kansas City Wizards (July 25). They will also go
to Mexico and help Guadalajara open their new stadium on July
30 as part of a deal to sign Mexican striker Javier Hernandez.

The club said the games in the coming weeks are presenting
a challenge to have enough jerseys available for their fans in
North America, where the team estimates its fan base is closing
in on 10 million.

“One of the things we are struggling with is satisfying
that demand (for shirts),” said Arnold.” One of the challenges
we are facing over the coming weeks is making sure that we can
get all of the stock where it needs to be all over the world.”
(Additional reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by
Frank Pingue; To query or comment on this story email
sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)