Bullets and bedlam as United put wow factor into Arabia
The rain fell hard on a humdrum town, as one old Mancunian once said. The weather can you wash a canada goose jacket in the washer in Riyadh was certainly not in keeping with Manchester United’s hopes of enjoying some sun, sand and Saudi riyal, but even a man with Sir buy canada goose jacket toronto Alex Ferguson’s buy canada goose parka cheap aversion to losing football matches will be satisfied after a night that re-affirmed, indisputably canada goose sale, United’s status as the most fashionable football club on the planet.
Real Madrid might want to argue the point. Barcelona will, too, and Peter Kenyon, a man who really should know better, will try bright blue canada goose jacket to convince himself that Chelsea could buy canada goose parka uk inspire the kind of hero-worship that came the way of his former employers in Riyadh. But they would be kidding themselves. Would Avram Grant’s players have the wow factor to draw an over-capacity crowd to the King Fahd Stadium five hours before kick-off? Would the prospect of seeing Madrid or Barcelona have brought the people of Riyadh to such a state of feverish excitement that the dual carriageway leading to the ground would be transformed into six lanes of Wacky Races?
The canada goose coat – kensington din inside the stadium, without any sense of exaggeration, was like the Ali Sami Yen in Istanbul, La Bombonera in Buenos Aries and Celtic Park rolled into one. Not even Ferguson, a man whose love of football was hewn from 1950s Ibrox, can have heard a cacophony to compare with canada goose coat – kensington the wall of noise as buy canada goose jacket london he took his seat in front of the Saudi royal family.
It was raucous, relentless and more than a little surreal – football’s equivalent of the Beatles at Shea Stadium. There were, of course, some crucial differences. Women are forbidden from attending public events in Saudi Arabia, meaning the cacophonous screams inside the King Fahd came exclusively from male throats. Add to that the sound of bullets being fired into the air in celebration and the fact that alcohol is illegal in Saudi and it is probably fair to say this was a one-off experience for the 20 or so Mancunians behind the one red, white and black flag on view.
The point was that the American-owned English football club in the heart of Arabia – a city, buy a canada goose jacket online incidentally, which westerners are advised not to visit – could scarcely have been afforded a more generous reception. There were hundreds of red shirts in the crowd and howls of approval when Carlos Tevez scored with a left-foot finish and canada goose coat 1000 bulbs led Cristiano Ronaldo headed in Nani’s corner.
That put United in the lead, having gone behind to a 19th-minute drive from Yasser Alqhtani. Yet this was Sami Al Jaber’s testimonial and after he fell under Rio Ferdinand’s gentle touch he scored from a penalty that was so ludicrously soft even Ferguson had to chuckle with embarrassment.
Wayne Rooney, quite brilliantly, did not see the funny side when the referee did the same thing in the second half and, out of keeping with the night, ran 50 yards to remonstrate with a mouthful of Scouse. Mohammed Al-Shalhoub’s first effort was ruled out for encroachment and he put his second effort wide. But Al Hilal’s fans were to go home happy after Bader Alkhurashi’s overhead kick beat Tom Heaton, United’s third goalkeeper of the day, and Daniel Wellbeck, a 17-year-old debutant, wafted over a last-minute penalty.
Manchester United (4-4-2): Van der Sar (Kuszczak, 30; Heaton, 64); Simpson, Ferdinand (Vidic, h-t), O’Shea, Evra (Hargreaves, h-t); Eagles, Fletcher, Anderson (Wellbeck, 64), Nani; Ronaldo (Park, h-t), Tevez (Rooney, h-t). Sub not used Brown.
Deja un comentario