Thursday 18 December 2008

Football Feature: Man Utd in Japan for Club World Cup

Not a season goes by without Sir Alex Ferguson complaining about the tight fixture list, especially over Christmas and New Year. With 20 teams in the league, two domestic cup competitions and a selection of European cup competitions, the English Premier League is everything else but lacking in action. Depending on their progress, one team can play up to double the matches a team of the German Bundesliga plays for example.

That's why, it was quite a surprise to see Man Utd take part in this year's Club World Cup. Not only are those extra matches, but they have to fly to the other side of the world - Japan - and back, too. That can't be good for the players, especially at this crucial time of the domestic season. They will come back as wrecks!

Today, Man Utd looked everything else but out of form and thrashed their Japanese League opposition Gamba Osaka 5 : 3 in the semi-final which sees them into Sunday's Club World Cup final against Equadorian side Liga de Quito. 

We will just have to wait and see how this fixture-overload affects them in the next couple of weeks. But if they taste defeat in that time, I can bet a fiver on what Ferguson will blame it on....

(image taken from the Daily Mail)


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