Football Philosopher
The League Season and FA Cup Final
After Manchester United's win over Newcastle United in the FA Cup Semifinals, the team's performance went up and down. On 21 April Sir Alex Ferguson's side lost 1-0 away to Merseyside against Everton.
After that on April 23, Manchester United again met with Newcastle United this time in the premier league match, which was, they won 2-1 with a Wayne Rooney strike and a Wes Brown header in the second half. At that time Manchester United trailed first through Ambrose's goal in the first half.
On Sunday 1 May Manchester United headed to London to play Charlton Athletic, the Reds Devil won easily against the 11th-placed team in the premier league at the time, through two goals from Paul Scholes and Darren Fletcher in the first half, then two more goals from Alan Smith and Wayne Rooney in the second half, Sir Alex Ferguson's men won convincingly 0-4.
Six days later on 7 May Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw by 19th-ranked West Bromwich Albion. After winning first through Ryan Giggs goal in the first half, the Manchester United defense was caught off guard in the second half and equated by Earnshaw goal. Until the end of 90 minutes the score remains the same and each share 1 point.
Sir Alex Ferguson's side face Mourinho's Chelsea on May 11 at Old Trafford. Had a quick lead through an easy goal from Ruud Van Nistelrooy in front of the goal in the 8th minute of the first half, unfortunately the goal was immediately reciprocated by Mourinho's team in the 17th minute through a goal long-range kick Tiago Mendes. Score hold up to halftime.
In the second half again the Manchester United goal guarded by goalkeeper Roy Carroll was broken by Iceland players, Eidur Gudjohnsen in the 61st minute, and also Joe Cole's goal in the 82nd minute. There was a face of disappointment throughout the stadium and the score ended 1-3 to Chelsea's victory, making it Manchester United's fifth defeat in the Premier League this season.
Manchester United's last Premier League game will be away at St Mary's Stadium against Southampton. In the 10th minute Sir Alex Ferguson's team had to concede first when Soton got a corner kick headed by Le Saux regarding John O'Shea and into the net the score became 1-0. Then it was answered 9 minutes later through a header Darren Fletcher after receiving a pass from O'Shea.
Manchester United scored the winner in the 63rd minute as a mature pass from Alan Smith headed in by Ruud Van Nistelrooy took the final score to 1-2. All Southampton players and fans were in tears at being relegated this season after finishing in the caretaker position, while Manchester United finished 3rd with 77 points, lost to Arsenal ranked 2nd with 83 points and Chelsea who became champions this season with 95 points that only lost once against Arsenal.
The long-awaited time for the FA Cup Final between Arsenal and Manchester United is finally here. The match on 21 May 2005 will take place at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff at 21:00 local time.
The stadium was filled with both Arsenal and Manchester United fans, and of course James was there with David to support the team and look back at the history of that time. James is determined to change the timeline of the game history by increasing player motivation by giving a big bonus.
The match started at exactly 21:00 Cardiff time, both teams' attacks were equally incessant and Manchester United almost excelled with a header from Paul Scholes after receiving a pass from Cristiano Ronaldo, if only the ball did not soar high above the crossbar.
A 0-0 scoreline persisted until halftime, the second half starting with the high intensity of both teams, the buying and selling of the attack continued and in the end the score remained goalless until the long whistle of the end of the game 90 minutes sounded. Next the match will enter an additional round of 2x15 minutes.
'It looks like the match is the same as I saw in my previous life, the score remains the same until the end and will enter the penalty shootout round, I have to do something!' james in the heart
After the second half whistle ended James left for the Manchester United dressing room, he walked along the corridor and finally right in front of the entrance of the locker room guarded by security.
"Where are you going, sir?" ask the security guard.
"Oh, I'm going to go into the dressing room and give a little encouragement to my team. Is something wrong?" james replied relaxed.
"But sir, I will be angered by Sir Alex Ferguson" the security guard replied nervously.
"It's okay, I'll be responsible for this, there's no need to worry about just 3 short minutes" James said.
"Okay sir, please come in" said the officer.
After entering James got a confused look from everyone who was there. But he was indifferent and headed straight for Sir Alex Ferguson.
Ferguson was confused and almost angry with the inclusion of James in the team's dressing room, he asked James "Are you going to interfere with my duties Mr Packer?"
"No-no Mr Ferguson, I will only speak 2 minutes to the players to give a little motivation and hope. Could that be Mr Ferguson?" james replied quickly.
"Well do as you please Mr. Packer." replied Ferguson with his red face holding back anger.
James looked at all the Manchester United players and firmly said "Friends, here I will not say many things, because it is the duty of Sir Alex Ferguson later. One thing I want is to see a win and bring the cup back to Manchester and a big bonus will await you all."
"Roy here...!" James calls Roy Carroll the goalkeeper, not Roy Keane Captain Manchester United.
After that James gave a piece of paper to Roy Carroll, "If the match enters the penalty shootout just follow the instructions on the paper." James said to him. After that he went out. The paper was something James had prepared yesterday before the game, he wanted to change history.
"I did a little important business just now, you'll know David later. Let's continue watching, the match will start again soon" James said a little mysteriously.
The match resumed into the extra round, the two teams still attacked each other, but until the end of the first half whistle the extra time finished the score was still the same. And the drama came at the end of the game, in the 120th minute Jose Antonio Reyes received a second yellow card and got a red card after his elbow hit Cristiano Ronaldo's head. After that the final whistle is sounded, and will enter the penalty shootout round.
The first kicker was Ruud Van Nistelrooy, his kick into the left of the Lehmann goal, the first kicker from Arsenal namely Lauren, the first kicker, and before that Roy Carroll the Manchester United goalkeeper glanced at a piece of paper and looked at the top left handwriting, he said, after the whistle was blown without hesitation he jumped to his upper left and right although the ball still entered the goal because it went to the top corner hard to reach his hand. Both scored 1-1.
Manchester United's second kicker was Paul Scholes, he kicked to the left or right of the goalkeeper, and Lehmann correctly guessed the direction of the ball kick driven by him. Arsenal fans rejoiced with this, then Arsenal's second kicker Freddie Ljungberg, Roy Carroll again read the paper and see the right/center writing. He was confused for a moment and thought, I'd better wait in the middle and if the kick goes to the right I'll jump. The whistle went off and the ball was kicked, Carroll was prepared to wait and sure enough, Ljungberg's shot that wanted to emulate the harvests style was heading towards the middle and the ball was easily caught by Goalkeeper Roy Carroll. The score is the same 1-1.
Furthermore, the third kicker, Cristiano Ronaldo, kick to the bottom left easily outwit Arsenal goalkeeper, while the sword of Arsenal, Ashley Cole, was, Carroll looked at the paper again and sure enough the kick was pointing as directed, he managed to pull the ball away with his left hand. This time it was Manchester United supporters who cheered. The score was 2-1.
Rooney's fourth kicker with his hard kick into the top left corner of the net was unstoppable Lehmann, though, and Robin Van Persie's hard kick to the top right or left of the goalkeeper also failed to stop Carroll even though it was correct in guessing it. The score was 3-2.
The decisive kick will be done by Manchester United's Captain Roy Keane he took the cue and a kick to the right of the goal can not be dammed by goalkeeper Jens Lehmann. The score to 5-3 Manchester United ensured the champion through a penalty kick.
James smiled happily to see his beloved team win. He glanced at David and said "You saw the paper David, I gave it to him."
David was confused by what James said and asked, "What did you write on the paper?"
"It's a secret, hehe." James said lightly.
A piece of paper that can change history. And this time James really changed history.
*Paper written by James
Note the penalty kick habits of Arsenal players,
Right senderos
Kolo Toure left down
Ashley Cole top right
Lauren top left
Patrick Vieira right
Gilberto Silva Bottom left
Bergkamp left
Ljungberg right/middle
Van Persie top left
Edu left
Reyes right
Gudjohnsen left