Manchester United v A-League All Stars

[iMattster]

Tonight (morning in the UK), ANZ Stadium in Sydney plays host to the first ever (or 2013) A-League All Stars Game. The A-League All Stars play host to Barclays Premier League greats Manchester United amid nippy conditions, and in front of over 80,000 fans.

David Moyes, as Manchester United's new manager, taking over from Sir Alex Ferguson 20 days ago, seeks his first win as manager, after a 2-1 lost against Thailand's Singha All Stars in Bangkok.
Meanwhile, Ange Postecoglou is the first ever A-League All Stars manager, and after naming the first team, they've a majority of their stars pull out due to contractual issues with their affiliated A-League Club.

The Line-Ups are below:
Manchester United: A. Lindegaard, Rafael, P. Evra, P. Jones, R. Ferdinand, R. Giggs, M. Carrick, D. Welbeck, T. Cleverley, W. Zaha, J. Lingard
Substitutes: D. De Gea, Anderson, R. van Persie, Fabio, M. Keane, A. Januzaj

A-League All Stars: A. Covic (WSW), N. Boogaard (ADL), J. Rose (CCM), N. Topor-Stanley (WSW), M. Beauchamp (WSW), P. Bojic (SYD), B. Emerton (SYD), L. Miller (PER now at BR), B. Berisha (BR), M. McGlinchey (CCM), T. Broich (BR)
Substitutes: M. Theo (BR), P. Ifill (WEL), J. Risdon (PER), D. Williams (MH), R. Grant (SYD), C. Chapman (NJ), M. Carrusca (ADL), M. Bridge (WSW), B. Celeski (MV)

Key for teams:
WSW = Western Sydney Wanderers, ADL = Adelaide United, CCM = Central Coast Mariners, SYD = Sydney FC, PER = Perth Glory, BR = Brisbane Roar, WEL = Wellington Phoenix, MH = Melbourne Heart, NJ = Neacastle Jets, MV = Melbourne Victory

With the teams like this, the All Stars have gotten it easier than expected. With Wayne Rooney ruled out due to "injury" (transfer maybe?), the Manchester United strikers have some work to do. However, the All Stars are missing stars like Alessandro Del Piero, Shinji Ono and Emile Heskey. To add to the blows of the All Stars, Manchester United have star Robin van Persie coming off the bench, more than likely around the 50th to 60th minute, to add to their attack at the end of the game.

After looking at the All Stars team, and being a fan of the A-League for a number of years here in Australia, there are many changes that I personally would have made. In preview of the match, that kicks off at 7:30pm (10:30am BST/5:30am EST) in half an hours time, I believe Manchester United will easily over come the A-League All Stars, and win 6-1, giving David Moyes a boost ahead of their next friendly matches against Yokohama, and Cerezo Osaka in Japan over the next week.

- Please Note I have no affiliation with FIFA, the FFA or any of the clubs involved. Take your own opinion if you want, it makes little difference to me.

[JerseySafety]

Definitely not the best all stars players in that team. Most of them are reasonable but some of them I've never heard of which means they can't be that good.

[iMattster]

-- UPDATE --
Half time at ANZ Stadium, Sydney
Foxtel A-League All Stars 0 - 2 Manchester United
Man Utd Goals: 10' Jesse LINGARD 33' Danny WELBECK
Attempts on Target All Stars 2 5 Manchester United
Attempts off Target All Stars 2 1 Manchester United
Possession All Stars 32% 68% Manchester United
Corners All Stars 1 9 Manchester United

With half time, substitutions are REQUIRED from the All Stars. They need to replace their goalkeeper for a start. He's let in two goals, and his defenders stopped 3 shots from happening before they went in the net. The All Stars defense was really good for the first 5 minutes, and various pockets of the game. They need to lift if they want to be close. Manchester United will win this game, with my prediction of 6-1 staying the same.

UPDATE:
ALL STARS SUBSTITUTION A. Covic OFF M. Theo ON -- L. Miller OFF B. Celeski ON -- P. Bojic OFF J. Risdon ON
MANCHESTER UNITED SUBSTITUTION R. Ferdinand OFF M. Keane ON

[iMattster]

-- FULL TIME --
at ANZ Stadium, Sydney
Foxtel A-League All Stars 1 - 5 Manchester United
Man Utd Goals: 10', 54' Jesse LINGARD 33', 70' Danny WELBECK 86' Robin van PERSIE
Foxtel A-League All Stars Goal: 51' Besart BERISHA
Attempts on Target All Stars 3 13 Manchester United
Attempts off Target All Stars 4 4 Manchester United
Possession All Stars 34% 66% Manchester United
Corners All Stars 2 15 Manchester United

Manchester United Substitutions:
HT R. Ferdinand OFF M. Keane ON, 62' R. Giggs OFF R. van Persie ON, 71' M. Carrick OFF Anderson ON, 75' P. Evra OFF Fabio ON
Foxtel A-League All Stars Substitutions
HT A. Covic OFF M. Theo ON, L. Miller OFF B. Celeski ON, P. Bojic OFF J. Risdon ON, 62' M. McGlinchey OFF R. Grant ON, J. Rose OFF M. Bridge ON, 72' T. Broich OFF P. Ifill ON, B. Berisha OFF D. Williams ON, 84' M. Beauchamp OFF C. Chapman ON

In what was an exhibition match for many and a pre-season match for Manchester United, the game was fired up from the get-go. At Half time it was 2-0, and Manchester United was showing the world the quality of Australian Football in the world, and that our A-League is not just some tournament for players past their use by date (Del Piero, Hesky etc.).
It really never was in the A-League All Stars favour from the minute they set foot on ANZ Stadium. The Australian crowd was clearly for Manchester United. This game was hyped up so much, a majority of the country completely forgot about the Ashes Test match at Lords, and the Australia v South Korea match, both taking part at the same time.
The final score: Manchester United 5 A-League All Stars 1.

[Daltron]

horrible choices for an aus all star team

---------- Post added 21-07-2013 at 10:55 AM ----------

plus I think most people who went last night to anz were going for man u lmao

[iMattster]

horrible choices for an aus all star team

---------- Post added 21-07-2013 at 10:55 AM ----------

plus I think most people who went last night to anz were going for man u lmao

Haha of course. I was going for Manchester last night as well. Only one Perth player (Liam Miller was from Perth until he did the Australian van Persie move) played for them, and Manchester Utd have always been my favourite team.

[Adam]

For a moment there I thought you were affiliated with FIFA.

[iMattster]

For a moment there I thought you were affiliated with FIFA.

Lol?