Русская версияCOMMUNITY SHIELD
Man Utd 0-0 Portsmouth (Kick-off 1500 BST)
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GOALFLASHES AND MAJOR INCIDENTS (all times BST)
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By Paul Fletcher
1500: The match is under way. And to clear up some confusion on 606, Nani can play today but will miss the opening two games of the Premier League campaign.
1459: "I want to meet the lady who is singing. Damn. Any idea who it is Fletch?"
MU-Blade on 606
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None, but I fully understand where you are coming from.
New hairdo for David James. I think they are what are known as corn rolls.
1456: Quiet, national anthem time.
1453: "Who is Possebon - never heard of him?"
Anonymous via text on 81111
Good question. He is a Brazilian midfielder, first name Rodrigo. He joined United from Internacional.
1450: England coach Fabio Capello is at Wembley, signing autographs and looking relaxed.
1449: (See 1431) "September 29 2007. Pompey 7-4 Reading."
Joe, a cherries fan from Bournemouth, via text on 81111
Very fair point.
1444: TEAM NEWS
Gary Neville makes his first start since breaking his ankle in March 2007 and he captains Manchester United at Wembley.
Sir Alex Ferguson selects John O'Shea to partner Paul Scholes in the centre of midfield and, in the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo (ankle) and Wayne Rooney (virus), Ryan Giggs is up front with Carlos Tevez.
Portsmouth have £11m summer signing Peter Crouch partnering Jermain Defoe in their attack and Lassana Diarra shakes off an ankle injury to play in midfield.
1440: TEAM LINE-UPS
Man Utd: Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Fletcher, O'Shea, Scholes, Giggs, Nani, Tevez.
Subs: Kuszczak, Brown, Carrick, Evans, Campbell, Possebon, Da Silva.
Portsmouth: James, Johnson, Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson, Diop, Pedro Mendes, Diarra, Kranjcar, Crouch, Defoe.
Subs: Ashdown, Utaka, Mvuemba, Sahar, Lauren, Cranie, Traore.
Referee: Peter Walton (Northamptonshire)
1434: Just seen some images of Cristiano Ronaldo at Wembley. He is obviously not playing today as he is injured but boy is he sporting a suntan. Don't see many like that in Burnage.
1431: "Domestic football in the summer sucks! Can anyone remember a single game, from any season, before October that was any good? Still gunna watch though."
Cold War Kid on 606
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Excitement levels are threatening to go through the roof on 606. I mean come on, there must have been plenty of t.drawer drama before October.
1426: "Wembley is in north west London, not west. West London is Heathrow and I believe that is where Ronaldo will go in January for Madrid!"
oldskool3000 on 606
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This could get interesting. I live in west London for sure and can see Wembley from just outside my flat. Hence I have always classed it as west London. I was just about to tell you how very wrong you are when somebody sat very close to me said that you are right. However, to say that Heathrow is west London is a touch cheeky 'cus I'm pretty sure that Ealing, Acton, Shepherds Bush etc are all west London as well and they are, quite literally, miles from Heathrow.
And anyway, is Heathrow not south west London?
1422: "I don't think this has got the hallmarks of a classic game really, it's just a curtain-raiser for the season ahead. I think Pompey will take more from this than United will."
The Jonster Monster on 606
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I'm sensing that you can hardly contain your excitement.
1418: Some early team news - Gary Neville starts for United. We'll have more on that real soon.
1415: Community Shield. August. Sunshine. All smiles. Not this year. I can officially confirm with my own eyes that leaden skies are the order of the day in good old west London.
1410: I know you'll find this hard to believe but football is not the only sport taking place this afternoon.
Over in China we have the Olympics, brought to you by Caroline Cheese. Who is not in China.
And England are pushing for victory in the fourth Test against South Africa. That's cricket, by the way.
1405 BST: It's not often that we get a team from outside the 'big four' competing in the Community Shield but we sure have today as Portsmouth play Manchester United in the traditional curtain-raiser.
I'm never really sure what we learn from watching the Community Shield and as United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said of the fixture: "It's always a game we never quite use as a do-or-die thing, we use it as a barometer for fitness."
But maybe this year Pompey will add a bit of edge to the encounter in an effort to land some silverware nice and early.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on it all.
(BBC)
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