United set the seal on an historic year by becoming the first British side to win the Club World Cup to end 2008 as the best team on the planet.
First-half dominance gave way to second-half nerves as the Reds were forced to play 45 minutes with only 10 men following Nemanja Vidic’s sending off, but a 73rd minute goal from player of the tournament Wayne Rooney gave United a deserved victory.
Sir Alex Ferguson had shuffled his pack, making four changes to the side that beat Gamba Osaka, while Liga de Quito coach Edgardo Bauza - managing the Ecuadorian side for the last time - named the same XI that started against Pachucha in Wednesday’s other semi-final. There had been pre-match speculation that the tough-tackling South Americans may target Cristiano Ronaldo, and sure enough, Claudio Bieler was in the book just two minutes into the match for a rough shoulder-check on Ronny. The Uzbek referee Ravshan Irmatov made it clear he was wasn’t going to stand for any nonsense during this game, and the yellow card was duly shown.....More Read more...
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