Manchester United 2 - Portsmouth 1

Manchester United continued their positive runs in their pre-season friendlies. Against Portsmouth at the Abuja National Stadium in Lagos, Nigeria, Manchester United manage to beat their FA Community Shield opponent by 2 goals to 1.

Chris Eagles scored first on the 51st minute followed by a Carlos Tevez goal on the 61st minute. Portsmouth managed to score a consolation through Jermain Defor at the 90th minute.

Only half of the 60.000 capacity stadium is filled by audiences, but nevertheless, the Nigerian fans managed to make an exciting atmosphere throughout the match. Even without Wayne Rooney, Manchester United still manage to dominate the game.

On the 5th minute, Manchester United was rewarded by a penalty. Carlos Tevez had to re-take his kick and on the second attempt he hit the bar. On the 24th minute, Frazier Campbell had another golden chance for Manchester United, but again David James is up to the rescue. James again saved Portsmouth from being a goal down again by saving another chances created by Campbell on the 37th minute.

Finally on the 51st minute, Chris Eagles managed to break the dead lock. Ten minutes later Tevez finally scored a goal for him. Portsmouth will still continue their South African tour, while Manchester United will return to Manchester.

Fergie : Levy Only Makes a Fool Out of Himself...

Yesterday, Tottenham Hotspurs chairman, Daniel Levy, said that Fergie is a hypocrite. He said that Fergie do exactly the same thing to Dimitar Berbatov with what Real Madrid did to Cristiano Ronaldo, by making a public statement of Manchester United's interest on the Bulgarian striker.

The public statement from Fergie was quoted from The Sun, but Fergie himself denies that he has made any quote whatsoever to The Sun or any other media.

"It will be very embarassing for Tottenham, because it seems that the report was based on an unreliable quote written in The Sun".

"Levy should've contacted David Gill first before bursting out and completely mada a fool out of himself.", Fergie said.


Kaizer Chiefs VS Manchester United : 1-1

In our pre-season tour to South Africa, we were held to a 1-1 draw agains Kaizer Chiefs. Chiefs had the first shot at goal when a fierce shot from Gerald Sibeko was saved by a diving Tomasz Kuszczak.

The Chiefs then scored first in the friendly match at Newlands Stadium following a foul by Gary Neville on Siphiwe Tshabalala in the penalty box.

Ghanaian defender Jonathan Quartey converted the 38th-minute penalty to give them the lead. Cris Eagles then scored the equalizer for Manchester United in the 60th minute by headed home a cross from Carlos Tevez. Chiefs' goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune was wrongfooted as the ball took a deflection off captain Jimmy Tau.

"It was exactly the kind of match I was hoping for because it helped us build rhythm," Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said. Before kick-off, however, Rio Ferdinand had a little injury on his ankle.

"We decided to rest him and not take any chances," Ferguson said. "He should be okay for the next match.". In the next pre-season tour match, Manchester United will play Orlando Pirates next Tuesday in Durban.

Owen Hargreaves Will Miss Pre-Season

Owen Hargreaves will miss Manchester United's pre-season tour due to injury. Nani, Edwin van der Sar and Patrice Evra, who all played at Euro 2008, will also miss the pre-season tour to South Africa.

First it was feared that the England international suffers a long term injury, but Fergie denies it. "He will come back to training as soon as possible, it was the same injury as last year, we dealt with it last November and it went out just fine.".

Wayne Rooney and the rest of the United squad, including Carlos Tevez and Ryan Giggs, were included in the pre-season squad. Gary Neville, who spent most of last season injured is also included to regain full fitness level.

United go into their three-game tour in a tired mood, according to midfielder Michael Carrick. "The season has come round pretty quickly, but it is the longest I have had off for a number of years. It was nice to have the break, but I have been ready to come back,we won our first pre-season game at Aberdeen last Saturday, but it was all about the fitness and getting sharper.", Carrick said.

Manchester United Pre-Season Squad :

Goalkeeper :
Tomasz Kuszczak, Ben Foster.

Defenders :
Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, John O'Shea, Wesley Brown, Mikael Silvestre, Gary Neville, Daniel Simpson.

Midfielders :
Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick, Paul Scholes, Darren Fletcher.

Forwards :
Carlos Tevez, Wayne Rooney.

Youth Squad :
Lee Martin, Fraizer Campbell, Darron Gibson, Jonathan Evans, Ben Amos, Christopher Eagles, Michael Clegg, Andrew Caveney, Gary Walker.