On 8 January, 2012, Manchester United were able to beat Manchester City in a 2-3 FA Cup encounter away from Old Trafford. Manchester City’s FA Cup game against Manchester United did not go well for them as Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck found the net for the Red Devils. Pro soccer star Wayne Rooney broke the deadlock just 10 minutes into the game and missed a penalty kick in the 40th minute after Welbeck had registered his name on the scoring sheet in the 30th minute. Rooney’s brace was decisive in the away team’s win. Of course, 2nd-half goals from Aleksandar Kolarov and Argentina’s Sergio Arguero were not enough to save Manchester City. The FA Cup derby which took place at the Etihad Stadium saw both teams splitting the ball possession percentage.

                                   GOALS SCORED BELOW

After Manchester United were punished by FC Basel in Switzerland on 7 December, 2011 in a 2-1 encounter, they failed to reach the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League tournament. The Red Devils went into the game confident that they would win it but after the 90 minutes were up, they were trailing by a goal. The Swiss side played fantastically well and were up by two goals even before the stoppage time arrived in the widely followed match. Swiss players Marco Streller and Alexander Frei had both scored goals for FC Basel during the first and second half respectfully. While pro soccer stars Nani and Wayne Rooney had all appeared in this critical match, they were unable to help Manchester United to qualify for the next phase of the competition. Manchester United defender Phil Jones scored the only goal for the traveling side and it appears the team’s fans are all frustrated. Man United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is expected to be unhappy with the result the English Premier League giant have endured in this season’s 2011-2012 UEFA Champions League competition.

Pro soccer star player Lionel Messi just saved his team FC Barcelona in their 11th Spanish La Liga encounter against Athletic Bilbao when it ended in a 2-2 draw. FC Barcelona had went into the game looking to take three points from it but they were denied that chance when Gerard Pique scored an own goal during its 2nd half. Midfielder Ander Herrera had scored a goal for the home team during the 20th minute but former Arsenal F.C. player Cesc Fabregas answered it with an equalizer 4 minutes after that.

The game looked shaky for the Spanish Primera giants Barcelona when their own defender netted a nice goal against them. Just in the dieing minutes, savior Lionel Messi registered his name on the score sheet to give his team at least 1 point from the game. Barcelona are currently seated at the 2nd spot of the league table, have 25 points from playing only 11 games and trail behind the impressive Real Madrid C.F. which score 7 goals against Osasuna in their 11 match of the season as well.

Arsenal 2-1 Sunderland Game

Arsenal were able to beat Sunderland in a 2-1 win match when the teams met at the Emirates Stadium London. Arsenal were playing its 8th match of this season 2011-12 of the Barclays Premier League and got a nice win. Robie Van Persie had scored a brace for Arsenal so Sebastian Larsson’s goal for Sunderland was not enough to help his side. The away team Sunderland had went into the game as underdogs as Arsenal were expected to win it. In fact, Arsenal had more than 62% of the ball possession and took 9 corner kicks in the EPL game. The standings of the EPL table shows Arsenal have only 10 points from playing 8 games but they have to pray Manchester City and Manchester United lose some vital points if they are expecting to play UEFA Champions League football next season. At the moment, Stoke City, Aston Villa Football Club and Norwich City F.C. are all ahead of Arsenal in terms of points.

The Scousers Managed to Hold the Red Devils in a 1-1 Draw

Manchester United failed to beat the struggling Liverpool F.C. team at Anfield when they were held to a 1-1 draw. United were expected to get a win from their 8th match of the season as they have not lost any of their encounters unlike Liverpool. Mexican striker Javier Hernandez denied pro soccer star Steven Gerrard an opportunity to win the match for the Reds by scoring a lone goal in its 81st minute. Manchester United have 20 points and are sitting on the 2nd spot of the table.

Manchester United were unable to defeat Swiss side FC Basel 1893 when the two teams met in a UEFA Champions League encounter which ended in a 3-3 draw. Former marksman for Sunderland Danny Welbeck scored a brace for the Red Devils during the match’s first-half but 3 goals from Swiss striker Alexander Frei were enough to hold the top EPL team back from winning a first match in their Group C of this year’s UEFA Champions League competition. It was a last-minute goal from former Aston Villa F.C. player Ashley Young who saved Manchester United from an embarrassment at Old Trafford in England.

Currently, Manchester United have 4 remaining games to play against the three sides accompanying them in Group C. United are still expected to play against FC Oțelul Galați and Benfica as well. Group C standings are pretty tight as Benfica and Basel share 4 points. Manchester’s 2 points have placed the team at the 3rd spot but if Sir Alex Ferguson can get his players in shape, they will qualify for the next round.

Match stats from UEFA

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2012/matches/round=2000263/match=2007589/index.html

Manchester United are still on top of the league table as they were able to beat Chelsea on 18 September, 2011 in a 3-1 encounter at Old Trafford. Former Liverpool forward Fernando Torres was able to score for Chelsea but goals from Nani, Wayne Rooney and Chris Smalling were enough to down the Blues. Manchester United controlled the whole game and it was pro soccer star Nani who shot one of the best long range shots to cause his opponents to suffer.

Currently, Man Utd have 15 points from playing 5 games and are far away from the relegation zone unlike Arsenal Football Club who have had some bad spells since the start of this season 2011-2012.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

http://www.soccer-blogger.com/2011/09/18/manchester-united-vs-chelsea-3-1-goals-highlights-video-2011-september/

The new Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 (PES 2012) video game contains only six licensed club teams. The teams Konami made usable in its new PES 2012 demo are the Barclays Premiers League’s Manchester United, AC Milan, S.S.C. Napoli, FC Porto, Santos FC and Penarol. Manchester United are probably the best team in the demo version of the game apart from AC Milan. Expect FC Porto to cause problems when you increase the game’s speed to +2 and play a professional mode against them. Pro soccer star Nani is so far one of the best players for Manchester United. His speed is awesome and scoring goals in the demo version of the game is very hard as compared to PES 2011. PES 2012 has awesome defenders who defend better than the ones which were included its previous series. The AI in Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 is awesomely better and understands what (moves, executions) you want to do when using your favorite team.

Personally, I think FIFA 2012 may not be as enjoyable as PES 2012 but I will download its demo version to test it at the appropriate time.

Here is a demo video of Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 team Bayern Munich from the website of IGN. Fans of the series can check out the site for more videos about PES 2012.

Last season’s Serie A winning team AC Milan just won an exhibition match against Juventus in Italy. The first two goalscorers of the game were all midfielders from the AC Milan team. Combative midfielders Kevin Prince Boateng and Clarence Seedorf scored for AC Milan in the 1st half of the club friendly encounter.

Mirko Vucinic, the former A.S. Roma striker, was able to score a goal for his side during the 2nd half of the game. Midfielder Andrea Pirlo played for Juventus in the friendly match instead of his former team AC Milan. The friendly game was an exciting one as both sides could have scored more goals than they did. A recognizable classic event was when Kingsley Boateng hit the post in the 2nd half of the game. Ghana’s Kingsley Boateng could nearly scored the 3rd goal for AC Milan via his effort.

On top of the Barclays Premier League table are Bolton Wanderers Football Club. After Bolton started the season nicely by scoring 4 goals against the newly promoted Championship team Queens Park Rangers F.C., they took the top spot of the EPL table. While Manchester United were expected to punish West Bromwich Albion in their 1st match of this season 2011-2012, they failed to score more goals than 3 goals against the home side. So, the Red Devils are only occupying the 3rd spot of the English Premier League table after their opening game came to pass.

Manchester City F.C. finished off Swansea thanks to a brilliant performance by Argentine pro soccer star striker Sergio Aguero to retrieve the 2nd spot of the EPL table. Do you think there will be changes for Bolton Wanderers soon or they are still going to keep teams like Liverpool F.C., Arsenal F.C. and Chelseas F.C. from enjoying this season?

Did you witness Joey Barton dive to get Gervinho sent off in his team’s opening game?