Oh yeah. World Cup.
Nonetheless! It's the eve of the prelude to the season—the anacrusis of the symphony which is the 2010/11 season of Premier League football. But enough with these musical analogies, we're talking United and Chelsea tomorrow night at Wembley. In what really is a meaningless match, to gauge fitness and maybe a chance to salvage some pride after Chelsea nicked the League last season (... with an 8-0 win at home on the last day of the season), snatching our chance to get an unprecedented 4th title in a row.
Everyone, everywhere who has been paying attention - me included - to United's pre-season exertions can't sing enough praises for one man: the boy, the man, the Little Pea, Chicharito. This upcoming match'll be his first real test of actual English football, so it'd be intriguing to see how he fares.
Michael Owen also returns against English opposition—after his run-out against the Irish League XI (and along the way netting a goal), and, as promisingly proclaimed by the gaffer, Wayne Rooney is definitely playing some part in the game.
He knows where the goal is. That way.
But that wasn't really one of my main concerns—that's for the pre-match preview team—so my main reason for posting: to air a general question:
Consider: "Under new guidelines, clubs are required to register a squad of up to 25 players, which must include at least eight 'home-grown' players, at the end of each transfer window – the first deadline this season is 17:00 BST on 1 September. Home-grown players do not have to be English and are defined as those who "irrespective of nationality or age, have been affiliated to the FA or Welsh FA for a period of three seasons or 36 months prior to their 21st birthday.” Clubs can supplement their squad with an unlimited number of players under the age of 21."
D'you think United's squad, which can now only feature up to 17 foreign players, can trump our rivals' squads?
I wouldn't want to jinx us, but seeing as my arms are resting on my wooden table and my feet are making contact—barely—to the wooden legs of this here chair that I'm sitting on, I reckon we've got a really good number of experienced English players - quality ones, mind you - and along with the talent we've amassed from around the world, it's enough to overshadow the sugar-daddies at City and Chelsea! I really, really believe we've got an awesome chance. Think about it! Rooney, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs, Neville, Owen, Ferdinand, Brown, Hargreaves - all top quality English players (and a Welsh Dumbledalfgandore). Don't even mention the quality of the players under 21! (Cleverley turns 21 I think, and how old's that Macheda boy?) Arsenal, City and to some respects Chelsea sport relatively few English, "home-grown", players—although I'll let you in on a secret, I haven't exactly done my research and if I sat down and counted, they'd probably also have decent English players...
In other words, when the Premier League have enforced this rule come the 1st of September, we'll be able to see how we fare with our wealth of talent and experience. And maybe, just maybe, the first indication of this will be at the Charity Shield tomorrow night! So! Let's hope for a 6-0 thumping and some silverware in the bag? A trophy's a trophy; I wouldn't complain if I'd won it!
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