Dunfermline 0 - Manchester United 4

United notched a comfortable victory over Dunfermline in Scott Thomson’s testimonial, winning 4-0 through goals from Chris Eagles, Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney (2).

First team coach Mike Phelan guided a strong Reds side to victory at East End Park, with one of the highlights being a 90-minute appearance from midfielder Paul Scholes.

Scholes’ surprise run-out came just two weeks after a knee operation, and is a massive boost ahead of the new season. So too, was the 65-minute appearance of Owen Hargreaves, who turned in a solid display on his first United start.

Chris Eagles was within inches of putting United ahead after 13 minutes, only for Ryan Giggs’ inswinging cross to be deflected away from the youngster just before he could head home.

Pars winger Morrison fired a neat volley over Tomasz Kuszcak’s crossbar seven minutes later to underline that the hosts were not simply making up the numbers against their more illustrious opponents.

The Reds’ class told as they moved ahead after 23 minutes, however, and sadly man of the hour Thomson was involved, missing Giggs’ slotted through-ball and allowing Eagles time to clip home a calm finish.

Wayne Rooney was proving a constant thorn in the hosts’ side, and it was his inch-perfect pass which gave Giggs the chance to double United’s advantage in the 35th minute with an impudent chip over goalkeeper Murdoch.

It was the Welsh veteran’s second goal in successive pre-season outings after his Community Shield strike, and he was involved again just before half-time as he released Fletcher, only for the Scot to drag his shot wide.

Rooney drove a shot wide just before the interval, but he had to wait only 15 minutes of the second period before getting his goal. The England striker coolly slotted home a penalty after Fletcher had been brought down by Murdoch.

A second was almost forthcoming shortly afterwards as Rooney brilliantly diverted Sean Evans’ cross goalwards, only for a super one-handed save from substitute keeper McKenzie.

The game continued at an energetic pace before Rooney wrapped up the victory three minutes from time, racing through and clipping home after being inexplicably gifted possession by McManus.

The evening’s final highlight came in the final minute as Thomson was substituted in order to receive a rousing ovation, which was duly forthcoming.

While the Pars veteran was the undoubted man of the hour, United can be more than happy with the added bonus of a decent workout ahead of Sunday’s season opener against Reading.

Team Line-ups

Dunfermline Athletic: Murdoch (McKenzie, 65); McGuire (Shields, 46), Bamba (Wilson, 57), Thomson (Burchill, 90), Woods (Muirhead, 46); Williamson (Harper, 46), Phinn, Simmons (Young, 46), O. Morrison (McManus, 46); Crawford, Hamilton (Glass, 65).

Manchester United: Kuszczak; Bardsley, Brown (A Eckersley, 46), Pique, Silvestre; Eagles, Fletcher, Scholes, Hargreaves (S Evans, 65); Rooney, Giggs (Eikrem, 79).
Subs not used: van der Sar.

Source: ManUtd.com

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Tevez move to Man United further delayed

Carlos Tevez's move to Manchester United has hit further delays today, with the player uncertain to be registered by the start of the Premier League season next weekend.

Sources at the Premier League told Sky Sports that the Argentine's registration may take 'a few more days', meaning that the striker would miss United's first game against Reading.

Meanwhile, Steve McClaren is convinced Tevez's future strike partner Wayne Rooney can fire England into Euro 2008.

The Manchester United striker has been in superb form during pre-season so far, with McClaren on hand to see two of his best performances, against Inter Milan and then in the Community Shield win over Chelsea on Sunday.

Already Sir Alex Ferguson has tipped Rooney for big things this term.

And McClaren recognises the 21-year-old will be a key man too as England look to get the results required in their final five qualifying games this autumn that will ensure safe passage into next year's finals in Austria and Switzerland.

McClaren said: 'It is great to see Wayne coming back from his break this summer in top form.

'I spoke to Sir Alex quite early on and he told me how fit Wayne was. He certainly looks very fit from what I have seen.

'It is his first full pre-season for a while as well, so you are bound to benefit from that.

'Speaking to Wayne, I know he is dying to get back into the England squad and he is going to be a big player for us.'

After missing out on the June win over Estonia through suspension, Rooney is an automatic choice for the August 22 friendly with Germany at Wembley.

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Arsernal won Amsterdam Tournament

Robin van Persie netted the goal which won Arsenal the Amsterdam Tournament - but was then carried off against Ajax.

A match which was a physical, and often bad-tempered affair, was settled by finish from the Dutchman with just three minutes left.

However, the former Feyenoord player then had to be helped from the field following a heavy challenge from Johnny Heitinga, but was able to soon rejoin his team-mates as they celebrated a second pre-season tournament win.

Manager Arsene Wenger had made some 10 changes from the side which beat Lazio on Thursday, and will have been happy enough with a determined performance.

Full Report: Soccernet.com

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Hamilton holds off Raikonen

Lewis Hamilton put aside all the trials and tribulations of the dramatic qualifying session yesterday to take victory this afternoon in Hungary. Starting from pole position the championship leader was under pressure throughout the 70-lap race, but took the chequered flag just under a second ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.

It was a tough race for Hamilton as he was not able to pull out any significant advantage from his Ferrari rival, but with team-mate Fernando Alonso finishing in fourth position, does extend his championship advantage from two points to seven.

Raikkonen made be of a slow start from Nick Heidfeld to grab second position into the first turn. The Ferrari driver was able to hound Hamilton race long, but such is the nature of the circuit, was never able to make a serious attempt at a pass.

Nick Heidfeld took the final podium position for BMW Sauber. It was a solid run from the German racer as he came under intense pressure in the closing stages from Fernando Alonso. Opting to run a three stop strategy, Heidfeld found himself only just ahead of Alonso in the final laps of the race, taking the chequered flag 1.7s clear of the McLaren driver. For Alonso, his race was compromised by a cautious opening lap that saw him initially lose ground to Mark Webber and Robert Kubica. Alonso soon regained the ground but would then spend much of the race stuck behind the Toyota of Ralf Schumacher.
It was not until the final stint that he was clear of Schumacher and able to pressure Heidfeld.

Robert Kubica was fifth in the second BMW Sauber and like his team-mate used a three stop strategy. Ralf Schumacher had a solid run in his Toyota to finish in sixth position ahead of Nico Rosberg who will be disappointed with seventh position in his Williams Toyota. Rosberg ran fourth in the opening stages, but the team had opted for a very short first stint meaning a three stop strategy. This would lose him ground late in the race.

Heikki Kovalainen salvaged a point for the Renault team in eighth position ahead of Mark Webber in his Red Bull Renault. Jarno Trulli was never able to recover from a poor start and finished in tenth position in the second Toyota.

David Coulthard finished in 11th position in his Red Bull Renault ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella who was unable to make up the ground he lost with his qualifying penalty. It was a similar situation for Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari as he took the chequered flag in 13th position, underlining just how hard it is to pass at this circuit.

Alex Wurz had a low-key race in the second Williams as he took 14th ahead of Takuma Sato in his Super Aguri Honda and Sebastian Vettel in his Toro Rosso. Adrian Sutil was 17th in his Spyker Ferrari finishing ahead of Rubens Barrichello who had the most difficult race of his long career in the awful Honda RA107.

Sakon Yamamoto crashed out of his first race with Spyker early in the race, while an engine failure ended Jenson Button’s miserable day. Anthony Davidson and Giancarlo Fisichella battled hard on track and slight contact sent the Super Aguri Honda driver spinning out of the race.

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Manchester United won the FA Community Shield on penalties

Manchester United won over Chelsea for the FA Community Shield on penalty shot-out.

After the full time match, Chelsea was draw with Manchester United with the score 1 - 1. Manchester United leading with Giggs goal on 35", but Chelsea was fight back with the equalizer by Malouda on 45".

Both club was heading to penalty shot-out, Manchester United stopper, Edwin Van der Sar saved all 3 penalties shot-out from Chelsea player, Pizzaro, Lampard and Wright-Philips. Manchester United won the match with the score 3-0 for penalties shot-out from Ferdinand, Carrick and Rooney.

Full Report: ManUtd.com

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Chelsea vs Manchester United - Community Shield

Pre-season big match for English Premier League, 6 days before the EPL start,
the EPL Champion, Manchester United will head to head with FA Cup Champion, Chelsea to with the Community Shield.

Stay tune for the match update.

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Anderson and Hargreaves debut - Manchester United vs Doncaster Rovers

New signings Anderson and Owen Hargreaves could make their first United appearances against Doncaster, as revealed by Sir Alex Ferguson earlier this week.

"We'll use the Doncaster and Peterborough games for Hargreaves, Anderson, Silvestre and Fletcher," said the United boss.

"The players who didn't play (against Inter Milan) on Wednesday will be involved in those two games."

Source: ManUtd.com

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Tevez, finally coming to Man Utd?

West Ham are expected to announce tomorrow that they will release Carlos Tevez from his contract and registration after they tonight agreed a deal with his representatives.

The end of the dispute will then allow the Argentina striker to pursue a move to Manchester United

The agreement, which still needs to be formally ratified by the Premier League and Football Association, will see the Hammers paid between £1million and £3million in compensation.

The deal will also mean the settlement of the £30million lawsuit brought against West Ham by Tevez's agent Kia Joorabchian.

Lengthy talks today ended with an agreement between both parties and tomorrow the league and the FA should sign off the deal - Premier League lawyers have been kept up to date the progress of discussions.

Joorabchian will then be able to try to sew up an agreement with United to allow the striker to join up before the start of the season.

In the unlikely event of either side having a last-minute change of heart, the only other avenue would be a lengthy High Court battle and there has been an acknowledgement that that would be in neither party's interests.

Manchester United have already indicated a desire to take Tevez on the same sort of loan package that saw Argentina midfielder Javier Mascherano move to Liverpool last season.

That deal took some weeks before it was signed off by the Premier League but with that transfer having already been picked over by the lawyers, a similar deal for Tevez should go through much quicker.

The agreement with West Ham brings an end to a long-running and painful saga for the club that began when former chairman Terry Brown signed Tevez and Mascherano under banned third-party agreements last summer.

The club were fined £5.5million as a result by a disciplinary commission in April and that led to an unsuccessful legal challenge by Sheffield United, who claimed they should have been docked points.

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Newcastle closing to sign United's Smith and Cacapa?

Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce is closing in on the signatures of both Manchester United striker Alan Smith and Brazilian defender Cacapa.

The Magpies have agreed a £6million fee for Smith, who is deemed surplus to requirements at Old Trafford, while Lyon captain Cacapa is scheduled to have a medical today.

'I am hoping that the Alan Smith deal will go through today,' Allardyce said.

'He has other clubs to consider and I am hoping we are top of his list.'

The 31-year-old Cacapa, has reportedly been on Tyneside since Sunday, and the Newcastle boss is hopeful a deal can be agreed quickly.

'He is a top player and we will be delighted if we can pull this off as we regard him as a big capture,' Allardyce told the Newcastle Chronicle.

'Our fans should not be put off by the fact they may not have heard of Cacapa because he has certainly been heard of in Brazil and France.

'He has been captain of Lyon for the past five years and for every one of those five years they won the French title, so obviously he has a lot of Champions League experience.

'That's why we are hoping that everything goes okay with his medical and that we can agree a deal with his people because we believe he would be a terrific capture for us.

'Unfortunately, he has been back in Brazil and he has had no pre-season work, and in normal circumstances we would not consider him for our opening game at Bolton a week on Saturday, but it all depends on what type of injuries we have.'

Source: Soccernet.com

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West Ham agree fee for Newcastle's Dyer

Newcastle United midfielder Kieron Dyer has been given permission to speak to West Ham United after the two clubs agreed an undisclosed fee for the 28-year-old.

Magpies manager Sam Allardyce had earlier insisted a £4million bid for the England international was well below Newcastle's valuation. The Hammers have returned with an improved offer, nearer the £6m mark.

The player is understood to be keen to move south to be closer to his family.

Allardyce said: 'We've agreed a deal so you'd have thought that he will finish up where he needs to finish up to solve his family problems.

'From our point of view and from his point of view it's a satisfactory result. There was a need to do it as quickly as we possibly could and we've worked all out to do that and we've finally resolved the situation.'

Although Dyer has not officially left St James' Park, Allardyce has already turned his attention to replacing the versatile 28-year-old.

He said: 'My job now is to replace him, which shouldn't take too long I don't think, and then move on to other players in other positions as quickly as I can or at the same time.

'I think we'll be close by the end of the week to maybe one or two players, I would hope.

'Then after that I would look to get at least another two or maybe three in because if Kieron goes, whoever comes in to replace him, that's only one for one, so it's not actually improving the squad in terms of strength in depth.

'There's still three or four players need to be got on top of whoever we replace Kieron with.' and it is now up to Dyer to thrash out personal terms.

Reports in Wednesday's media claimed Dyer has been subjected to abuse from some Magpies fans since it became clear he was hoping to leave.

Chairman Chris Mort has expressed his concern at the effect that could have on attempts to overhaul the squad.

Dyer was booed during the weekend's friendly win over Juventus and it has been alleged that his house has been targeted by an egg-throwing mob.

Mort warned: 'We have to make all our current players and potential new signings see Newcastle as a great place to live.

'It would be disastrous for this sort of behaviour to be repeated.'

Source: Soccernet.com

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