Manchester United Blog » Park

Park downs Wolverhampton

Tony — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 20:15:49 +0000

Ji-Sung Park, who I have often criticized for not being a player who could decide a match, single-handedly defeated Wolverhampton. Hey, but even Berbatov had his day a few weeks back.

The Wolverhampton match also marked the return of Owen Hargreaves, after being gone for over two-years the former English international had to be subbed off after only 10 minutes with a hamstring injury. Even worse then Hargreaves’ injury, was his horrendous sub Bebe. Bebe was so awful, he had to be subbed off later in the game. How many times have you seen that? A sub being subbed back off.

The defensive line was strong, 5 players you would expect. Van der Sar in goal, Ferdindand, Vidic, Evra and Brown, who is rumored to be making a move in the January transfer window. It was the midfield and front-line that was a little depleted. O’shea had to step in as a holding midfielder with Fletcher, Park and Hargreaves all in the mid, while Obertan, and Hernandez took the front line.

Bebe would come on for Hargreaves just 10 minutes into the match, and in all honesty, it should have been Scholes to come on. Fortunately United got the win and we probably wont see Bebe for a while.

United would take the lead just minutes before the half, after Fletcher gave a brilliant ball to Park, which made no mistake in front of goal.

Wolverhampton would equalize though after a a mistake by Fletcher at one end of the pitch led to a goal at the other end.

But it was Park who found the game winner in the 93rd minute, after a brilliant individual play that saw him dribble past two defenders and beat the American keeper near post!

Bookmark This Post

Chicharito takes United to last eight!

Tony — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 00:07:17 +0000

Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez does it again, coming on as a substitute in the 81st minute to score the game winner, against Wolverhampton, just 10 minutes later.

3-2 was the final score in the Carling Cup round of 16 match played at Old Trafford. Chicharitos goal puts United in through to the last eight of the Carling Cup.

It was a match that saved all the action for the second half, with a total of 5 goals coming in the second half. Bebe earned his first start and his first goal as he put United up 1-0 in the 56th minute. And only 4 minutes later Wolverhampton would find the equalizer.

Park would put United up 2-1 in the 70th only to have it canceled out 6 minutes later by Wolverhampton, it seemed like United would give up yet another lead, that is until Javier Hernandez was subbed on.

And it was just what United needed, becoming that spark the United needed.

In the 90th minute Carrick would find Hernandez with a through pass down the middle of the box. And as we’ve seen in the past couple of weeks, Hernandez only needs half a chance to convert, with a true gift for finding the back of the net, Chicharito cut one defender before finishing with his left!

Bookmark This Post

Park Ji-sung to represent South Korea

Tony — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:16:53 +0000

Park was named to South Korea’s 24-player squad for the World Cup qualifier against the United Arab Emirates later this month. The midfielder was not released by Manchester United in last months draw to North Korea, because of a knee injury.

Bookmark This Post

Manchester United so close

Tony — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:52:52 +0000

United took the lead after 18 minutes through Park, who finished from close range after Petr Cech saved a low drive from Dimitar Berbatov following excellent work by Patrice Evra.
Chelsea drew level when substitute Kalou rose unmarked in the visiting penalty area to head home a John Obi Mikel free-kick with 10 minutes remaining.
The draw is no less than Chelsea deserved after dominating the attacking play, yet United always looked a threat on the break and could have extended their lead.
The match started at a frenetic pace as both teams went after an early goal. Chelsea had lost midfield fulcrum Deco to injury in the warm-up and so started with Michael Ballack, who had returned to the squad after injury.
The first chance fell to Darren Fletcher on six minutes after the ball broke out wide to Owen Hargreaves following a boisterous challenge from Paul Scholes. The cross from the right was met by Scot Fletcher in the centre of the box, but Ricardo Carvalho flew across to block and prevent a goal.
Three minutes later Chelsea goalkeeper Cech came out his area to deal with a long ball forward and succeeded only in giving the ball to Berbatov on the left-hand touchline. He looped it forward towards the edge of the box where Wayne Rooney helped it on, but a relieved Cech saw it drop past the post as he retreated.
The full-blooded nature of the encounter claimed its first casualty as Carvalho was forced off – replaced by Alex – with a knee injury. It is feared that the Portugal centre-half has serious ligament damage.
There was a running battle throughout the afternoon between home left-back Ashley Cole and Owen Hargreaves, while late tackles and dissent littered proceedings and saw seven visiting players booked – only Mikel was cautioned for Chelsea.
United centre-half Rio Ferdinand could have scored two minutes before the opening goal. He won the ball in midfield and continued his run as Berbatov found Rooney; the England striker cut inside and played in his international team-mate, whose shot from an angle on the right was saved by Czech shot-stopper Cech.
Soon enough though United were in front after Evra battled on the left side of the penalty area to win the ball and opted to pull it back to Berbatov instead of shooting. His shot was saved, but Cech could do nothing about the follow-up from Park.
Edwin van der Sar was hurt in a challenge with Florent Malouda – for which the home fans wanted a penalty, although it seemed fair – and left the match with a quarter of an hour to go in the first period, replaced by Tomasz Kuszczak.
Scholes and Ferdinand both went into Mike Riley’s book, the former for a mistimed tackle and latter for dissent. The referee seemed intent from the start on penalising any challenges of strength; however that did not affect the flow as the attacks went from end to end.
Before the break Lampard played in Anelka on the right and the France striker shot over the near post with Joe Cole in the middle. Soon after Kuszczak saved from Alex and Anelka almost got to the rebound as Ferdinand came across quickly to concede a corner.
Rooney then took the ball cleanly from John Terry on the right and cut across the pitch, playing it inside to Berbatov who helped it on to Park when he could have shot himself. The pass to the Korean was poor and Chelsea survived his effort on goal.
There were fewer clear-cut chances in the second half as United dug in and Chelsea applied pressure in the final third. Cristiano Ronaldo replaced Scholes and introduced pace into the occasional breaks out of defence, but had no joy.
Neville and Berbatov went into the book before Joe Cole went clear on the left, only to see Kuszczak stand tall to block his left-footed shot from an angle.
Mikel saw yellow before Luiz Felipe Scolari introduced Kalou for the fatigued Ballack, but in between Anelka missed a golden chance to level for the Blues.
Joe Cole played an inch-perfect cross to give the France striker the chance to finish from a few yards out with the goal gaping, but he contrived to miss the ball completely.
Didier Drogba had come on at half-time for Malouda but could not make an impression following his ankle injury: the immediate danger for the Red Devils was from Joe Cole, Mikel and Kalou.
Rooney found the side-netting from 10 yards out on the right when he should have scored and put the game beyond Chelsea then was booked for a late challenge; a minute later Chelsea scored when the away defence left Kalou alone to nod home as Kuszczak remained on his line.
Kalou could then have won it barely two minutes later when he shot over following a Neville block. Evra and Ronaldo were the final players to be booked before the latter tried a late overhead kick, saved comfortably by Cech.
Riley blew up for full-time as Drogba took his time over regaining his feet following the award of a free-kick on the edge of the box, the confusion bringing an end to an entertaining encounter that saw Chelsea move second behind Arsenal.
Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport

Bookmark This Post