Urawa vs United

United :
Schmeichel, Pallister, Johnsen, Clegg, P Nev, Keane, Cruyff, Butt,
Mulryne, Cole, Solskjaer

It was a tale of 2 halves. United were strong and effective in the first
half. Urawa hardly had a chance to take a shot at Smike's goal. Solskjaer
scored both United's goals in the first half.

It was Ole's 2nd goal that showed what United is made of, teamwork ie.
Cruyff won the ball in the middle of the field, passed to Cole who was
on his left. Cole spotted Butt charging down the middle and sent a perfect
pass. Butt charged towards goal, at the same time, Solskjaer was doing the
same on his right. Unselfishly, Butt laid the ball for Solskjaer to wack
the ball in. Super play from United.

Smikes, Johnsen and Solskjaer were taken off at half time. In came, Van
Der Gouw, Poborsky and McClair. United, however were in sixes and sevens.
Urawa came out a changed team. They were fighting for every ball and were
giving Pally and gang nightmares. In one such raid, Urawa won themselves a
free kick just outside the box. The free kick went towards a Urawa player
who was completely unmarked just before Gouw, he headed into goal with
ease. United players just looked at one another.

Alex sensed something might be wrong, he took off Mulryne and Clegg and
replaced them with Irwin and Scholes. Keane was pushed back to defence.
Still, there wasn't much improvement. Cole and Cruyff lacked support from
the midfield. Butt, Scholes and Poborsky were closed down immediately
when they received the ball.

Urawa meanwhile threatened to equalise. Gouw had to make 2 super saves
within seconds to keep United in the game. From the resulting corner, Gouw
again proved to be the stumbling block as he dived to save a header. Gouw
proved to be very reliable in the middle of goal as he stopped whatever
attacks Urawa threw at United.

In the end, United scrapped to their 3rd win in a row. Their clean state
was gone though. From the look of things, United are not ready yet. It'll
be interesting to see how they flair against real opponents, like Inter
Milan in their next game.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

                           Man United 22 Jul 1997
                                      
                          SOLSKJAER AT THE DOUBLE
                                      
   Ole Gunnar Solskjaer struck twice to give Manchester United a 2-1 win
                  over Urawa Red Diamonds in Japan today.
                                      
   The Norwegian headed the champions into the lead from a Philip Mulryne
   cross in the 13th minute and scored again six minutes before the break
    after Andy Cole and Nicky Butt provided him with the chance in front
                                  of goal.
                                      
    The withdrawal of Solskjaer at half-time with a foot injury, and the
   substitution of goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel with Raimond van der Gouw
              seemed to turn the tide in the Diamonds' favour.
                                      
     The Japanese repeatedly threatened the United goal, thrilling the
   17,642 strong crowd at the Komaba stadium, and Kenji Oshiba pulled one
      back with a 51st minute header from a free kick by German Guido
                                 Buchwald.


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Any comments are welcomed.

*** Acknowledgement : The report was taken from Reuters/Electronic Telegraph/FA-Carling Net ***