Post by Scott on Apr 29, 2007 21:34:16 GMT
Match of the Month
This month’s write up is by Rais.n.Hell .
Wednesday, April 4th, 2007. Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy. Event: Quarterfinals - 1st leg - AS Roma v. Manchester United for the UEFA Champions League; the biggest competition in Europe.
AS Roma host Manchester United in an intense fight for the semi finals seat in the UEFA CL. Only days before United’s website had released a cautionary letter for its thousands of fans that were expected to travel to Rome to support and witness the battle between the two sides. Added to that United fans were angry over Francesco Totti’s statements that Sir Alex will remember his name when they are through with United!!
By half time the score stood 1-0 in favor of Roma. And the situation was not going to get better; at least not for the fans that had flown and traveled by road from England. During half time Roma and United fans clashed and the television crew recorded the Italian police beating down on the United fans while the Roma fans still attacked and beat up on the plastic barriers that separated the two factions. Videos like this one and pictures can be found all over the internet, accompanied interviews from fans that were present there and those who received the beatings.
In the eyes of various supporters (including myself) the beating handed by Italian Police were orchestrated in response to United’s cautionary letter to its fans to be careful of the potentially violent Roma Ultras. All of us were angry, and to make matters worse, United lost to Roma 2-1, but they got their away goal that they came to take from Roma. Our thirst for Roma’s blood had been sparked. They say revenge is sweet...just didn’t know how sweet it was going to be!
Fast-forward 6 days to Tuesday, April 10th, 2007. Venue this time around: Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. Event: Return leg of UEFA Quarterfinals between Manchester United and AS Roma.
United trail behind Roma by one goal, and United fans are hungry for revenge!
United were without suspended midfielder Paul Scholes, plus Gary Neville (ankle), Nemanja Vidic (collarbone) and Mikael Silvestre (shoulder). In addition, Park Ji-sung was also ruled out for at least a fortnight after suffering a knee injury in the win over Blackburn on March 31.
From the first minutes of the game, Roma try to keep as much possession of the ball as possible. Their strategy: tire out United and try to keep the 1 goal difference in their favor through out the game. But Carrick had something else in his mind. It’s 11th minute of play and Ronaldo sets up Carrick. Surrounded by a barrage of Roma players Carrick surges forward and before anyone knew what happened he volleyed the ball into the Roma net and GOAAALLLLL!!! United are up 1-0!! But there is work still to be done.
The home crowd were still buzzing when Carrick laid an superb pass to Rooney, who instantly flicked the ball onto Giggs. The United legend’s through ball reached Smith after being deflected off the Romanian man in the mask, Chivu. With leaving nothing to chance, Smith shot home a screamer banishing his 14 months of injury. His first goal since late 2005 brought the home crowd unbridled joy and celebration!!
Roma were still trying to gather their pieces when Giggs crossed the ball to Rooney who flicked the ball into the far corner, giving United a 3-0 lead over the Italian puppies.
After witnessing three screamers from fellow teammates, Ronaldo, who had never scored a goal in the competition, wanted to leave his mark on the goal sheets too. In the 44th minute, he slammed the ball into the bottom corner as he approached the hoard of Roma defenders, leading United 4-0.
Half time report showed United with less than 45% of ball possession but 4 goals in their favor with a clean sheet for their dutch keeper.
Everyone thought that this was the game’s final score as Roma were expected to up their ante and stop United’s advance. However, the Red Devils were not done as yet. The 49th minute saw Giggs, Rooney and Ronaldo conjure the fifth goal of the game.
Carrick brought home another stunner as he flicked the ball into the top corner with amazing class that rivaled his first goal! The score now stood at 6-0 with the game already in the history books. No one could believe what the saw and those attending the game were shaking England with their chants.
Roma had very little to say for such a beating even though Rossi got them one goal. There was no or very little celebration from the Roma camp as they saw the score line at 6-1. However, they were denied even that comfort as Evra cancelled the goal by another surprise goal in the 81st minute.
The whistle saw United win the game 7-1, making it one of the most magical nights in their history. It was their biggest win since 1968 Euro final against Waterford, with the same score. Fans, critics and people all over the world, hailed this game as being "up-there" with the May '99 match against Munich. What made the night more cheerful was that the result came even though Sir Alex’s four automatic first team members were not present in the game.
Some theorist (like yours truly) believe that the United players wanted to avenge the beatings that their fans received on the hands of the Roma police, hence their utter domination. But, even if this theory is sheer nonsense, the victory slammed the proverbial door in the faces of Roma's Mayor, Police and the Roma Ultras shites!! (shows them the finger!)
The only draw back of the night was that we didn’t make it 11-1 with VDS also scoring! Now that would have been sweet!!
United’s line up:
(G) Edwin Van der Sar
(D) Wes Brown
(D) Rio Ferdinand
(D) Gabriel Heinze
(D) John O'Shea
(M) Michael Carrick
(M) Darren Fletcher
(M) Ryan Giggs
(M) Cristiano Ronaldo
(F) Wayne Rooney
(F) Alan Smith
Substitutes
(S) Craig Cathcart
(S) Chris Eagles
(S) Patrice Evra (52 for O’Shea)
(S) Dong Fangzhou
(S) Tomasz Kuszczak
(S) Kieran Richardson (73 for Carrick)
(S) Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (61 for Giggs)
AS(S) Roma Line-up:
(G) Alexander Doni
(D) Marco Cassetti
(D) Cristian Chivu
(D) Philippe Mexes
(D) Christian Panucci
(M) Daniele De Rossi
(M) Alessandro Mancini
(M) David Pizarro
(M) Christian Wilhelmsson
(F) Francesco Totti
(F) Mirko Vucinic
Substitutes
(S) Gianluca Curci
(S) Rodrigo Defendi
(S) Ricardo Faty (86 for Rossi)
(S) Matteo Ferrari
(S) Stefano Okaka Chuka (90 for Mancini)
(S) Aleandro Rosi (88 for Wilhelssom)
Poor Tatti!!!
The match:
United v. Roma goals, Full match video and torrent [Full]
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Player of the Month
This month’s write up has come all the way from Italy, and is by Kokka78
After impressive months from players like Ronaldo, Giggs and Scholes, now its Smudger turn! What impressive month!!!!!! He is back after 18 months without playing but he hasn’t lost his touch. Smithy its a brave and brave people most of the time are repaid. He played a major part in our victories against Roma and Watford at the beginning of the month, games which now see us in to a final and a semi-final.
With Saha and Ole spending time out injured, Smith’s return to action and form couldn’t have come at a better time. Being entrusted with his favoured role as striker, he has done everything to show Fergie that’s where he should be played from now on. Sir Alex has even called on McClaren to bring him back in to the England squad, which would no doubt help improve the partnership with Rooney at the club.
As our final games of the season are played out, he could certainly prove to be a vital part of the squad, and help us go on to make this a victorious season for Manchester United.
RoM.org Gaming Section
Drifting Red Devil has given his insight on PC gaming.
Alright, time again to delve into the world of gaming. This month I'm going to take all of you away from consoles and into the world of PC gaming. The game I want to look at is called Crysis. It is the most beautiful game I have ever laid eyes upon. In fact, your computer cannot even run this game without the highest possible graphics card. Crysis is set in 2019 after a colossal asteroid crashes to Earth, Crysis begins amidst a tense military standoff between the North Korean and United States governments for control of the impact zone. Amid rising tensions, the asteroid suddenly bursts open revealing a massive alien ship, which begins freezing vast portions of the island and altering the global weather system. The invasion of Earth has begun. Crysis features an epic three-act story of alien invasion where players are able to customize their armor and weapons in real time to confront an ever-changing enemy and a harsh, dynamic environment. I most likely won't be getting this title because the graphics card costs around $400 just to run the game. But none-the-less it is visually stunning. Here are some of the screens for you all to look at, and I encourage that you all do.
FPS screen
3rd person screen
Environment
Now keep in mind that those are not renders but in game screen shots. Well thats it for this month.
RoMorg Video
Keith has kindly made a video for the forum showing our best bits so far, which can be found by clicking here.
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I hope you enjoyed the twelfth edition of The Paper. Any comments about it please leave in the comments thread on this board
Editor: Scott