Chelsea vs Manchester United: What the 2010 FA Community Shield Result Means
The FA Community Shield is only really important for those who win it. For the rest, the "pre-season" match provides an indication as to how far the players have to go towards attaining match fitness. The 2010 FA Community Shield match between Chelsea and Manchester United may have provided football starved fans some action after the World Cup, but that is all that the match provided.
To read into it any more than that would be foolhardy. First the facts of the match: Manchester United looked fired up with a bunch of players who played with fire in their bellies. For the World Cup England contingent of Wayne Rooney, Ashley Cole, John Terry and Frank Lampard, it was a welcome return to club football - an arena where they excel and have built their reputations in. None of these players would be termed world class if their reputations were built on the foundations of their exploits in international football.
It may come as a dire warning to the rest of the league that after an unusually sluggish World Cup campaign in South Africa, Rooney looked fired up for the match and showed his usual intensity.
However, the match belonged to two individuals - one belonging to the past, the other to the future. Representing the years gone past, Paul Scholes rolled back the times to put up a vintage performance. In this kind of form, England manager Fabio Capello must be regretting he did not try recruiting the Manchester United man earlier than he did. Scholes sprayed the ball around immaculately, poking holes in the unusually languid Chelsea midfield. Lampard looked like he was still in South Africa; John Obi Mikel was an enforcer and nothing else, while Michael Essien still looked rusty after a long injury lay-off. Given the opposition, Scholes bossed the midfield and inevitably it was his glorious ball to bustling Rooney which provided the opening goal to Antonio Valencia on a platter.
The goal arrived in the 41st minute and United's lead at half-time was thoroughly deserved. After the break, the match was lit up by an individual who is tipped for great things in the future - Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez. The bubbly Mexican had been making splashes in pre-season, with manager Alex Ferguson fulsome in his praise for the forward. And it is clear to see why. Hernandez is an infectious personality on the field, and livened up the proceedings. His penetration and pace gave outlets to United and it was Hernandez's positional sense which saw him in the right place as he fortuitously put the ball into the net after rebounding the ball off his face. 2-0 up and United were cruising.
Yet Carlo Ancelotti's Chelsea is a side of resilience and they showed that as they began to edge their way back into the game, slowly forcing United back. Lesser teams would have cracked sooner but captained by Nemanja Vidic, the Red Devils stood strong. It was only in the 83rd minute when Salomon Kalou set up a grand stand finish by scoring for Chelsea. However, it was not meant to be for The Blues, as Dimitar Berbatov finished off the game in the concluding stages by exquisitely chipping keeper Hilario.
It was a deserved victory for United and Ancelotti agreed his side had been lacklustre. The Italian tactician concedes it will be another couple of weeks before his squad reaches full fitness. And that is when the real action will begin. United, meanwhile, will be celebrating, and rightly so.
A team of youth and experience is enticing, yet the league is not decided in the opening few months.
Chelsea will be keeping that in mind as they prepare for their season opener. They know they can win without playing well in the first couple of weeks. Of course, once everyone is fully fit, that is when the league will really begin. The Community Shield was just an appetizer. The main course is yet to be served.
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