Community Shield 2008: Manchester United to Provide Match Practice Opportunity to Injury-Recovered Players

To know the result of the Community Shield 2008 match visit here.

With new season of Premier League starting from 16 August, fans and players are eagerly waiting for the upcoming season. For the fans, there is a big occasion to cheer even before the English premier league 2008-2009 gets underway and that is FA Community Shield 2008. Defending premier league champion Manchester United and the reigning FA Cup winner Portsmouth will face each other at the Wembley Stadium on 10 August 2008 for the FA Community Shield 2008 title.

Though it is a traditional match in English domestic football, it has little importance these days. Teams take it as a match for final preparation and very often the clubs do not feature their key players in Community Shield matches, thinking of the injury fear at the beginning of the season.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson looks to use the match to give chances to the injury-recovered players so that they can regain their match fitness by the time premier league gets underway. He admitted that teams always use the Community Shield match as a barometer of fitness. It was clear from his words that he is going to bring some players in the starting eleven just for giving match practice to those players. Since 1996, this is going to be the first FA Community Shield Cup in which one team will come outside the “Big Four” of English premier league: Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool.

However, it is for sure that Portsmouth will take very seriously as this is their first appearance in FA Community Shield 2008 since 1949 and overall third Community Shield match.

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The Canadian Press