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United advances Manchester tops Sturm Graz 3-0 to make quarterfinals
Updated: Tuesday March 13, 2001 6:58 PM
MANCHESTER, England (AP) -- Manchester United reached the Champions League quarterfinals for the fifth straight year with a dominating 3-0 victory Tuesday over Sturm Graz before a 67,000 sellout at Old Trafford. The 1999 European Champions Cup winners, Manchester United got goals in the first 20 minutes from Nicky Butt and Teddy Sheringham, and the last strike in the final five minutes from Roy Keane. Manager Alex Ferguson, who called the club's recent play 'embarrassing,' benched midfielder David Beckham, England's best known player. United, which waited until the last round of group matches to advance, needed only to avoid a heavy loss to reach the final eight of Europe's most prestigious club competition. It was United's fourth win over the Austrians in 18 months. The spirited first half was followed by a drab second-half when Man United seemed content with its lead. Butt put the English champions ahead 1-0 after only five minutes with a driving shot from 22 meters (yards) that beat Sturm's Polish goalkeeper Kazimierz Sidorczuk diving to his right. Striker Teddy Sheringham, taking advantage of a defensive mistake, scored in the 20th from 10 meters (yards). Keane scored in the 86th on a shot from 15 meters (yards) off a pass from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Man United fans sitting in steeply sloped parts of the stadium abided by an appeal from club officials - including Ferguson - to stay seated because of safety concerns. "Sit down, because there's a problem," was Ferguson's advice before the match. Local government officials had threatened to close parts of the stadium for a game if crowd behavior didn't improve. Beckham axed as United cruisesManchester United manager Alex Ferguson admitted he dropped out of form England captain David Beckham from his side's last Champions League group match on Tuesday to give him a break from the limelight. Beckham was left on the bench, along with strikers Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke, as United cruised past a disappointing Sturm Graz of Austria 3-0 to qualify as runner-up from Group A. Apart from being axed following a training ground argument with Ferguson before a match against Leeds United last season, Beckham has not previously been left out of a United side except for injury. A recent run of poor form has seen the midfielder look a pale imitation of the player that inspired the Reds during United's winning run in the competition in 1999. Ferguson said: "David has had a lot of football and a break from the first team will do him the world of good. "He has had to put up with a lot of nonsense in the media so it will do him good. "He was fine about being left out." In Beckham's absence United had little problem overcoming a hard working, but uninspiring Sturm Graz side. Nicky Butt scored after just five minutes and once Teddy Sheringham added a second in the 20th the match was over as a competition, before Roy Keane struck just before the end. The victory saw United return to winning ways after drawing their last three Champions League games. They had previously lost two group games in the earlier stage of the competition. That led Ferguson to reveal he was embarrassed by his team's displays in Europe this season in a pre-match press conference. "We got the result we expected to get and the performance we should be getting more regularly," he added after the game. The Austrian team's coach Ivica Osim claimed his side were not able to cope with United, even though Ferguson fielded five changes to his normal team. "The difference between the two teams is too great in all areas for us," he said. But Osim believes the Reds may struggle to reach the final without a return to action of the injured Ryan Giggs. "They may have problems, especially against the teams that play well as a team and have good individual players that are unpredictable and can change things during the match. "Like for instance Ryan Giggs in Manchester. If it doesn't go well for them he's the one that can always put something else into their play." SummaryScorers: Nicky Butt 5, Teddy Sheringham 20, Roy Keane 86 Halftime: 2-0; Attendance: 66,404 Teams: Manchester United: 1-Fabien Barthez; 2-Gary Neville, 3-Denis Irwin, 6-Jaap Stam, 27-Mikael Silvestre; 8-Nicky Butt, 18-Paul Scholes (34-Jonathan Greening, 75), 16-Roy Keane, 36-Luke Chadwick; 20-Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, 10-Teddy Sheringham Sturm Graz: 1-Kazimierz Sidorczuk; 3-Guenther Neukirchner, 23-Robert Ibertsberger; 18-Markus Schopp, 6-Roman Mahlich (2-Peter Hlinka, 46), 8-Markus Schupp (14-Jan-Pieter Martens, 65), 30-Andres Fleurquin, 11-Gyorgy Korsos, 20-Mehrdad Minavand (19-Imre Szabics, 46), 31-Mario Haas, 10-Ivica Vastic Referee: Valentin Ivanov (Russia) Ferguson calls United `embarrassing' before gameMANCHESTER, England -- In an unusual attack on his own players, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson described their recent European form as "embarrassing" and told them to shape up or else. Ferguson issued the strongly worded rebuke ahead of Tuesday night's Champions League game. It was some of the fiercest criticism he has handed out during his long spell at United. The only way Manchester United can miss out on a place in the Champions Cup quarterfinals is in the unlikely event that Sturm Graz wins by three goals or more. But Ferguson is still fuming that his side played poorly in two previous opportunities to qualify. Last week, United needed a last-minute goal by Paul Scholes to avoid a humiliating defeat at Panathinaikos. "We all know the situation and it's embarrassing one," he said. "It's not really the result which is important, it's the performance. I think we need to get a performance to give us back our trust in the players and also to know what their capabilities are because they have not been reaching their capabilities in the last few weeks." Ferguson's comments suggested that some of his players will be playing for the future at the club. "I'm very lucky that I've got players who have a decent self-regard," he said. "They realize themselves that they have been letting the team down and themselves down. "Pride does come into it, and I made the point very markedly to them, that it's a test of their own pride and in fairness they have represented themselves very well in the last few years winning championships."
United must rediscover pace says ColeLONDON -- Andy Cole insisted on Tuesday that a lack of pace in Manchester United's play was the reason why the 1999 Champions are struggling in Europe this season. United, and Cole in particular, have been ineffective in recent weeks as they have struggled through draws against Valencia (twice) and Panathinaikos. They defeated Austria's Sturm Graz Tuesday to qualify for the quarterfinals but it has hardly been a triumphant march towards the last eight. "The source of our success, particularly in the treble season, was the pace and intensity of the team," Cole told the Manchester Evening News. "We are not playing at the same speed and tempo as we did then. Our game has slowed down. "When you play like that in Europe then it gives opponents time to get loads of men behind the ball and that makes it difficult. "Once we get our intensity back and speed things up again then I think we'll be fine." United captain Roy Keane, however, claimed it was a lack of team spirit which was behind the decline which has produced five draws in the side's last six games. The Irishman does not exclude himself from the criticism, with only French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez escaping censure. "We've been going through the motions a little bit and we need to cut it out," he told BBC Greater Manchester Radio. "We need to get back to the team that won the trophies over the years -- the team spirit and everyone working for each other. "I wouldn't question our work-rate or determination...it's just that we've not been doing it as a team. "Hand on heart, every player -- myself included -- can look back and say we've not really justified our reputations in the game. Barring Fabien, every player needs to improve." Keane pointed to the 1-1 draw with Panathinaikos in Greece last week as an example of how United cannot afford to play in the knock-out stages. "We could have been beaten four or five-nil easily. To snatch a draw and nearly a win would have kidded a lot of people but not ourselves. "We all know we need to buck up our ideas if want to win the European Cup because come the quarterfinals, that's when it really gets hard."
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