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Reds ridiculed Man U under fire again after club championship flop
Posted: Monday January 10, 2000 02:00 PM
LONDON (AP) -- Was it worth it? Manchester United's embarrassing flop at the Club World Championship in Brazil sparked a new wave of condemnation that the Reds went for glory in a new fledgling competition rather than defend the 127-year-old FA Cup. Alex Ferguson's team tied 1-1 with Mexico's Necaxa and then lost 3-1 to Brazil's Vasco Da Gama so that even a victory over Australia's South Melbourne on Tuesday wouldn't be enough to gain the final. The results, along with David Beckham's expulsion against Necaxa, reopened the debate over whether United should have dropped out of the FA Cup. As winners of the European Champions League, Ferguson's team qualified for the FIFA-backed tournament in Rio and Sao Paolo. But, because it clashed with the fourth round of the FA Cup, United couldn't play in both. If United had opted for the FA Cup, FIFA would have invited Champions League runner-up Bayern Munich to play in the world championship. With Germany and England among the five candidates to stage the 2006 World Cup, that might have harmed England's chances in the eyes of FIFA. But that didn't stop the critics condemning United for dropping out of the FA Cup, the world's oldest cup competition. The tabloid Mirror, one of the noisiest critics over the issue, on Monday published a front page editorial in which it said that Tuesday's game against South Melbourne was meaningless. "BBC1 will devote two hours of prime time TV to the most meaningless football match in history," the Mirror said. "Manchester United play South Melbourne -- who number a petrol pump attendant, tax advisor and hospital worker among their players. The result is irrelevant as neither team can make the final of this absurd tournament anyway. "Nobody will turn up to watch it, nobody will tune in to see it and nobody cares what happens. Unbelievably, this is what Manchester United wrecked the FA Cup for." The Mirror went on to accuse the Manchester United owners of greed, manager Ferguson of arrogance and the Football Association of weakness in not forcing the Reds to defend the FA Cup. But Ferguson has defended the club's participation in the Brazil tournament and, despite the results, said his team had benefited from taking part. "We'd be excited about coming here again," said Ferguson who led United to an unprecedented triple triumph of the Champions League and domestic league and FA Cup last season. "Now FIFA is involved it will turn into a big tournament because of its power and I'd like us to be back." Ferguson admitted his team had made mistakes but argued it would have performed better if it had not been forced to play facing into a hot sun in the first 25 minutes of each game. "We were very unlucky to lose the toss in both games and had to play in the sun for the first 25 minutes," Ferguson said. "Once the shade came there were no problems. I think we were the best team here. We had a great chance of winning and it's a disappointment that we cannot do so now." The fact that United is staying around in Brazil for the third game and maybe a playoff for third place can also work in the team's favor. The players have been relaxing in the Brazilian sunshine while their rivals are suffering in a midwinter freeze back home. "It was a great occasion to play in the Maracana stadium and being in the warm sunshine has certainly rejuvenated the team," Ferguson said. "We're happy to have played here and to have enjoyed it."
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