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Saturday Ticker: Man United rout Swansea; Arsenal’s injury list grows longer; and more

RobinVanPersieManUnited1-SwanseaCity (Getty)

By DAN KARELL

David Moyes couldn’t have asked for a better way to officially open up his reign as  Manchester United manager.

The defending English Premier League champions took Swansea City to task on Saturday, scoring two goals in each half to win, 4-1, in the pouring rain at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea.

Though Swansea were the better side for most of the first half, Man United scored two goals in a two minute span, as Robin Van Persie and Danny Welbeck each found the back of the net. The two would again score terrific goals in the second half, with Van Persie rocketing a shot past Swansea goalkeeper Michel Vorm and Welbeck sending an audacious lob over Vorm for a goal.

Wayne Rooney made his season debut in the 62nd minute, entering for Ryan Giggs and having a part in both Man United second half goals.

Here are some more stories to catch up on from around the world:

ARSENAL ADD INJURIES TO INSULT

It only took about 20 minutes for wheels came off the Arsenal wagon in the first game of the season.

After momentarily making fans forget about the lack of spending during the summer with a classic Arsenal goal from Olivier Giroud in the 6th minute, their opponents on the day, Aston Villa, scored three straight goals, two of them on controversial penalty kick decisions from the referee to take all three points back to Birmingham.

Worse for the Gunners, Kieran Gibbs, Bakary Sagna, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were all substituted due to injuries during the match, leaving the Arsenal squad even thinner than expected. Manager Arsene Wenger also confirmed after the game that Tomas Rosicky picked up a knock and he didn’t know what to expect from Jack Wilshere after his 90 minute performance.

Arsenal, who were already missing Abou Diaby, Thomas Vermaelen, Nacho Monreal, and Mikel Arteta before Saturday’s season opener, are now likely to rely on reserve players to fill the numbers when they face Fenerbahce in UEFA Champions League play-off round matches on the next two Wednesdays.

MANDZUKIC LEADS BAYERN TO SECOND VICTORY

Bayern Munich weren’t able to put up the same kind of offensive performance that Hertha Berlin did against Eintracht Frankfurt a week earlier, but Bayern still walked away with the three points.

Playing in Frankfurt, a Mario Mandzukic goal was all that Bayern needed to defeat Eintracht, 1-0, sending the Europa League team down into the relegation zone while keeping Bayern at the top of the table on points.

New Bayern signing Mario Götze, who is slowly returning to fitness, was on the bench for the first time this season in an official match. Götze missed nearly all of the summer’s preseason due to a thigh injury.

QUICK KICKS

AS Monaco will be without new signings Joao Moutinho and James Rodriguez for Sunday’s tilt against Montpellier due to injury. (REPORT)

Japan has accepted an invitation to play in the 2015 Copa America, joining Mexico as the other non-CONMEBOL side in the competition. (REPORT)

After scoring twice for Mexico in their 4-1 victory over Ivory Coast on Wednesday, Oribe Peralta scored another two goals for his club side Santos Laguna in a 3-0 victory over Tigres UANL. (REPORT)

Celtic FC are in the running to sign Schalke 04 forward Teemu Pukki. (REPORT)

An injury has kept PSV phenom Zakaria Bakkali off the field for his side’s 3-0 victory on Saturday after he scored a hat-trick one week ago. (REPORT)

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What did you make of today’s games? Did you expect Man United to score four times? Do you see Arsenal making some signings to cover for the injuries? Do you believe Bayern can keep on winning in the Bundesliga?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. USA fans saying it can compete with other teams in Conmebol outside of Argentina & Brazil. USA can’t compete with Colombia, Uruguay or Paraguay. Stop the typical delusion. Stop thinking Team USA is that good; Mexico is even better regardless of how they’re playing now. USA would not qualify from Conmebol. Can’t even win at Costa Rica or Honduras want to compete with Conmebol,

    Reply
  2. So, what is going to happen to Chicharito? There is no chance he sees significant playing time this year. I know he is injured, now. That being said, I just don’t see him doing much for MU. He better hope he gets shipped out. Personally, I want to see him rid the pine as much as possible.

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    • There are four trophy-bearing competitions left that Manchester United is competing for, and that leaves a lot of room squad rotation. If moyes wants to be competative across all competitions, then he is going to need more than 3 strikers, and that means he still needs Chichi’s goals or he needs to buy somebody new first that can produce goals like he can. I don’t think he’s going anywhere.

      Reply
      • Maybe by February as the season winds on and cup competitions heat up. But for keeping match razor sharp for qualifying.. riding the MU pine in Aug/Sept/Oct won’t help out el tri

    • Chicharito will see significant minutes across all competitions like he always has for Manchester United. He’s way better than anybody Klinsmann lines up; predator in front of goal. Injury or not he will play for Moyes this season.

      Reply
    • I was lucky enough to be in London and at the game yesterday. Arsenal just didn’t really look like they had it together the entire game even though it was the same lineup as their las game of the season. They did get some bad calls to be fair and Villa was clearly not as strong. The fans were crazed. Today’s paper’s are full of demands for Wenger to purchase some players. I was in the Arsenal section right above the Villa travelling fans which was really great. They were going nuts and Guzan had some nice saves. My first EPL game and it was a real experience!!!

      Reply
      • I was thinking the same thing. Mexico also offers the potential for tv contract deals and other financial incentives. The US tops concocaf in qualifying and goes farther in the WC than in South Africa then it won’t really matter.

      • That’s because brought a reserve/young team to the tournament. Since then, no invite. If i was CONMEBOL, I would be insulted by that gesture as well

      • With the exception of the last edition, Mexico has always gotten out of the group stage, 2 2nd places, 3 thirds on the last 8 editions. With that said, it is true they only invite Mexico for the money. I would expect a full strength US team to do well just as Mexico does.

    • USMNT won’t get invited for a long time because conmebol was extremely angry at the b-team that was sent in 2007, that conmebol felt that the US wasn’t even competitive. Will be a long time before an invite comes again.

      Reply
      • Well it’s not like they want a team to win it from outside their region. I bet there will be a little wink and a nod that Mexico and Japan both do not send full strength squads. Don’t forget that while CONMEBOL is a powerhouse they still have teams like Bolivia, Peru, etc. who normally (though the last Cop saw runs by teams like Venezuela of all teams) aren’t that competitive on neutral soil

      • FYI Peru made it to the semis of the last Copa America where they lost to eventual champions Uruguay. They went on to destroy Venezuela 4-1 in the third place match. CONMEBOL is extremely competitive. Mexico and the US would have a very difficult time qualifying for the World Cup in CONMEBOL. Even Bolivia would put up a strong fight. Try playing at 12,000 ft above sea level!

      • Peru made it to semifinals. Mexico does it most times it participates. With the exception of Brasil and Argentina, Mexico and the USA would compete with any other team. It wouldn’t be easy to play on Mexico city or Columbus either, specially after a long travel. Sure these two teams might not qualify everytime but they would most of the times.

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