Manchester United vs. World XI

Mark your calendars for Tuesday, March 13th. We’re looking at a massive exhibition match celebrating 50 years since Manchester United hit the big leagues in international play and signed the Roman Treaty.

Alex Ferguson basically said he's bringing out his absolute heavy hitters for this one.

Marcello Lippi is running point for the World XI, and here’s the roster they called up:

Ronaldinho
Steven Gerrard
Juninho
Abidal
Puyol
Thuram
Zambrotta
Carragher
Maldini
Gattuso
Pirlo
Ronaldo
Casillas
Mancini
Luis Miguel
Kahn
Grosso
Materazzi
Malouda
Ibrahimović

Fox Television is broadcasting the whole thing at 8:55 PM. You guys tuning in? What’s the vibe? Anyone seen matches like this before? Personally, I dig these types of games—it's usually just pure football, way less tactical grinding and way more goals.

Honestly, I think this is totally unnecessary for Manchester United, at least not right now. If they pick up even one more injury...

It’s funny how many people who don't have any real connection to World XI end up weighing in on the selection process.😬

They sent out invites to four Roma players—Francesco Totti, Daniele De Rossi, Alberto Perrotta—but it looks like only Roberto Mancini actually showed up.

Zinedine Zidane was also approached, but he turned them down.
It’s almost certainly because of that certain individual from Italy—specifically regarding the way Inter is run these days.

🙏 🙏 🙏Zinedine Zidane🙏 🙏 🙏

Zinedine Zidane is on an entirely different level than these guys...

VIVA LA ZINEDINE ZIDANE!

Zinedine Zidane is a total LEGEND

I suppose one might wonder what criteria were used to select these players 😁

Chloe Palmer2 said:I suppose one might wonder what criteria were used to select these players 😁

Marcello Lippi claims he was just calling up guys who would get him the win. Honestly, I’m dying to see how that actually plays out: a disciplined squad going head-to-head against some uncoordinated All-Star mess. And man, if Zinedine Zidane had shown up too...

I always find these charity matches pretty entertaining. Sure, nobody’s playing for their lives on the pitch, but you usually get clean, flashy football with plenty of goals. I mean, an All-Star roster might fall apart in the long run, but for one night? It can be top-tier entertainment.

How would you guys line up this roster?

Ronaldinho pulled out at the very last second

Chloe Palmer2 said:I suppose one might wonder what criteria were used to select these players 😁

It looks like they picked them based on age!
😁 😁 😁 😁

p.s. I’d actually pick this squad for Europe!! Naturally, in a 4-4-2

David James

William Gallas
Philipp Lahm
Yaya Touré
Fabio Cannavaro

Cristiano Ronaldo
Kaká
Arjen Robben
Steven Gerrard

Didier Drogba
Miroslav Klose

Damn, I messed up... swap Ronaldo for Deco... and there you have it!!

Walter Price said:It looks like they picked them based on age!
😁 😁 😁 😁

p.s. I’d actually pick this squad for Europe!! Naturally, in a 4-4-2

David James

William Gallas
Philipp Lahm
Yaya Touré
Fabio Cannavaro

Cristiano Ronaldo
Kaká
Arjen Robben
Steven Gerrard

Didier Drogba
Miroslav Klose

Damn, I messed up... swap Ronaldo for Deco... and there you have it!!

You left out Carragher and Reina. 😎 😎

Man Utd is sitting pretty with a 4-1 lead at the half. Ibro missed a penalty, though. Cristiano Ronaldo nailed a free kick.

Here are the goals http://manchesterunitedgoals.blogspot.com/
including Ronaldo’s spectacular dive—or should I say, when he basically outdribbled himself.
The first half was actually a lot better than the second—not exactly a great showing overall.

Gerald Martin5 said:Zinedine Zidane was also approached, but he turned them down.
It’s almost certainly because of that certain individual from Italy—specifically regarding the way Inter is run these days.

🙏 🙏 🙏Zinedine Zidane🙏 🙏 🙏

Exactly—he had zero interest in playing on a squad with Materazzi🙏 🙏 honestly, mad respect for that. He’s still sitting there waiting for an apology, but let's be real... he'll probably be waiting forever.

So, looks like we're finally getting Zinedine Zidane versus Cristiano Ronaldo over in Marseille

Honestly, I’m just so bored of watching games like this.😈

Games like this are where you actually see the beauty of football, because nobody’s just playing the numbers or overthinking the math... watching what Cristiano Ronaldo, Duff, Rooney, Ibrahimović, and the rest of the crew were doing out there was basically pure art, but unfortunately, you can't really pull off those kinds of dribbles or flashy passes in regular league play, since if you mess up even once, you're basically handing them the points on a silver platter...

silenthawk said:Games like this are where you actually see the beauty of football, because nobody’s just playing the numbers or overthinking the math... watching what Cristiano Ronaldo, Duff, Rooney, Ibrahimović, and the rest of the crew were doing out there was basically pure art, but unfortunately, you can't really pull off those kinds of dribbles or flashy passes in regular league play, since if you mess up even once, you're basically handing them the points on a silver platter...

True, but everyone’s mostly just worried about not getting sidelined by an injury first.👎

I mean, they just need to watch themselves so they don't go too hard right out of the gate, because if they do, there's probably gonna be way too many violations and interruptions