English Hearts, These Red Devils

Julio Bello of Cuba asked me what I thought of Manchester United, a thought I really do not relish. But I have to give props to the Red Devils for they are truly a great team. The fact that they have dominated the English Premier League says a lot about them.


Aside from the money that the Glazers are able to pump in (that helps bring solid players to the squad) and having one of the best manager in Sir Alex Ferguson, I think that their all-English core (probably the most of the top four in the Premier League) is a huge factor. They already play for a storied club to begin with then the key players take to the pitch with a lot of pride.

Take a gander at their starting eleven:

Edwin Van Der Sar (Goalkeeper, Dutch)

Rio Ferdinand (Central Back, English) Nemanja Vidic (Central Back, Serbian)

Gary Neville (Captain, Right Back, English) Patrice Evra (Left Back, French)

Michael Carrick (MF, English)

Ronaldo (Left MF, Portuguese) Paul Scholes (Central MF, English) Ryan Giggs (Right MF, Welsh)

Dmitar Berbatov (Left Forward, Bulgarian) Wayne Rooney (Right Forward, English)

Manchester runs a staggered 4-4-2 with Argentinean Carlos Teves in for Berba or even Rooney. When Owen Hargreaves is healthy, he starts in the place of Carrick. Hargreaves is English. So that's Ferdinand, Neville, Carrick, Scholes, and Rooney (you can include Gigsy too). Wes Brown comes off the bench for this unit too.

While Neville is captain, Ferdinand is vice-captain of the National Team (after Chelsea's John Terry) so this team is not lacking in on field leadership.

Carrick plays an important role in this unit as he feeds his mids and allows Rooney and Berba to play deep.

Hate to say it but this is one tough line-up.