Saha back as United looks for early qualification
LONDON: Everything is coming together nicely for Manchester United and it could secure Champions League progress with two games to spare by beating Dynamo Kiev in Group F on Wednesday.
Kiev, without a win in 10 Champions League games over three years, has lost all three of the current campaign and looks unlikely to ruffle the feathers of a United team that overwhelmed it 4-2 two weeks ago in Ukraine.
That was a run of four successive wins where the Premier League champions scored four goals, a run brought to an end by Saturday's 2-2 draw at Arsenal.
Even though the goals were a little harder to come by at the Emirates Stadium, manager Alex Ferguson came away with even more confidence about his strike force after a telling contribution from substitute Louis Saha.
The French striker Saha appeared for the first time in a month and linked nicely with Patrice Evra to create Cristiano Ronaldo's goal that had United 2-1 up until injury time.
"Louis Saha made a marvelous contribution when he came on," said Ferguson, who knows a win will be enough if Sporting Lisbon fails to beat AS Roma.
Midfielder Michael Carrick also returned after a month, fullback Gary Neville appeared for the reserves after a seven-month absence and, with Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez forging a great partnership up front, Ferguson has enviable options in all areas.
"I had the strongest bench that we've had all season, that's encouraging for us," he said after the Arsenal game. "The lads who have been playing all this time have been fantastic and we are very proud of them. But we can now alternate our teams a little bit better."
Victory on Wednesday should just about wrap up qualification for the knockout rounds and leave Ferguson to concentrate his efforts on domestic issues until the new year.
While it is all smiles at Old Trafford, Kiev has reached the halfway point of its league season under a cloud.
A 1-0 home loss to Metalist Kharkiv on Saturday left it third, 10 points behind leader Shakhtar Donetsk and in danger of missing out on the Champions League next season.
It also lost coach Jozef Sabo, appointed in place of Anatoliy Demyanenko after the 2-0 defeat by to AS Roma in the opening game of the group stage.
He has had to step down with a heart problem and will be temporarily replaced by his assistant Oleg Luzhniy.
Brazilians Rodrigo and Kleber and Ukrainian midfielder Mykhalyk are all injured, though forward Serhiy Rebrov has recovered from a knee problem and should play.
With so many problems and disruptions, president Igor Surkis is already looking to next season.
"We can't wait for the winter break," he told UEFA.com. "We will make fundamental changes in the transfer market and add four or five young Ukrainian players to the squad."
"If we don't win a Champions League berth for next season I will not make a tragedy out of it. On the contrary, I see a positive side to that. It would give us a year to create a new team which could gain experience in the UEFA Cup."
Agencies
(China Daily 11/07/2007 page23)
