The FA Community Shield sponsored by McDonald's 2008
3pm, Sunday 10 August 2008
Wembley Stadium
Live on Setanta, highlights on ITV
After winning his seventh FA Community Shield with Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson revealed he was delighted with the performance of his players and was surprised it took penalties to win the game.
The English and European Champions took the first silverware of the new season with a 3-1 victory on penalties - but the performance during the 90 minutes pleased the Old Trafford boss.
"I was very pleased with the performance today, it was excellent,'' Ferguson told Setanta.
"How we got to penalty kicks... that's one of the mysteries of football. We had a lot of chances, we were the better team, but it's only pre-season.''
United had a late penalty claim when Hermann Hreidarsson appeared to impede Carlos Tevez but referee Peter Walton rejected appeals.
"I think everyone thought it was a penalty,'' said Ferguson. ``I don't know what position Peter Walton was in.
"Anyway, it wasn't given, it's early season, and it doesn't matter.''
United remain in the hunt for a striker, and Ferguson confirmed the club are actively pursuing targets, although he would not be drawn on discussing Tottenham's Dimitar Berbatov.
"Nothing to say at all,'' he said. "We're looking at options elsewhere, all over the place.
"We'd like to add to our squad. We're making some moves in that direction but nothing to report.''
Team colours
Teams
Manchester United
1 Edwin Van Der Sar, 2 Gary Neville (c) (6 Wes Brown, 67) 3 Patrice Evra, 5 Rio Ferdinand, 15 Nemanja Vidic, 24 Darren Fletcher, 18 Paul Scholes, 22 John O'Shea (16 Michael Carrick, 67) 17 Nani (Fraizer Campbell, 79) 11 Ryan Giggs, 32 Carlos Tevez
Substitutes
29 Tomasz Kuszczak, 23 Jonny Evans, 21 Rafael Da Silva, 34 Rodrigo Possebon
Portsmouth
1 David James, 23 Sol Campbell (c), 15 Sylvain Distin, 5 Glen Johnson, 6 Lassana Diarra, 19 Niko Kranjcar (17 John Utaka, 60), 30 Pedro Mendes (18 Arnold Mvuemba, 75) 8 Papa Boupa Diop, 7 Hermann Hreidarsson (4 Lauren, 79) 14 Jermain Defoe, 9 Peter Crouch
Substitutes
21 Jamie Ashdown, 26 Ben Sahar, 20 Martin Cranie, 32 Djimi Traore
Referee
Peter Walton (Northamptonshire FA)
Manchester United Red shirts, White shorts, White socks
Goalkeeper Yellow shirt, Black shorts, Yellow socks
Portsmouth Blue shirts, Blue shorts, Blue socks
Goalkeeper Grey shirt, Grey shorts, Grey socks
Officials
Referee Peter Walton (Northamptonshire FA)
Assistants David Richardson (West Riding FA) and Ian Gosling (Kent FA)
Fourth Official Andre Marriner (Birmingham FA)
Attendance: 84,808
