The team from the English Championship Crystal Palace reached a shocking success with 2: 1 as a guest of the champions in 1/4-the final match of the tournament "Carling Cup". The team from London threw “the red devils” out of the cup after a goal in the extra time after the regular time ended in a draw. The winning goal was scored by Glen Murray. At the time, however, that most likely the defender of the guests was in offside position. The team of Crystal Palace opened the result of the "Old Trafford" with a very beautiful goal, scored by Darren Ambrose. The half surprised Ben Hawkins with excellent shot from more than 20 m, aimed in the upper-right corner behind the goalkeeper of Man United. Only minutes later, however, Federico Macheda fell in the penalty area and embraced the opportunity to score from a penalty kick.
The team of Man United, in which Ferguson had put much of its youngsters such as as Ezekiel Fryers, Chris Smalling, Paul Pogba and Rayville Morison showed quite weak football, although a lot of positions in front of the enemy goalkeeper were wasted.
Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov was replaced at the break of the match. In place of Berbatov, who had most likely been injured, Morrison appeared. Berbatov, along with Macheda, was on the top of the attack. However, he failed to help his team create something interesting during the first 45 minutes.
The second part was also not particularly interesting, as the match perked up only about the goal of Ambrose and the penalty kick for the hosts. Former England youth footballer shocked “Old Trafford” with one of his goals, shooting of more than 20 m in the upper-right corner behind the goalkeeper. Only a minute later, however, Macheda fell in the penalty are after being pulled, and then scored from the awarded penalty. The game lacked more interesting moments, hosts pushed in the enemy field, but their opponents didn’t break.
So the extra time was given, as in the first 15 minutes of added time "Eagles" of London had a reason to celebrate once again. In the 98-minute Darren Ambrose centered from the left wing and Glen Murray made the score 1: 2 after a header. However, the doubts that Murray has been in an offside position remained.
After this goal the team of Man United, threw itself in the attack, but besides a major shortcoming of Macheda just a minute after the goal, failed to make a serious threat for Crystal Palace. So, the team of the guests reached the ½ final to the tournament and an eventual chance to play on “Wembley”.
The three football players nominated for the golden ball are already announced. ON a special event in Paris, organized by the french magazine "France Football" and FIFA. Those three are Lionell Messi from Barcelona, Xavi Hernandez, again from Barcelona, and Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid. On 1st November, a list of the best 23 players in the world was announced, but 20 candidates were eliminated and only 3 remained. The winner will be known on 9th January, 2012 at a ceremony in Zurich, Switzerland. The Argentinian star of Barcelona Messi has the possibility to become the second football player in the world, after Michel Platini, to win the award three times in a row. Leo has already taken the prize twice. The French legend won in 1983, 1984 and 1985. Another two players also managed to win the award two times: Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten. Furthermore, Messi is nominated for five years in a row.
