AC Milan 1 AC Chievo Verona 0

At last, Beckham earns a place in the starting line-up for the first time since Manchester United visited the San Siro, possibly a place earned by his evident commitment in the return leg at Old Trafford. The game seemed evenly matched in the early stages, neither side willing to give any quarter as tackles went flying in. After about ten minutes, Beckham went in bravely to head the ball and caught a boot in the face which gave him a deep cut. However, Beckham was keen to resume the game after minimal treatment. Despite a couple of free-kicks in what would be regarded as 'Beckham territory', it is clear that he does not seem to be first choice for free-kicks but is nonetheless, still taking corners. He did however get to take the kick on 34 mins when he himself was fouled over on the right wing. A game pattern was emerging as the half progressed, Milan were disappointing but threatening to dominate whilst Chievo seemed intent on amassing as many bookings as possible with three in about a ten-minute spell. The ref must have felt obliged to even things up and so booked the very next Milan foul regardless of the lack of any bad intent.
On about 42 minutes Chievo gave Milan a warning by surging forward and hitting the cross-bar, Abate was injured in the attempt on goal. Whilst Abate was off the field, Chievo again caught Milan on the break, and this time had the ball in the back of the net, but were unfortunate to have a goal ruled out as off-side. A tired-looking Milan side struggled on to half time and went into the break at 0-0 after three added minutes.
Early in the second half, Beckham is still showing his commitment by playing high up the field and winning the ball. A Beckham corner placed expertly on Ronaldinho's head went wide, and on 56 minutes, Ronaldinho hit the post with a fine effort shortly before Inzaghi came on for Gatusso.
Milan pile the pressure on Chievo and are threatening once more to dominate and control the game as the hour mark ticks around. Chievo are still threatening on the break and Pinzi wastes a chance in front of goal with a bad contact heading wide. Beckham is stamping his presence all over this game, meanwhile Seedorf is warming up on the sidelines.
Inzaghi had a golden chance to nick a goal on 73 mins, but took a tumble when he could have taken it around the keeper. Finally it's Pirlo that makes way for Seedorf, but of all the Milan palyers, it is Borriello up front that appears to be sluggish, as he has right from the first half. Again on 80 minutes, Chievo issued another warning with a fine cross that failed to get a contact, in return Ronaldinho narrowly missed once again. In the meantime, Beckham is popping up all over the pitch and challenging for the ball like a terrier, even getting on the end of a Ronaldhino cross in the box, but the keeper effectively smothered the chance. Beckham ended up being stretchered off with an injury to his left ankle moments before Seedorf finally buried the ball in the back of the net - At last Milan are back in the Serie A title race despite their failure to take this game by the scruff of the neck. Even Inzaghi seemed to want to take another touch when he should be taking the first chance.
The game ended at 1-0 and Milan can count themselves lucky to finally secure the three points - we wait to see whether the injury to Beckham will impact on his chances to feature in the world Cup.

Manchester United 4 AC Milan 0 (agg 7-2)

Beckham starts on the bench for his much-hyped return to Old Trafford and Manchester United came out fighting with a few early efforts from Rooney, but Milan replied with a couple of chances of their own all within the first 10 mins. It was only a few minutes later when Rooney put United 4-2 ahead on aggregate with another headed goal from a cross by captain Gary Neville. With the pressure of extra goals needed, Milan continued to pile the pressure on United. Both teams finished the frist half strongly, but United seem able to contain Milan and prevent them from playing the game their way. The half ends 1-0 to United, with Milan needing to score three to win the tie.
The second half gets under way with Seedorf coming into the game, but Rooney strikes again in the first minute to surely put the tie out of Milan's reach. Fed by Nani from the left, this time Rooney was clear to slip the ball past Abbiati in the Milan goal and watch it trickle over the line. Meanwhile Beckham is warming up in earnest, as Milan contemplate their predicament at 5-2 down on aggregate. On 58 minutes United added to Milan's woe through Park who managed to strike across goal from close range beating the keeper for 3-0 on the night and 6-2 on aggregate.
Beckham finally joins the fray with a little under 30 minutes left, shortly before Rooney and Neville leave the field. The crowd gave Beckham a very warm reception, and then proceeded to boo when he had his first touch, jokers began to chant 'Fergie, Fergie sign him up!'. Inzaghi also joined the fray, but the tie is over to all intents and purposes and United are not likely to give away four goals...
However on 74 minutes Beckham had a dream strike from distance that Van De Saar managed to parry - it was the kind of volley you dream of, which was both well-hit and on target, unfortunately it was not far enough away from the 'keeper to change the score. Beckham was also able to demonstrate delivery from the right hand side that Milan have been missing in his absence. The last cheer was to go Manchester United's way with Fletcher getting on the end of a soaring cross to head home for United's fourth goal on the night with just a couple of minutes left to play. In extra-time Beckham again was given far too much time on the right and put in a cross that just skimmed the goal line and eluded the Milan strikers. All-in-all a masterful performance by Man United who easily contained and dominated the Serie A side.
Beckham was the last to leave the field as he took the time to walk around and thank the crowd who were so generous in their plaudits.

Beckham ready to play at Old Trafford

Barely visible in a sea of photographers, Beckham is mobbed by press and fans as the Milan team arrive in preparation to play Manchester United tomorrow night.
Milan face an uphill struggle to turn around a 3-2 home deficit for a place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Beckham has not started a game since the first leg at the San Siro, but there is hope that he will be able to play a significant part in what will be his first and quite possibly last visit to Old Trafford as an opposition player.
Nerves seemed absent as the team worked hard at training today, Ronaldinho and Beckham share a joke whilst they vie for who will take the free-kicks:
Quite rightly, Sir Alex will be more concerned about players like Pato and Huntelaar rather than what the 34-year-old former Manchester United player will bring to the game. Milan have a strong squad and will need to play to their strengths to turn this tie around...

AS Roma 0 AC Milan 0

Beckham on the bench again for the start of this game. The first half bought us no goals and precious few real efforts on goal. Milan looked the stronger side although they did not have everything their own way. Ronaldinho once again excelled and looks like a man determined to make it back into the Brazilian squad before the World cup.
The second half began with Milan pressing the home side and looking the more likely to break the deadlock. Ranieri introduced Toni into the game to pester the Milan defence, a task which he set about with relish. In the meantime, Milan continue to dominate but were missing the vital delivery into the box which is normally provided by Beckham.
Beckham took the field with 20 mins to go with his normal partner in crime down the right wing; Abate. His first couple of efforts were off-target probably as a result of the amount of bench-sitting rather than playing he has been doing lately. On 77 minutes Inzaghi joined the fray with instructions to get that all-important goal. Beckham's third attempt at delivering the killer ball into the box, was inch-perfect finding Ronaldinho's head, but Ronadinho headed wide. As the clock ticked the time away, it was still Milan that were largely in control of the game, but it was Riise for Roma who had the last effort, stinging the hands of Abbiati from distance with only 10 seconds of extra time remaining. The game finished 0-0, but Milan can consider it points lost as they should have had a win to show for their superiority on the pitch.

Englands World Cup Plans

England will play Mexico and Japan in the build-up to the World Cup, the Mexico date is yet to be confirmed, but the match will be at Wembley Stadium. The Match against Japan will be on Sunday 30 May at 2.15pm, in the UPC-Arena in Graz. Following this match, squad returns to England from their Austrian World Cup training camp.
The squad that will travel to the camp will be officially announced on Sunday 16 May, this squad will travel to Austria the very next day, apart from any players that may be involved in The FA Cup Final or Champions League Final, they will follow a different itinerary.
On Tuesday 1 June, Capello will name his final World Cup squad of 23 players and the following day, this group will meet and fly out to South Africa arriving in the country early on Thursday 3 June.
Beckham was not used in the game against Egypt and has been keeping the bench warm for a large part of Milan's recent fixtures. However, Milan do not have Pato, Mancini, Onyewu, Seedorf or Gatusso (suspended) available for tomorrows game against Roma, so there is a better chance that we will see more of Beckham tomorrow evening.

England 3 Egypt 1

England hosted the Africa of Nations champions in front of a crowd of 80,000 at Wembley as part of their preparation for the fast-approaching World Cup. Beckham started on the bench and stayed there for the duration of the game which turned out to be a game of two halves.
England started brightly enough but allowed Egypt too much possession in the first half. After spurning a couple of good chances (Lampard and Defoe) in front of goal, England allowed Egypt one chance which they gratefully took.. England left the field at half time a goal down and it was a changed team that resumed after the break. Carrick and Crouch joined the fray and immediately settled down to business, Crouch using his feet to good effect for a goal on 56 minutes, leveling the game at last. England pressed and started to take control of the match. Milner came on and had a shot which stung the keepers hands on 74 minutes, Wright-Phillips collected the rebound and spun it into the net for Englands second goal. Crouch wasn't finished though, and scored again on 79 minutes to give England a two-goal cushion at 3-1. The replay showed that Crouch was offside, but the officials did not call it. England finished strongly and eventually showed the sort of quality we have come to expect since the excellent record during the qualification stages. Notably even during the triumphant performances of World Cup qualification, England were rarely able to keep a clean sheet, but once again showed that they are a team who are likely to score a hat-full of goals every time they get the bit between their teeth.

Fiorentina 1 Milan 2

Beckham stayed on the bench for the duration of this three goal thriller which didn't really come to life until the final 15 minutes.
Fiorentina went ahead in the first half after just 14 minutes, and the score stayed the same for more than an hour. On 75 minutes, Leornardo brought Huntelaar on, and it took him only 5 minutes to get the ball in the back of the net courtesy of a neat interchange with Ronaldinho. For the final few minutes Fiorentina were on the back-foot and it was Pato who finished them off in the final minute of added time. Ronaldinho again the provider, losing the ball on the left side of the box, then picking it up again and lofting it cleverly into the danger area. One Milan player took a swipe at it as it went over his head, but it finally fell at Pato's feet with enough time and sight of the goal to smash it through the keeper for 2-1 to an elated Milan side and their very happy visiting support.

AS Bari 0 AC Milan 2

Another game with Beckham resigned to the bench as Leonardo juggles his players to find the best combination. The first half was fairly uneventful, neither side really stamping their authority on the match. Milan were lucky to survive a penalty shout on 26 mins, and Borriello had an effort cleared from the goal line on 40 minutes. However only two minutes later Ronaldinho found Borriello with a searching cross into the box, he met it with his left foot for a mid-air volley that found the target and gave Milan the first goal of the game.
The second half saw Milan start to show their class, but without much return, and they were on the verge of allowing Bari back into the game. On 68 minutes Ronaldinho was free in the box and had his close-range shot saved only for the clearing header to fall to Pato's feet. Pato took the chance to slot the ball into the back of the net to make the score 2-0 to Milan. On 80 minutes Beckham finally joined the fray replacing Gattuso and got plenty of the ball - none of his long cross-field passes were forthcoming though as Milan intended to keep the ball. In the final few minutes, Pato gave away a penalty, but Abbiati in the Milan goal was up to the task and dived low to his right to save it one-handed. Milan walk away with all the points and all the goals...

Milan 2 Man United 3

Beckham starts in this poignant clash between the reds of Manchester and the reds of Milan, and shows class from the start. After just three minutes it was a Beckham free-kick that fell to Ronaldinho after Evra cleared wildly. The Brazilian flashed it past Van De Saar for the first goal of the match. Chances continued to come thick and fast for Milan and Man United looked like they were in for a torrid time.
But Manchester United are not a team to give up easily and it was 10 minutes from half time when Fletcher crossed into the box for Scholes to swing at with his right foot - he mis-kicked and the ball span off his left shin beyond Dida and into the Milan goal. The tempo was set and both teams fought for dominance, a fight in which Milan were marginally ahead - yet the score remained 1-1 up to half time.
The game continued with entertaining football form both teams, Rooney leading the attack for Man United, Ronaldinho full of tricks for Milan. It was Rooney who made the impact on 65 mins, rising in the box to place his looping header over a stranded Dida to go 2-1 up in the tie. Five minutes later Beckham left the field to be replaced by Clarence Seedorf. Just four minutes later Rooney again stole behind the static Milan defence to head a simple chip from Fletcher over a rooted Dida, 3-1 to Man United. Seedorf justified his presence by scoring in the last five minutes with a back-heel finish in the box to give a thrilling finale to the game. Inzaghi who had also only been on the pitch a short while almost made it a draw just seconds later, but shot over the bar. Milan continue to push for the equaliser making a real game of it as the seconds tick away. Michael Carrick was sent off in added time for a second bookable offence, although he committed no foul. The final whistle went, embraces were exchanged and we look forward with keen anticipation to the return leg at Old Trafford.

AC Milan 3 Udinese 2

In a match brought forward to allow Milan more time to prepare for Manchester united in the coming week, Beckham was on the bench again as Alex Ferguson watched the game as part of his teams preparation. Mancini once again started on the right in a slightly more forward role than we would normally expect to see Beckham playing.
It took less than seven minutes for Ronaldinho to pop up on the right hand side from a corner, and put a cross in for Huntelaar to head into the back of the net from point blank range. As the goal went in, Mancini was having his thigh strapped up by the coaching staff which left you wondering how long he would last, and it was only about 4 minutes later that Pato came on to replace him. Pato failed to make an initial impression despite having the ball in the back of the net (offside) on 23 minutes. Just 15 minutes later, Ronaldinho released Pato who took it past the keeper at speed for the second goal of the match whilst Thiago Silva was off the pitch having thigh problems. 2-0 to Milan who were starting to take control of the game. Despite this dominance, Milan conceded in the very last breath of the first half from a powerful header that slammed into the chest of goalkeeper Dida but still ended up in the back of the net. Milan 2 Udinese 1 at half time.
Udinese started the second half with a bit more conviction after their timely goal at the very end of the first half. Despite the resurgence of the Udinese team given confidence by the goal, it was Milan who scored once more to open up a two-goal gap through Huntelaar once again who found himself turning to face goal with the ball at his feet from a Ronaldinho free-kick. 3-1 to Milan who have soaked up a lot of Udinese pressure and still have come out on top. Milan do not really take the chance to close out the game and continue allow Udinese clear chances to attack the Milan goal. In the 71st minute, Huntelaar came close to getting his hat-trick from another free-kick, as Beckham still waited on the sidelines. On 74 minutes, Gattuso spurned a chance to score in front of goal and Ronaldinho had a strong header saved, seconds before being replaced by David Beckham.
On 85 minutes, Beckham sent a long searching ball that picked out Pato perfectly behind the Udinese defence, Pato failed to convert despite shooting from an angle, the ball hitting the keeper and spinning agonisingly on the goal line... Just seconds later Udinese broke away and fired past Dida for a second goal, pinning the margin back to one goal at Milan 3 Udinese 2 with just 4 minutes left on the clock. The ref adds two minutes to the game, which Milan successfully run down, Beckham getting away with a late challenge which could have earned him a booking. Milan win a scrappy game which frankly could have gone either way, are they really prepared for Manchester United and Wayne Rooney? Time will tell...

Getting the gear you want

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Technological advancements happen so quickly that many items become almost obsolete whilst sitting on a stock shelf.
A few months a go, I needed a laptop bag, but the stock available in the shops (major retailers) were either very expensive or just not big enough. In the end, I managed to find a bargain tucked away, but I know I could have got a better deal on the 'net if I had been prepared to wait a few days for delivery.
Over time, you build up a base of trustworthy websites that give great value for money along with prompt (and reasonably priced) delivery, the latest discovery for me has been gearzap.com. Gearzap has a combination of strong quality brands on offer and prices that beat the high street hands down. Not only that, but this is a UK-based site, no need to work out the current exchange rate, the prices are listed in £UK. I have one more requirement that separates the sites I just look at from the sites I buy from... when I see Paypal is offered as a method of payment, that usually clinches the deal for me.
Gearzap offers accessories specifically matched to some of the laptop market-leaders Dell, Acer, HP, Fujitsu etc. etc., they have laptop hard and soft bags, macbook case supplies, skins, batteries, chargers as well as memory upgrades and card readers, speakers etc. There is still a place in my heart for auction sites if you like your technology to be 'previously enjoyed', but if you like your gadgets 'BNIB', unopened and with a valid warranty, navigate away from auction sites and towards GearZap...

Bologna 0 AC Milan 0

Beckham is displaced by new boy on-loan Mancini for the starting line up for this match. The first half started well for Milan as they began to take charge of the match. Bologna were reduced to hitting Milan on the break despite being the home side. Despite good chances at both ends, neither team managed to get the ball in the net. Mancini played well enough on his debut, but seemed to fade by half time - possibly leaving an opening for Beckham to come off the bench for the second half.

The second half started with the team intact but Beckham was running the lines as if there was a distinct possibility of his imminent arrival. On 60 mins however, it was Huntelaar who came on for Seedorf. Milan asserted themselves as the controlling force in the game throughout the second half, as chances for Bologna to hit them on the break become few and far between. The Bologna keeper Colombo made some fine saves and put his bdoy on the line a number of times to keep Bologna in the game.

It was with just over 10 minutes to go that Ronaldinho finally gave way to Beckham, and Mancini switched to the left-hand side. Playing in a new change kit of white with bright red shorts, Beckham had an immediate and lively impact. He chased the ball, and put in crosses and in the closing minutes, had a strike from open play but sliced over the goal. Four minutes were added, during which time Milan continued to put pressure on the home team. The game finished honours even at 0-0, a result which will be a disappointment for Milan, Bologna on the other hand seemed delighted with the draw.