KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 2010 / SPORTS
MLS
27
Manchester United to play in KC
Members of the Manchester United soccer team pose on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Tuesday. The team was in Philadelphia as part of its North American tour.
BY CARLO RAMIREZ cramirez@kansan.com
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tickets are still available to see the English Premiere League powerhouse Manchester United face off against the hometown Kansas City Wizards on Sunday.
With 40,000 tickets sold as of July 19, there are still tickets for lowerlevel, upper-level and club-level seating. Prices range between $40 and $60. The game is scheduled for 5 p.m. July 25 and will be the first event Arrowhead Stadium will host since its renovation.
Manchester United released its 23-man roster with one notable superstar left off: Wayne Rooney. The 26-year-old forward from Liverpool will be resting nagging injuries and recovering from the World Cup match he played for England. The English were eliminated in the first game out of group play by Germany in a 4-1 loss.
Fortunately for fans, there will still be plenty of world-class talent on display. Some notable players making the trip for Manchester are Ryan Giggs (Wales) and Paul Scholes (England), as well as Edwin Van der Sar (Holland), Nani (Portugal) and Dimitar Berbatov (Bulgaria). Giggs, known as the "The Welsh Wizard", is the most accomplished of the star-studded team. The legendary midfielder has won 11 Premiere League Championships, equivalent to a an American winning 11 Super Bowl rings — which has never happened.
This will be the first trip Manchester United has made to Kansas. Soccer fans such as Tim Cooper, a senior from Des Moines, Iowa, and former collegiate soccer player, sees this as an opportunity for fans to be exposed to high-level soccer.
"It is not very often you get to see such world-renowned players play on one team," Cooper said. "I think it is important for the younger kids to watch how Man. U plays the game. There is a lot to be learned in watching a team as prestigious as Manchester United."
Manchester United was founded in 1878 and has been the standard of excellence in one of the most competitive soccer leagues in the world. Since Forbes Magazine began tracking brand values for sports teams three years ago, this is the first year Manchester United has not topped the list. Instead, the reigning Major
League Baseball Champion New York Yankees own that right. Man, U, valued at $285 million, is also a proud owner of 18 shared league titles, four league cups and a record of four Football Association Cups. Manchester will be one of the toughest opponents the Wizards will play all year.
The Wizards currently sit in fourth place (4-8-4) in the Eastern Conference behind the Chicago Fire. The match against Manchester United is a 'friendly' match, meaning
it will not affect the Wizards' league standing. The team tied the Colorado Rapids Saturday in Commerce City, Colo., and will have a week to prepare for the game against Manchester United.
Tickets can be purchased through
Ticketmaster.com or by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000. Special packages are also available through the Kansas City Wizards and can be purchased by calling 1-888-4KC-GOAL.