Manchester United beat Portsmouth on penalties to win their 13th Community Shield, quite how it went to penalties, I don't know.

Yesterday the Community Shield (Charity Shield) was celebrating it's 100th birthday which was contested between Manchester United and Portsmouth, the first Charity Shield was also contested by United, who beat Queens Park Rangers (QPR).
It was the first time since 1996 that the Community Shield wasn't being contested by two of the 'top four' teams- Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal.

The United team news was that Garry Neville was fit and it was his first competetive match since March 2007. Carrick was on the bench after recovering from a virus.

United started off at a fast pace, Nani purst through Portsmouth in the third minute which had to bring James to the edge of the box to clear it.
A minute later and Nani was threatening to break though again.
Both Tevez and Nani were looking bright and it was looking like it was only a matter of time before United were going to score.

It was great to see Gary Neville play in a competitive match again especially when he was sending in some great crosses.
United had a good chance to go 1-0 up in the 15th minute when Fletcher pulled the ball back and Tevez' header went wide.
Portsmouth had their first good chance in the 21st minute but Diarra's shot went sky high.
United had a few more great chances in the first half, Giggs' shot was parried away by James, Fletcher had the best chance of the first half when all he had to do was touch the ball which was crossed in by Nani but he slipped at the wrong time and slid onto the ball, which did result in someone asking if he was wearing John Terry's boots.

40 minutes in and Nani was at it again, he lifted the ball over Campbell and chipped it over James, but Distin was there to head it away for a corner, a bit more power on it and I think it would probably have been a goal.

44 minutes in and Vidic received a yellow card for wrestling Defoe onto the ground and then protesting about the decision, I would like to point out that these yellow cards do count in the Premier League season, so Vidic has a yellow card already before playing a Premier League match.

Second half and United carried on the way they finished, Nani took and early United corner which resulted in James coming off his line, Fletcher's on target shot was tipped onto the bar by James and the rebound went to Tevez, who headed the ball straight into James' hands.

64 minutes in and I heard an interesting fact, at this point Tevez had touched the ball 52 times, whilst Defoe had only touched it 13 times.

United had some more chances in the second half, Giggs had a scuffed shot which was easily claimed by James. Nani shot but it was straight at James, Tevez' shot resulted in a fantastic save by James who mananger to tip it around the post for a corner.

There was a bit of a contentious decision in the 74th minute when Tevez was pulled down in the penalty area by Hreidarsson. Hreidarsson was on the ground and pulled Tevez down by holding onto his leg, we should have had a penalty but just like the FA Cup match we didn't get a pen against Pompey.
Tevez did react to what Hreidarsson did by holding his throat, which I cannot condone at all, United should have had a penalty and Tevez should have been sent off.

The longer it went on without United scoring, the more I thought that Pompey might just get a goal but it went on and finished 0-0.
Time for penalties.

Pompey went first, Diarra stood up and skied it right over the bar. Tevez took the first United penalty, just like he did in Moscow, Tevez scored 1-0 to United.
The second penalty taker was Defoe and there was no doubt in my mind that he wasn't going to miss, he didn't 1-1.
Giggs took United's second he took it and scored 2-1 to United.
Mvuemba was Portsmouth's third penalty taker which was saved by Van Der Sar's legs, it was still 2-1 to United.
Carrick was United's third penalty taker and he scored it, 3-1 to United and the next Portsmouth player had to score.
Johnson stood up to take the penalty and he missed it, which means that Manchester United have retained the Community Shield.

United had loads of chances throughout the match but it showed that we definetly need to bring in a striker especially with Rooney and Ronaldo ill and injured.