The last international break of the year is winding down and with it Manchester United’s next match, a league fixture at Sheffield United, draws near. Here’s the early team news for that one. Let’s take a look at some of the news items trending in cyberspace right now during these final days of the break.
United have already qualified for the knockout round of the UEFA Europa League so their next match, at FC Astana, isn’t all that meaningful, but it certainly will be unique.
According to ESPN, they’ll play the match, in the Kazakhstan capital city, indoors due to extreme cold. How cold? Well, “members of the traveling party have also been told to refrain from going outdoors for more than 10 minutes during any down time because of the cold” writes ESPN FC.
The air temperatures is forecasted to drop all the way to -20 degrees Celsius (-4 F) outside, so it’s obvious why this match needs to be played inside.
Elsewhere, when Harry Maguire moved over in the summer from Leicester City in the summer transfer window, it wasn’t the first time he obtained a United shirt. While playing for Sheffield United’s youth side (so you can see why Sunday is so special for him), against the Red Devils in the 2011 FA Youth Cup Final, the central defender collided with Ravel Morrison.
The English international was knocked out, and as a show of good faith/reward for having endured pain and hardship, he was gifted a United kit.
More on this at the Daily Mail.
And finally, Marcus Rashford believes that he has gotten his groove, for both club and country, back now. The young Englishman is feeling confident again after having endured a scoring slump early on in the season, and now gotten himself back on a hot streak.
“It has been a tough period and now I’m getting consistent games and playing week in, week out,” he said while on international duty.
“As a forward that has huge importance. If you are not in the team and you’re in and out, you don’t quite have that confidence in front of goal.”
“But when you’re having a run in the team it’s important to come up with the goods and once you start doing that it becomes second nature.”
He scored in both of England’s matches this break, and now has nine goals in his last ten matches for United and Three Lions. The return of Anthony Martial from injury has been absolutely massive for him, as the Frenchman’s presence has given him extra space and time with which to create.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link.
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