Australia’s remarkable run of results has come crashing to a halt at the Seoul World Cup Stadium as Korea downed the Socceroos 3-1  tonight in an International Friendly. With both teams safely through to the World Cup Finals as top of their Asian qualifying groups, this was a chance for both managers to test some new players, and Aussie coach Pim Verbeek rang in the changes in what was a homecoming for him, as he coached South Korea before taking the Australian job.

Australia’s new look back four were rattled by two early goals, both defensive mistakes, as first a stray Jason Culina pass was intercepted on the half way line, followed by a quick Korean breakaway as Park Chu Young put the first past Mark Schwarzer, and shortly afterwards, a free kick to the back post saw a goalmouth scramble and an uncontested backheel  flick by Lee Jung Soo give Korea a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.

At this stage Australia were under all sorts of pressure and could have conceded several more goals before pulling one back off a set piece, as a Bresciano free kick was headed home by Leeds United defender Pat Kisnorbo to bring the Socceroos back into the game. From that moment forth, Australia regained their composure and were able to eventually enjoy periods of dominance over Korea, with Josh Kennedy coming close with a number of headers, using his height to first narrowly miss, and eventually hitting the post.

It was the Manchester United midfielder Ji-sung Park however who was at the centre of everything good Korea was doing, and ultimately it was he that killed the game off towards the end of the second half, as he picked up the ball near the half way line, and dribbled around Australia’s midfield enforcer Vince Grella, down the touchline beating two more players with an explosion of speed, finally able to produce a pinpoint cross for Ki Sung Yueng to nod home. Park’s inclusion by Sir Alex Ferguson in big matches has often been a talking point amongst pundits and fans, but Australians will not be amongst those that question the great manager after this display, culminating in a demonstration of power and skill that has rarely  been inflicted on a side that has risen to an all time high of 14 in the world this week.

Korea’s unbeaten run now stretches to 25 games, and they will be heading to the World Cup full of confidence. For Australia, there were positives after the slow start, and the introduction of Nicky Carle on the hour mark made a difference to the creativity levels and energy in the side, but they will be a different team when the absent Kewell, Cahill, Lucas Neill and Brett Emerton return. Their next match is a friendly with the Netherlands on October 11 at the Sydney Football Stadium.

The delicious mind-game between former Premier League rivals Jose Mourinho and Alex Ferguson didn’t disappoint yesterday afternoon.  Whether making sure each player wore the correct shirt to the organizing their players in a way to enhance the scoring of goals, these two towering geniuses of the modern game proved beyond a doubt they are football managers.

Of course to the layman, yesterday’s Champions League match between EPL’s United’s of Manchester and Serie A’s Internationals of Milan appeared to be a routine game of eleven-a-side football, but for those with expert tactical knowledge, every detail—from the way Maicon threw in the ball after it went out to touch, to the way Ronaldo fell over several times—was calculated from the start, pieces in an intricate chess match played by two grandmasters of the game.

You could tell by the way former Chelsea boss Mourinho leaned against the glass wall of his enclosure that he knew exactly what he was doing, like asking the men who were best able to kick the ball in the opposing net to try and do just that, or making the guys really good at defending their own net form a line of some sort at the back.  As for Ferguson, who sat and watched the whole game with his face reacting to the events taking place on the pitch, he made no mistakes at all, like making sure there were eleven men on the pitch instead of twelve, and not giving them hockey sticks or knives, which I believe UEFA no longer allows.

Yes, not since Kasparov met Karpov has the world seen such a pairing.  I mean, look at how Ferguson used non-regular starters to replace players unavailable due to injury, or how Mourinho used the best players at his disposal to play in their regular positions.  The intense extra-sensorial perspetival action was almost too hard to bear.  Indeed, when sometimes-fit-but-sometimes-not-fit striker Wayne Rooney came on in the latter stages of the game to replace tiring Ji Sung Park, it seemed to be checkmate times a billion, until Mourinho had it clear he had other plans.  Like having his defenders snuff out Manchester’s attempts on goal.

Now we can all look forward to the second leg in Manchester in two weeks time.  Will Ferguson attempt a slightly different formation so that the players will better interact with one another to facilitate the scoring of goals?  Will Mourinho give an inspiring team talk to try and improve or maintain his players’ performance in the second half?  You’ll have to tune in to find out!

When you see West Brom v Manchester United, it’s almost written in stone what the outcome is going to be. However in being the first live match I have seen in over two weeks, I was happy to see any and all live football. When it’s all said and done, most will remember this match for the result that keeps the pressure on Liverpool and Chelsea in the league and for the record Manchester United broke (most minutes without allowing a Premier League goal), I will remember this match for the red card Paul Robinson received and the questioning in my mind if it was a worthy decision.

The decision five minutes from halftime was the death knell for any opportunity West Brom had to get back in the match and from my vantage point was a very harsh red to give out. Both Robinson and Ji-Sung Park were sliding after the same ball, just Paul Robinson was second to the slide. Yes Park was injured on the slide, but in the course of 50/50 challenges there is always a possibility of an injury.

The other thing that caught my eye was the angle from which Rob Styles was at when he saw the challenge. Did Rob Styles have a proper angle to correctly judge the tackle and to me the answer was no. While there are no players blocking his line of sight, Park’s body was shielding the true actions of Paul Robinson. When we see the opposite angle, there are no studs that enter the fray.

The only reason I could see Styles giving that as violent conduct was the fact that Park required treatment. However Park’s condition wasn’t all that well known when the red card came out. When you see Ryan Giggs putting an arm around Robinson’s shoulder, it tells me that even most of the Manchester United players felt it was a harsh decision.

I do have to wonder though what would have happened had Robinson not been involved in a few decision earlier in the half. Would he have been sent off?

The red card only changed the scoreline Manchester United were going to win by and credit has to go to Manchester United for not letting their foot off the gas pedal when they had every opportunity to do so.  Instead the Red Devils took the opportunity to increase their goal difference of plus 29, equaling that of Chelsea.

So was Paul Robinson deserving of the red card? Let us know by leaving a comment below. Also what were your thoughts on the other action of the afternoon? Has Emile Heskey already started to pay off the transfer fee paid to Wigan? Will Stoke City rue yet another slow start to a match and what does the result do for Tottenham? How much time does Sunderland get to breathe a sigh of relief after Kenwyne Jones second half goal sees them past Fulham? Will we ever see any separation at the bottom? Again let us know below.