Home   >   MOTDs   >   MOTD- Sunderland 1-2 Manchester United

MOTD- Sunderland 1-2 Manchester United

By on October 5, 2013

20131005-211918.jpgAdnan Januzaj. Remember that name. At only 18 years of age the Belgian midfielder saved Manchester United at the Stadium of Light in his first Premier League start, with two goals from Januzaj earning United the much needed win. Although Sunderland, who sit bottom of the Premier League table on only one point, put up a tough fight an Mabye should have gotten more out of the match, United managed to come back from behind to grab the three points.

Yet Sunderland were leading only four minutes into the game, courtesy of a poor start from Nemanja Vidic. Emanuele Giaccherini slipped past Patrice Evra on the right before driving in a low cross, which Phil Jones cleared only as far as Vidic. The center-back scuffed a clearance off his own leg straight into the path of Craig Gardner, who drove a low screamer into the bottom corner of the net from sixteen yards.

But United bounced back swiftly, with David Moyes’ side nearly equalizing in the seventeenth minute when Tom Cleverly played it to Januzaj. The starlet feinted left, and pushed it into a tiny bit of space on the edge of the box, yet managed to snap a low screamer just wide of the right-post. The Red Devils’ confidence grew as Nani flashed a volley just wide, but the away side should gone two down in the thirty-fourth minute when Adam Johnson clipped a cross into the box following a swift run down the left. Giaccherini met the cross with a thundering header towards the near corner of the net, and was only denied from a goal as David De Gea produced a stunning save to tip the header wide at full stretch.

The match rolled on to the second half and things began to look desperate for United, until Januzaj turned on his magic. The Belgian/Armenian grabbed United an equalizer in the fifty-fourth minute when Evra cut it back into the penalty area from the left, which Januzaj whipped into the corner of the net with a powerful side-footer. United started to dominate, and after Robin Van Persie fired a shot straight at Ashley Westwood from the edge of the box, the English champions took the lead. Nani chipped a cross into the box from the right and John O’Shea’s attempt at a headed clearance fell to Januzaj at the far post. The midfielder smashed a first-time volley across goal into the corner of the net, leaving Westwood helpless.

Dominance remained with United, and despite a low van Persie shot from the edge of the box being saved by Westwood, Moyes’ side couldn’t find a third goal, but catapulted into the top half of the table anyhow with the win.
Man of the Match: Adnan Januzaj

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.