Nice to meet you, my name is Masa United. I have been rooting for Manchester United since the 2000-2001 season. Even if you are not interested in football, you may have heard the name at least once, but it is an English football (soccer) club and a mega club with fans all over the world. In the past, Beckham and Shinji Kagawa also belonged to the club, so I think many of you know them. In this blog, I will write a column for Manchester United, match reports and transfer information. I will make it a blog that will be useful not only for United fans but also for football fans, so I hope you can read it! The following column is a rewrite of an article that appeared in note in March 2019. It also serves as a self-introduction, so please refer to it by all means. I have no football experience, no connection or connection to Manchester, but I would like to write about why I am rooting for them first.
👿UK Rock and football
In 2000, the year the Year 2000 problem of computers and the Setagaya family murder case occurred, Mo Daughter and Southern’s “TUNAMI” became hits, and as a college student, I was obsessed with music. I form a band with my friends, don’t go to college in Roku, and spend day after day writing songs. The genre is UK rock. I’ve loved The Beatles since high school, and that’s when I started playing guitar, but when I was a student, “Britpop” was in full swing, and new UK rock bands like OASIS, Blur and RADIOHEAD came out one after another, and it made me hooked. From the way Liam walks, to the way he paints his hairstyle, to the negative aura that Tom York exudes, every single one of their moves looked cool and I wanted to be like them. At the time, I had the idea that Japan is, Japanese music is rubbish like a mirror of a rock star (lol), and I was a complete British supremacist (lol). I had an unfounded conviction that I had probably been British in a previous life that made me yearn for England so much, and I think my friends at the time were stunned. (Some years later you will tell a fortune teller, your previous life is Japanese.) I was appalled to be told. It didn’t take me long to realize that all the UK rock artists were supporters of some English football club. OASIS’ Gallagher brothers are notoriously Manchester City supporters, but The Stone Roses‘ Ian Brown is Manchester United, Blur’s Damon Alban is Chelsea and, more recently, KASABIAN is a well-known fan of Leicester City, where Shinji Okazaki belonged. So I made the decision to watch English football and become a supporter somewhere.
👿 The Impact of Attacking Football
As a poor student, I couldn’t get a contract for CS broadcasting, so I didn’t have a chance to watch England matches, but I decided to ask a part-time senior who had a contract with WOWWOW to record the matches. I remember that the English clubs that were in the Champions League at that time were Manchester United, Arsenal and Leeds United. I had all the matches recorded and decided to watch them, but my favorite Gundam mobile suit is ” Gundam” With such a meher temperament, it was an undeniable fact that I was attracted to Manchester United, the strongest and most famous team in the season. Sure, Gunners’ (Arsenal’s) brilliant ball passing and Bad Boys legion Leeds’ fighting football were also attractive, but it was the first time I saw Manchester United’s overwhelming attacking football. I was shocked like the first time I heard OASIS’ Live Forever and was immediately captivated. The Manchester United players seemed to be playing a completely different game from the J.League that I had seen from time to time. Anyway, they aim for the goal. Both the midfield and the backs were always looking for chances, knocking down opposing markers, breaking into the penalty box whenever there was a chance, picking up the second ball and launching a wave attack. I became a United supporter, and from the following 2001-2002 season, I moved to an apartment (which was free) where I could watch CS broadcasts, checked out United matches, bought Preste and Uire, manipulated United, and my favorite book became “World Soccer Digest”.
👿 Beckham is a superstar
In the 2001-2002 season, Manchester United had won three consecutive Premier League titles in the previous season and acquired Ruud van Nistelrooy from PSV in the Netherlands for a fourth consecutive title. 。 In the final line, he replaced Stam and reinforced Laurent Blanc. In the midfield, we added Argentina international Juan Sebastian Verón and played with a solid system. However, while Van Nistelrooy, who scored 36 goals in all competitions, the midfield with the addition of Verón did not work and the results in both the league and cup competitions did not produce the results we wanted, resulting in a situation where they finished in third place, 10 points behind leaders Arsenal.
01-02 Lineup
It was such a season, but I was rooting for United, and as a meek, I was naturally a fan of Beckham.Now I know how awesome Scholes is, but Beckham at the time was a super player. I have seen many times that his laser-beam-like early cross from his right foot is machine-like and precise, and even though it doesn’t hit the head of the opposing defender a few centimeters in front of him, it reaches Van Nistelrooy right behind him with pinpoint. Until then, I had a fierce hairstyle like Noel Gallagher, but I changed into Beckham hair (soft mohican) for the Japan-Korea World Cup in 2002. I was excited to see Beckham and the England national team in Japan. However, as some of you may remember, Beckham broke his leg in the Champions League (CL) in April ahead of the World Cup after being tackled by Deportivo’s Duchelle. We were in a situation where we could make it in time for the World Cup. In the end, Beckham managed to get on the pitch, but he was far from his best form. Still, I still remember wearing an England shirt and cheering in front of the TV. Embed from Getty Images
👿 The Habit of United
That’s how I started rooting for Manchester United. In the 18 years since then, a lot has happened to the club. Beckham left the club, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney came in and won the CL, Kagawa came in, Ferguson stepped down and entered the Dark Ages… Of course, I haven’t watched every United game. There were times when I was thinking about United’s formation while I was at work, and there were times when I just checked the highlights and didn’t watch the game. But checking United information has always been a common habit as brushing your teeth. To be honest, the three coaches of Moyes→ Van Gaal → Mourinho after the retirement of (Ferguson) were tough to watch… At least, there was no longer any attacking football that I fell in love with. A team that has been spectacularly destroyed, torn apart, and exposed to ugliness… United players apathetically on the pitch… But now United is trying to make a comeback. Under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
*This column is a rewrite of an article I published in note in March 2019.
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