I would live to see Cristiano Renaldo and Man U take the Finals in this one!

Chelsea's injuries make them tough to like in this....even though their lineup is hard to root against.

FYI....the UEFA Cup Final is on today at 2:30 on FSC; FC Zenit St. Petersburg vs. Glasgow Rangers.

Today is the UEFA Cup final, next week is the Champions League final.

Then ESPN sucks with their own programs....It said that the UEFA Finals are the 21st with Man U and Chelsea. Unless I read it wrong but ya cant miss the logo at the top of the screen.

Theoretically, they're right....the Champions League is a tournament organized by UEFA, and the teams involved are better than those that compete for the UEFA Cup.

FWIW, the Cup Final today was pretty good; Rangers used their tight defense to hold Zenit at bay until late, when Zenit knocked home goals. Andrei Arshavin had a great game for Zenit...easy choice for Man of the Match.

My early prediction for next week is 2-1, ManU.

Nice prediction. As long as ManU comes out on top

I'm still going back and forth on my prediction I'm thinking either 3-1 or 2-0. Either way I think Manchester wins by 2.

It may be worse than that.....Drogba seems like he's already got his bags packed, and Terry (AFAIK) is still iffy with the shoulder injury. They barely seemed interested in beating Bolton last week, and that was with the EPL crown on the line.

If Chelsea comes out flat, it could be 2-0 after 15 minutes.

Rooney on Drogba: "Sometimes he seems as if his head's not quite there" (link)

Meanwhile, Nemanja Vidic is calling him a diver.... (link)

I wanna see my boy Cristiano handle dem boys from Chelsea...I want him to get 3 goals and do at least one backflip...Cuz those are cool

Vidic is quite possibly my favorite defensive player.

Time for a volley in the other direction....

Salmon Kalou thinks Vidic is the Devil's weak (link):

"Vidic has not played a lot because he has been injured, so that could be a weak point for them and it is up to us to play well and score a goal."

Less than 14 hours...I got the day off and my popcorn ready to be ready

I'm stuck at work.....am gonna hafta follow it online, unless something strange happens in the next few hours.

Final prediction time!:

I'm saying ManUnited, 3-1.

We'll give the goals to Ronaldo (he'll get 2) and Tevez for MU, and Salomon Kalou for Chelsea.

Yahoo UK/Ireland has gone as far as to post probable starting lineups:

Man United: van der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Ronaldo, Scholes, Hargreaves, Carrick, Park, Rooney

Chelsea: Cech, A Cole, Terry, Carvalho, Essien, Malouda, Lampard, Makelele, Ballack, J Cole, Drogba

Lineups and intitial formations are set......

CHELSEA (4-5-1)

----------------Cech------------------
A Cole---Carvalho---Terry---Essien
--------------Makelele----------------
------Lampard------Ballack----------
Malouda------------------------J Cole
----------------Drogba----------------


MANCHESTER UNITED (4-4-2)

------------van der Sar--------------
Brown----Ferdinand----Vidic----Evra
Ronaldo---Hargreaves---Carrick---Scholes
-------Rooney-----Tevez------------

Alright 21 minutes past 2 o clock....Start the game

Substitutes:

Chelsea: Cudicini, Shevchenko, Mikel, Kalou, Alex, Belletti, Anelka

United: Kuszczak, Anderson, Giggs, Nani, O'Shea, Fletcher, Silvestre

These guys would start anywhere else......

38 minutes....Can we start?

2:45

HERE WE GO!!!!

Have I mentioned that I absolutely hate the fact that I have to watch this on a computer?

Sounds liek the conditions are going to play a factor....I wonder if this favors Chelsea?

United is off to the faster start.....not suprising.

Has Ron gotten a touch yet?

He got his touch, but they couldn't capitalize.....Chelsea seems to be playing bend-but-don't-break defense.

He got clocked

Getting chippy now.....

Makelele with a hard foul that leads to a confrontation; Makelele and Paul Scholes get yellows.

If Chelsea can convert this corner, we've got a ballgame.

Ronnie gets United on the board with #42 of the year

1-0 Red Devils

ManU up 1-0!!!

Both offenses are getting going......we could looking at a heckuva second half.

Almost became 2-0 ManU earlier

WOW, could have been another goal right there, nice save

Chelsea with a free kick

And it was high!!!!

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1-1 tie game

Halftime

1-1

Second half here we go

Extra time?

I believe there will be

That was close.....Cech just beat Tevez to the ball.

Kalou time!

Oh!....Lampard hit the bar!

I was so nervous

Chelsea's turning up the heat....here comes Anelka.

It was on the low side of the bar.....one more inch, and it's 2-1.

That's why John Terry is considered one of the best......brilliant header to clear.

ManU had that one

Interesting.....Rooney out, Nani in.

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Drogba's out with Red! Chelsea's down to 10

He took a swipe at Vidic......that'll do it.

Cards are coming fast now....yellow for Tevez and Essien.

Coming up on the end of overtime.....PK's to follow.

That was an ugly collision between Nani and Cole....knocked heads, and they're both still down.

Strategic subs....defensive players Makelele and Brown out, Belletti in for Chelsea and Anderson for MU.

PK Time.....