From The Touchlines

IT’S ONLY JUST BEGUN: Manchester United players celebrate after winning the Community Shield against Chelsea in Wembley yesterday. United won 3-0 on penalties after a 1-1 deadlock at regulation time.

Edwin van der Sar shrugged off whatever doubts he had over his career with Manchester United when he blocked Chelsea’s three penalties to secure a Community Shield win in Wembley yesterday.

Skipper Ryan Giggs led the team up to receive the plate and their medals, but Sir Alex Ferguson was later quick to play down the significance of the match, with both teams leaving out key players for one reason or another.

In the shootout, Chelsea’s Claudio Pizarro, Frank Lampard and Shaun Wright-Phillips were all left in disbelief when van der Sar guessed correctly the direction of their spotkicks, while United’s Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney converted theirs.

THE FINISH: Manchester United keeper Edwin van der Sar saves from Chelsea’s new signing Claudio Pizarro (top) and then skipper Frank Lampard, sending the United camp into celebrations, even before Wayne Rooney secured victory with the winning penalty pass Petr Cech (fourth from top).

The somehow one-sided penalties came after both teams fought out a closely contested encounter which has been dubbed by both managers as a prestigious training.

But it would seem both teams were not in the mood to be charitable to either side with blistering runs and crunching tackles.

While none of United’s new boys made the starting line-up, Chelsea presented their new signings Florent Malouda and Tal Ben Haim to the Wembley crowd.

The match was a tad cagey early on in the first half, until United winger Cristiano Ronaldo started a brilliant run on 20 minutes that saw him lay a pass to Giggs – although the ball landed on his less-favoured right foot and he shot straight at Petr Cech.

Giggs nearly scored an assist two minutes later, but Carrick somehow steered his shot wide off the far post.

Chelsea themselves came agonisingly close to drawing first blood four minutes after when Michael Essien headed Wright-Phillips’ freekick just wide, with Jon Obi Mikel failing to get a touch on the ball.

United then went on the offensive with Rooney placing a wonderful pass to Ronaldo, who, unmarked on the right, played in a very deep ball that just got a touch from Chelsea rightback Glen Johnson on its way out for a corner.

United’s Evra, who was placed on the left wing out of his usual position at leftback, still caused much anxiety when he cut in from the left – but only to see his shot wide off the mark after 31 minutes.

But if Evra could not score, he certainly knew how to turn provider when the situation called for it.

Upon receiving a brilliant cross-field pass from Nemanja Vidic, Evra played a one-two with Ronaldo, with the latter setting him free to run into the area, pulled back a pass for Giggs, who coolly steered the ball with his favoured left foot into the top corner of the net.

The Chelsea defence was left floundering in their wake as Giggs went off to acknowledge Evra’s assist.

But it was back to business soon for the Red Devils, with Rooney nearly capitalising on weak defending by Johnson when the former Evertonian latched on to Carrick’s through ball, only to see himself push the ball out.

However, Malouda, the new kid on the block would have the final say to a much improved first half, when he stabbed the ball past van der Sar after receiving a long ball from Ashley Cole and muscling his way past Ferdinand.

THE EQUALISER: Chelsea’s Shaun Wright-Phillips (left) motioning to the bench with Frank Lampard checking on Florent Malouda, who went down after levelling on 45 minutes.

After the restart, United nearly secured their one-goal advantage after Evra again got loose on the left and placed a pass to Ronaldo – whose shot was pushed into the path of Rooney by Cech.

Rooney then pulled the ball back for Giggs, but the Welshman saw his shot blocked by a Chelsea defender.

It was then one new boy came on for another when Chelsea gaffer José Mourinho brought on Pizarro for Malouda.

Pizarro did not waste time to show he was worthy of being a Chelsea player when he played a beautiful cross to Joe Cole, only to see the England midfielder waste it 10 minutes later.

United then turned on their style on 63 minutes, with Evra again teaming up with Ronaldo as the Portuguese winger picked up a loose ball from Mikel and passed it to the onrushing Evra.

Sensing some kind of danger, Chelsea’s centreback Ricardo Carvalho slid in on Evra to prevent the Frenchman from making any more headway, conceding a freekick and getting a yellow card for himself.

Ronaldo’s subsequent freekick was well held by Cech.

A string of substitutions followed, with Alou Diarra coming on for Ashley Cole and United’s new boy Nani replacing Mikael Silvestre, who had stood in place of wantaway Gabriel Heinze.

Mikel then played a perfectly weighted ball to Pizarro, but did not see the favour returned as Pizarro’s shot from the right was well saved by van der Sar. Pizarro subsequently lined up his shot, but saw it go wide off the mark.

The match was fast becoming tenacious with both sides making more substitutions than actually having a shot on target.

While debutante Steve Sidwell came on for Johnson in the 77th minute, his teammate Scott Sinclair also replaced Joe Cole. Darren Fletcher took his place on the pitch as well, replacing Giggs.

Nani’s fellow countryman Ronaldo nearly put the match beyond doubt with seven minutes to go after latching onto Mikel’s lost ball, but he could not cap off a fine run into the area when he took too long to shoot and his eventual shot was pushed out by Cech.

The closely fought match ended without much incident, but the penalties would prove to be Chelsea’s undoing as van der Sar dealt with their penalties easily and was the toast of the United camp.

FIRST SILVERWARE: Manchester United’s captain Ryan Giggs holds aloft the Community Shield trophy after the victory over Chelsea in the match yesterday. United won 3-0 on penalties, after heroics by keeper Edwin van der Sar (second from left).

Team line-up

Chelsea: Cech (gk), Cole (Diarra, 67′), Ben Haim, Carvalho, Johnson (Sidwell, 77′), Mikel, Essien, Lampard, Malouda (Pizarro, 51′), Wright-Phillips, J. Cole (Sinclair, 82′)

ManU: van der Sar (gk), Vidic, Ferdinand, Brown, Silvestre (Nani, 68′), Carrick, O’Shea, Evra, Giggs (Fletcher, 81′), Ronaldo, Rooney