Today a select group of people across the country were invited to a special event – a worlds first. Arsenal were hosting Manchester United at home – a match that has always been a highlight on the football calendar – and this match was to be the first ever 3D showing of a Live sports event. Ten pubs had been given the 3D equipment and their whereabouts had been kept quiet to avoid a mad rush, unfortunately I wasn’t in one of those ten pubs but the match was still a thrilling encounter in standard dimensions.
We had a lively start to this game with both sides active early on. Manchester United came close a few times before the ten minute mark, with Rooney failing to latch onto a short cross before Denilson nearly headed into his own goal – his blushes saved by Nasri who cleared off the line. With twelve minutes gone Arshavin broke away down the left hand side for Arsenal, he shifted to his right foot in the box and then tried to curl a shot past Van der Sar but his effort was wide.
Fabregas and Scholes were both denied chances in the box thanks to some last ditch defending, Nani also found himself with a couple of decent chances from just a few yards out, but on both occasions the defenders pressured him well, causing him to miss his first shot before blocking the second and gifting it to the ‘keeper.
Nani continued to create chances and after thirty-two minutes he helped open the scoring. He slipped two defenders out wide before dropping inside and chipping the ball over the Goalkeeper, the lovely dink was surely meant to be a cross but it ended up in the back of the net after Almunia got his fingertips to it to divert it; giving the away side the lead.
Manchester United extended their lead five minutes later when Nani raced away on the counterattack and played Rooney in, the star striker side-footed the ball into the corner of the goal with his first touch. With forty minutes gone Nani missed a great chance to kill Arsenal off when his close-range shot was deflected wide and Song missed a good chance to put Arsenal back in with a shout before Halftime, as this thrilling half ended 2-0.
In the second half Manchester United continued to haunt Arsenal and with fifty-two minutes gone Park added a third, the midfielder was picked out well with a ball over the defense and he beat the Goalkeeper with a well placed strike. Arsenal still tried to get back into the game with decent efforts from Fabregas and Song.
Man Utd held off the advances of Arsenal though as the specially selected pubs in Manchester pubs rang with chants of “3-0 In 3D”. Arsenal looked doomed but with ten minutes to go Vermaelen is a scissor kick which defected off Evans and beat Van der Sar to put the score at 3-1.
The home team pushed to find a way back into this game and began to crowd the United penalty area after the goal. Vermaelen nearly snatched a second with five minutes to go but his header was blocked and cleared, Gallas also had a great opportunity late in the game but his header was askew.
This game petered out in the end as the world’s first Live sporting event to be shown in 3D ended with a victory to the Champions of English Football and perhaps the most prolific team to ever play the game.
