Barney Corkhill's Unofficial World Club Championship (UWCC) saw another defence today as champions Manchester United took on former champions Fulham in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
It was another important match for United regarding their dreams of an unprecedented quintuple, while Fulham were looking to cause a major upset and make some history of their own.
A late winner from Hull in their midweek match meant Fulham were stuck in mid-table mediocrity, while Manchester United's win over Newcastle put them seven points clear in the league and extended their impressive unbeaten run.
United had progressed to the quarter-finals of the tournament after overcoming Derby, while Fulham advanced thanks to a late comeback in their fifth round replay against Swansea.
They couldn't repeat that feat today, however, as United comfortably ran out 4-0 winners.
It began so promisingly for the London club as they created numerous goal-scoring opportunities after suffering an early scare from a Carlos Tevez effort. Andy Johnson came close to giving Fulham an early lead when he inadvertently poked the ball past the onrushing Edwin Van Der Sar, but Nemanja Vidic got back in time to clear the ball.
Then, on 20 minutes, Carlos Tevez sneaked in at the back post following Wayne Rooney's flick on from Anderson's corner to give United the lead against the run of play.
More chances followed for both teams, notably Rooney missing the type of chance he would usually take in his sleep, but it was Carlos Tevez who doubled United's lead with a fantastic long range strike, sending out another message to Sir Alex Ferguson.
The goal effectively ended the tie as a contest despite being after just 35 minutes. For the rest of the first half, and the entire second half, United were in control.
On 50 minutes, Wayne Rooney made up for his earlier miss with a lovely finish from just outside the area and Park Ji-Sung completed the scoring with nine minutes left.
The result means United are just two behind Fulham's UWCC title defence record with seven, and have already won more games than any other team in UWCC history with six. Their four goals mean they have now scored more goals than any other team in UWCC history as well, netting 16 overall.
92.3 percent of voters in the poll predicted that Fulham wouldn't be able to beat Manchester United so, again, well done to the vast majority!
Manchester United's run
West Ham 0-1 Manchester United (Manchester United become new champions)
Derby County 1-4 Manchester United
Manchester United 2-1 Blackburn Rovers
Inter Milan 0-0 Manchester United
Manchester United 0-0 Tottenham (Manchester United win 4-1 on penalties)
Newcastle 1-2 Manchester United
Fulham 0-4 Manchester United
(Click here to see the complete history of Barney Corkhill's Unofficial World Club Championship)
Manchester United's next title defence comes this Wednesday as they host Inter Milan in the Champions League. Could Inter Milan take the UWCC title out of England for the first time and become the best team in the world?!
Note: Should the match against Inter Milan end in a draw with Inter going through on away goals, the title will stay with United. If, however, Inter win on penalties, then they will win the title as was the case in the Carling Cup final.
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