Manchester United Crowned World Champions after Defeating LDU Quito!

A second-half goal by Wayne Rooney was enough for a 10-man Manchester United to claim the FIFA Club World Cup (CWC) against LDU Quito in Japan on Sunday.

Nemanja Vidic was sent off in the second half before Rooney's strike, which earned United the bragging rights as the World's Best Club.

Manchester United made a couple of changes to their side with Rafael, Park, Rooney, and Carrick coming into the side in place of Gary Neville, Scholes, Nani, and Giggs.

Dimitar Berbatov was on the bench after picking up a virus before United's 5-3 victory over Gamba Osaka in the semi-final.

LDU Quito started the game with several hard challenges on United's Portuguese sensation, Cristiano Ronaldo, who used his skill amiably, bringing the crowd to their feet every now and then!

Renan Calle, Claudio Bieler, and William Araujo were all cautioned for harsh tackles on Ronaldo.

United's performance in the first half was impressive, but it lacked the 'killing touch' as Park Ji Sung was denied by Jose Cevallos.

As United's Serbian stopper, Nemanja Vidic was shown red for what appeared to be an intentional elbow on Claudio Bieler—Carlos Tevez was sacrificed as Jonny Evans charged on to the field.

Edwin Van der Sar was terrific throughout, making a couple of brilliant saves from long distance strikes by Damian Manso and Luis Bolanos.

Micheal Carrick, Anderson, Rafael, Patrice Evra—supported skipper, Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans and ensured that LDU Quito failed to take advantage of having an extra man on the pitch.

As fatigue crept into the Quito defense, Carrick found Ronaldo, who neatly rolled the ball to Rooney, and the Englishmen took an angle and curved the ball past a helpless Cevallos and the United supporters went up in a roar!

Damian Manso forced a sensational save from Van der Sar with two minutes to go but United breathed a sigh of relief and went on to be crowned 'Kings of the World'.

Cristiano Ronaldo was particularly impressive in patches, but it happened to be Rooney's night, as Manchester United became the first British side to be crowned World Cup Champions.

Many critics have questioned the format of the Club World Cup, with strong question marks against the competitiveness of the tournament.

Surely, Gamba Osaka looked no match for United—they were decent in attack but not to steady in defense. Having said that—somebody has to represent their region.

Brazilian supporters who were frustrated as they failed to qualify through the Copa Libertadores have blasted the tournament's qualification format.

They said LDU Quito was a weakened side after losing several of their stars to financial powerhouses in Europe.

However, in truth LDU Quito have lost only two players from the side that defeated the Brazilian side, Fluminense in the Copa Libertadores final—Joffre Guerron who joined Getafe in Spain and Enrique Vera who signed for Club America in Mexico.

Yes, Manchester United are deserving winners but in the future, FIFA might want to review the system perhaps allotting more places to teams from Europe and South America.

Congratulations to Manchester United: THE KINGS OF THE WORLD!