Edwin Van Der Sar &Paul Scholes Testimonials

United Players Paul Scholes and Edwin Van Der Sar both retired at the finish of last season. Both Being such great players for the club, they both had their own testimonial matches, just like Gary Neville earlier last season.

First was Edwin’s; where he put together his own dream team to face Ajax. The match took place in Amsterdam ArenA on August 3rd, 2011.

Edwin’s Dream Team: Van der Sar, G. Neville, van Bronkhorst, Ferdinand, Vidic, Carrick, Giggs, Zenden, Kuyt, Rooney, Saha.

The Dream Team went on to win the match 2-1 with goals from Saha and Bergkemp. Rodney Sneijder scored for Ajax but it wasn’t enough. Saha took the lead but Sneijder came back with an equalizer by tapping in a shot off the post. Man Utd duo Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney were both involved with the set up of Bergkemp’s, who was subbed on, drill to the back of the net which won the match.

As for Paul Scholes’ Testimonial match, United played against an altered New York Cosmos. Scholes got to pick the twelve guest players for the Cosmos whereas the rest of the team was made up of eight U-23 Cosmos players. This was the Cosmos’ inaugural match. The match was on August 5th, 2011 Manchester United Starting Line-up: De Gea, Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Nani, Scholes, Giggs, Young, Berbatov, Rooney.

New York Cosmos Starting Line-up: Brad Friedel (Tottenham), Michel Salgado(Blackburn Rovers), Reyering (Cosmos), Fabio Cannavaro (Retired), Wayne Bridge (Manchester City) , Iraheta (Cosmos), Nicky Butt (Retired) , Murphey (Cosmos), Robbie Keane (Tottenham), Dwight Yorke (Retired) , Dikitrov(Cosmos).

Subs: Gary Neville (Retired), Patrick Viera (Retired), Sol Campbell (Retired), Robert Pires (Retired), Brian McBride (Retired), Calderone (Cosmos), Diaby (Cosmos), Sangary (Cosmos), Gaitan (Cosmos)

Pele, Cantona and Roy Keane were also all in attendance as United crushed the guest filled Cosmos. Scholes opened the score sheet with a 20-yard blast into the upper 90 after only eight minutes. Rooney then added one with a beautifully taken penalty that Scholes Refused to take. Instead he left it for Rooney who it normally would go to. Anderson put on away in the second half following one from Welbeck and two from Diouf. Scholes left Old Trafford with a trademark goal.

Scholes is expected to return to United in the 2012/13 season as the manager for the reserve squad.

Stats about both players’ careers in United:
Van Der Sar: 2005-2011
265 Apperances
Premier League (4): 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11
Football League Cup (1): 2005–06
FA Community Shield (3): 2007, 2008, 2010
UEFA Champions League (1): 2007–08
FIFA Club World Cup (1): 2008

Scholes: 94-2011
676 Apperances
150 Goals
Premier League (10): 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11
FA Cup (3): 1995–96, 1998–99, 2003–04
Football League Cup (2): 2008–09, 2009–10
FA Community Shield (5): 1996, 1997, 2003, 2008, 2010
UEFA Champions League (2): 1998–99, 2007–08
Intercontinental Cup (1): 1999
FIFA Club World Cup (1): 2008