Rooney rescues 10-man Manchester United

• by Soccer America , Dec 22, 2008

[CLUB WORLD CUP] Despite losing Nemanja Vidic to a red card, Manchester United won the 2008 Club World Cup with a 1-0 win over South American champion Liga de Quito for its third trophy of the year.

Wayne Rooney scored in the 73rd minute to rescue Manchester United, which look to be in trouble after Vidic was sent off four minutes after halftime for throwing an elbow.

United had won the UEFA Champions League, which qualified it for the club world championship, and English Premier League.

"The collective spirit of the team won the day," said United manager Sir Alex Ferguson. "With 10 men we played with great expression and tried to win the match, which is a measure of the ambition of the players we have. After Vidic was sent off it was important that we didn't lose the ball. It was important to keep passing and hope [Cristiano] Ronaldo or Rooney did something special."

Ronaldo, after freezing the Quito defense with feint, nicely setup Rooney for the winner.

The win earned United $5 million.

In the third-place game, Japan's Gamba Osaka beat Pachuca of Mexico, 1-0. American Francisco Torres came on after halftime for Pachuca.

GAME SUMMARY:
Dec. 21 in Yokohama
Manchester United 1 LDU Quito 0. Goal: Rooney 73.
LDU Quito -- Cevallos, Araujo, Calle (Ambrosi 77), Campos, Calderon, Reasco (Larrea 82), Urrutia, Araujo, Manso, Bolanos (Navia 87), Bieler.
Manchester United -- van der Saar, Rafael (Neville 85), Ferdinand, Vidic,  Evra, Cristiano Ronaldo, Anderson (Fletcher 88), Carrick, Park Ji-sung, Tevez (Evans 51), Rooney.
Referee: Abdukhamidullo Rasulov (Uzbekistan).