SUNDAY ....

I only had one "official"selection yesterday, Manchester United off level ball at circa 2.20 to beat Barcelona, the best club side in the world, which I made a strong ( 1.5 unit) pick. That was not posted on the blog, but I did send it out to everyone in my active data base and I hope that some of you got on.

The match in Washington was played in front of a 81,000 + crowd and despite both fielding much changed teams from the two which did battle in the Champions League final just two months ago. It was a good match and very well received in a massive, still largely untapped football market, where "soccer" is gaining in popularity on a daily basis.

United won 2-1 and despite it being a meaningless fixture, Sir Alex had to win this one, if he could not win when all the advatages were with his team and Barcelona were basically fielding a B team, when would it ever happen ? I think he was well aware of the psychological effect that could have had, after all, no one likes playing mind games more than Fergie and that is why he also rested one or two stars..... always nice to have an excuse ready and waiting. Having said all that, I have no doubt that both he and his squad really wanted this one and United enter the new season in buoyant mood.

I watched a pre season game between Aldershot Town and my beloved Brentford, these are two teams about whom I have already "shown my hand", as all of you who took part in the seven day trial should be aware and everything I said about both still stands, even more so after what I saw yesterday ! I might go into more detail later in the week.

The new UK domestic season gets underway next weekend , I can hardly wait and am already planning three maximum stake selections for the next seven days, having only had three in the last month, all of which won, so fingers crossed !

The World Cup qualifying draw took place in Rio yesterday, with Ronaldo ( the original) shoe horned into his suit and picking the top teams. Incredibly this only took $30m to stage and they accuse frugal FIFA of wasting money ! I do not think that Joe Public realises how difficult it is to pick small balls out of a large bowl and FIFA deserve credit for being able to do it at such low cost ! Well done Sepp !

Good Luck.