On Sunday 22nd November, a Sheffield United Masters squad made up of nine former Blades took centre stage at the indoor facility of Stadium Putra to compete in this year's EPL Masters Football Malaysia Cup against Liverpool, Manchester United and an All-Star team.
The Blades team, backed by partners the GAC Group, Capita Symonds, Welcome to Yorkshire and Macron, were led by Blades Academy Director Ron Reid. The four Masters teams played each other in league format, with the top two qualifying for the Final.
The Blades players faced the Premiership All-Star team in the first match. They were up against a side that included Ray Parlour, Ian Walker and Peter Davenport. In a closely fought contest, United lost 3-2. Alan Wright gave United an early lead, but defensive errors resulted in three goals for the All-Star Team. With two minutes left on the clock Tommy Mooney blasted a goal past Ian Walker to narrow the gap. The Blades legends peppered Walker's box during the final minutes, but the All-Star team managed to hold on to claim a narrow victory.
The second game saw the Blades lose to a strong Manchester United Masters team 5-3. Early goals from Andy Cole, Viv Anderson and Jesper Blomquist gave Manchester United a 3-0 lead. Strikes from Tony Agana and Mark Todd marked a Blades fight back, but Manchester United regained a two-goal cushion. The Tony Agana got his second of the game to make it 4-3. In the last minute Mooney missed a great chance to bring the score level, before Clayton Blackmore's last kick of the game made the final score 5-3.
The Blades Team showed a fighting spirit in their last game against Liverpool with goals coming from Agana (two), Mooney and Georges Santos. With Santos controversially sin-binned for two minutes, the final score ended 6-4 to Liverpool.
Ron Reid commented: "With the games so tight, naturally we are disappointed not to have recorded a win. However, as a team we felt we gave an excellent account of ourselves against world class opposition. We lost the last two games because we conceded late goals, but this showed you just how close it was. The players are competitive lads, so we would love to come back next year. However, next time we would need more preparation on the training ground as we know we will once again be up against quality opposition."
Manchester United went onto lift the trophy, beating Liverpool on penalties in the final. The tournament was shown to a live TV audience of 80 million people worldwide. Sky Sports will air a Masters Christmas Special featuring the Malaysian Cup.
Mike Farnan, executive director of Sheffield United, said: "This was a fantastic opportunity for Sheffield United to be represented at a prestigious global event alongside the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool. This is a perfect reflection that we are a progressive club with a strong international presence and great heritage in football.
"The event also gave us an opportunity to work closely with the GAC Group, Capita Symonds, Welcome to Yorkshire and Macron. This level of support demonstrates how the club is moving forward on a global scale and we were delighted to be working with such respectable names on this project."
