Man Utd suffer Van der Sar blow

[dww]

[BBC]
Manchester United keeper Edwin van der Sar will miss the start of the season after undergoing surgery on a broken finger and bone in his left hand.

The Dutchman, 38, is expected to be sidelined for up to eight weeks.

Van der Sar was hurt saving a penalty in the pre-season 7-6 penalty shoot-out defeat by Bayern Munich last week.

Ben Foster and Tomasz Kuszczak will bid to start Sunday's Community Shield game with Chelsea and the Premier League opener against Birmingham on 16 August.

Van der Sar's misfortune could pave the way for Foster to stake his claim for a regular starting spot for United and England, who are on the verge of rubber-stamping qualification for the 2010 World Cup finals.


Foster, 26, signed a new contract in July and United boss Sir Alex Ferguson said at the time: "He is seen as one of the best young goalkeepers in England and we genuinely see him as a successor to Edwin."

Foster only played nine games for United last season, the majority of which were in cup competitions.

However, he was given the second of his England caps by coach Fabio Capello in the 4-0 friendly win over Slovakia in March, two years after making his debut in a 1-0 defeat by Spain.

[-V-]

haha

[-V-]

To be honest though i think Foster is good enough to take over anyway. Van Der Sar might not get a look in again if he is out for too long

[dww]

I'll be interested to see who get the place in the side. You would think given the amount of praise he gets Foster would be a shoe in but in reality he has been left out for Kuszczak on a number of occasions.

[-V-]

I think Foster has had alot of Fitness issues though. Kuszczak has NEVER impressed me and I would think he has already had too many chances. I do think Foster will take over permanently this season

[squaddie]

To be honest though i think Foster is good enough to take over anyway. Van Der Sar might not get a look in again if he is out for too long

[JohnDoe]

Foster is ****. This pleases me.

[Shaggy]

I think all three of them are ****, but Foster will be under a bit of extra pressure so it's good news.

[Rafael Benítez Maudes]

michael own has missed around 4 or 5 chances
when he should have done much better.

hope the cunt never scores for them.

[spud_gun]

Van Der Sar will be back playing for the Scum mid September at the very latest.

They always do this. Player X injured. He's out for a few months. Appears on the team sheet two weeks later.

[Gingawaria]

Not really a big miss for them despite all the Sky Sports News doom mongering. He's vastly over rated and not a patch on Pepe. I find it insulting when he's mentioned in the same breath.