The year 2008 has certainly been one to remember for Manchester United Football Club. ~Champions of England, champions of Europe and now champions of the world due to their 1-0 victory over Liga de Quito in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup~.

They did it the hard way. Completely dominating possession and play in the first half, United were in control of the game. That was until Nemanja Vidic elbowed Claudio Bieler in the face - and the Red Devil ended up seeing red. However, despite their numerical disadvantage, United still tried to play positively rather than try and close the game out.

Carrick supplied a superb pass for Ronaldo, who instead of going for goal himself, fed Rooney to his left and his shot was precise and out of the reach of Cevallos.

Goal!!!!!

Rooney was ecstatic at scoring the goal that confirmed United’s position as the greatest team on Earth - his third goal in less than one and a half games. “It’s fantastic, I was really happy to get the goal for us," he said."It’s a great achievement for us, and it’s something we’ve worked very hard for. We’re delighted to be world champions.”United’s no.10 gave Liga de Quito’s goalkeeper Jose Cevallos a torrid evening, especially in the first half, but we admitted the game was made a lot harder in early in the second period by Nemanja Vidic’s sending off.“It was a really tough game for us after going down to ten men," added Rooney. "They had more possession but we defended well to win it."Rooney is hitting top form at a great time for United and after receiving what looks like a giant key as FIFA's Man of the Match - he was also Player of the Tournament.

Inspired by the prompting of Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, Sir Alex Ferguson's side were rewarded Rooney, the adidas Golden Ball winner fired past the outstanding Jose Cevallos in the 73rd minute, which proved to be enough. Yet the English side were forced to rely on the heroics of Edwin van der Sar who pulled off two world-class saves to frustrate Alejandro Manso, who claimed the adidas Bronze Ball.

~Copy & Paste from Soccernet.com~