Posted by Branham Biggers

On Sunday morning, FA Cup Champions Manchester City will face the Barclay's Premier League Champions, Manchester United, in the first of at least three Manchester Derby's in the upcoming season.  At stake: bragging rights, a potential pyschological edge, an early leg up on confidence, and most importantly the Community Shield Trophy.

Wembley Stadium will be buzzing with excitement as Manchester City look to kick off the new season and add another trophy to the FA Cup they hoisted at the end of the last campaign, which ended a decades long drought and brought a new sense of swagger to go along with the deep pockets and seemingly endless amount of stars they have acquired over the past few years.  City will be seeking their 4th Community Shield Trophy, and their first since 1972.  In fact, this will be their first appearance since the following season of 1973, when they lost to Burnley 1-0. 

Standing in their way will be the giants of this competition, as no team has won more Shields than Manchester United's 18.  And no individual player has won more (8) or appeared in more (14) than United's stalwart, Ryan Giggs.  He will undoubtedly be looking to add to each of those already amazing totals.  These two huge clubs from the same town have squared off against each other once before in this match, in 1956, with United emerging as victors 1-0.  And no, Giggsy did not play in that game, it just seems like it!

This current version of Manchester City never fails to produce drama or controversy, so the team selection will be very interesting come Sunday.  If City play their standard 4-3-3, will Balotelli be chosen, or will he be resigned to back-heeling empty water bottles on the bench?  Will Kun Aguero recover from an illness in time to make his much anticipated debut for the City fans?  Will Tevez be given time on the field, and will he be given the armband again?  Will Mancini continue with the THREE defensive midfielders in Yaya Toure, Gareth Barry and Nigel De Jong, or will his hopes of playing more attacking football lead his decision making to feature David Silva in a more central, distributing role?  In any scenario, the wealth of talent is amazing to behold, as there could be names like Tevez, Dzeko, Adam Johnson, Balotelli and Kolarov to choose from to come off the bench depending on how things get started.  Not a bad problem to have, egos aside.



It is a bit ironic that a team so well known for splashing the cash to no end, is playing in a "Community" Shield, but this event is actually quite remarkable, and really pays it forward to those in need.  The proceeds for this fixture are distributed to the 124 teams that competed from the First Round and onwards in last season's FA Cup campaign.  The funds are then passed along to the charities, initiatives and projects of the teams' choice, as well as the FA's national charity partners.  Cheers for giving back in a positive manner!

Manchester City's time is now.  After what has to be deemed as a successful 2010-2011 campaign which brought the FA Cup title and the coveted direct entry into the Champions League Group Stage by their third place league finish, City will be looking for even more glory this season.  They will be hopeful of jump-starting their new year with another trophy, and proving to their main rivals, and current title holders that they have their sights set on stealing their Barclay's Premier League title this time around. 

But then again, could a resounding thumping from Manchester United spark another onslought of cash and see City dive right back into the transfer market before the deadline arrives?  If so, we might see names like Eto'o, Nasri or Maicon added to the two/three deep roster of world stars?  Hey, it's all for Charity, right???

Tune in soon for my preview of the upcoming League Campaign for Manchester City, and follow me on twitter if you'd like:  @branhambiggers

Cheers!