They say once is a fluke, twice is a coincidence, three times is a trend. Well, if I’m Manchester United, I’m giving Federico Macheda a chance to make the third time a charm. For the second straight game, the 17-year-old came off of United bench to score a late game-winner, this time a 2-1 victory over Sunderland.
Sir Alex Ferguson gushed “He has got something special about him, the boy….He side-footed it as it came to him. It’s that quick-thinking that goalscorers have got. He has just got that instinct.”
And they aren’t just goals, but IMPORTANT ones. Today’s lifted United back over Liverpool into first place in the Premier League with a game in hand. What do you think of the Italian teenager’s huge debut into world soccer? Figure he’ll turn out to be a top-class player? Or soccer’s version of the Yankee’s Shane Spencer? The Dallas Cowboys’ Clint Longley? Talk to us…