News » giveaway behind the Ottawa ne

MANCHESTER, England - While he rotted away on Chelseas substitutes bench this season, Juan Mata could see his chances of playing for Spain at the World Cup slip away. Mata had already been dropped from Spains squad once this season and with the country blessed with so many playmakers, he was in real danger of being overlooked for the trip to Brazil to defend their title. That was one of the key reasons why Mata pressed for a move away from Chelsea once Manchester United registered its interest in signing him. "It was really important," said Mata, who completed his 37.1 million pound ($61.2 million) switch to United on Saturday. "The Spain squad is really difficult to get into, there are a lot of players fighting for positions to be in the last 23 going to Brazil. "I hope this is a great chance for me to keep playing, keep fit and show the manager of the national team I want to be there, I have to be there. I dont know what would have happened if I had stayed at Chelsea." The likelihood was that Mata would have remained on the bench, playing second fiddle to Chelsea manager Jose Mourinhos preferred attacking trio of Eden Hazard, Oscar and Willian. Even Andre Schuerrle was seeing more game time than Mata, whose last match for Chelsea was on Jan. 1 against Southampton — when he was substituted just after halftime and showed his displeasure at being taken off. At United, however, Mata is sure to play more regularly. "Now I am here, now the moment is here," Mata said Monday at his official presentation by United. "Now Im trying to play as much as I can to help the team and if things are good in the final part of the season, the World Cup is going to be closer for me, for sure." United manager David Moyes is still pinching himself that he managed to lure Mata from Chelsea, where the playmaker wasnt just the clubs player of the year for the past two seasons, he was also one of the Premier Leagues best players. "I got wind a month or two ago that it could be a possibility," Moyes said, "but I never believed we would pull it off. I have been saying that I didnt think we would get a chance to do much business in January — I didnt think the players we would be interested in would be available. But when we got the sniff that Juan would be available, we went after it right away." Moyes now has to decide where to play Mata, whose best position is undoubtedly in a central role behind the striker rather than out on the wings. He has big competition at United for the "No. 10 role," though, in Wayne Rooney, who has been Uniteds best player this season. Thats for Moyes to decide. For now, Mata is solely concentrating on making an impact at United and linking up as best he can with Rooney to restore Uniteds fortunes after a demoralizing first half of the season. "I cant wait to play alongside him," Mata said of Rooney. "For me, he is one of the best players in the history of this country, he is unbelievable." As well as being the most expensive player in Uniteds history, he is also being seen as the cure to Uniteds current ills. After romping to the Premier League title by 11 points last season, the team is seventh in the standings this campaign — 14 points behind leader Arsenal and six off fourth-place Liverpool. Mata says he can handle the expectations. "I like the pressure. I think it is good for a footballer to try and improve when you have pressure and people are expecting big things from you," Mata said. "And I am really looking forward to it, to try my best and help the team and make these amazing fans happy." At least he will be spared the pressure of wearing the mythical No. 7 shirt at United made famous by George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona, David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo. United announced Monday he would be wearing the No. 8 jersey, taking it over from Anderson following the Brazilians move to Fiorentina this month. Fake NCAA Jerseys . The 25-year-old McIlroy, who is from Northern Ireland, was eligible to play for either Ireland or Team GB when golf makes its return to the Olympics in Brazil for the first time since 1904. Cheap College Jerseys 2020 . -- The Chicago Bears say they have agreed to a one-year contract with centre Roberto Garza. https://www.ncaajerseys2020.com/ . Pearce had a career-high four hits and drove in two runs, and Wei-Yin Chen shut down Texas again as the Orioles completed a four-game sweep of the Rangers with a 5-2 victory on Thursday night. NCAA Jerseys From China . Chelsea took until the second half to trouble the leagues bottom team, but Schuerrle then ripped through the defence with ease at Craven Cottage to keep Jose Mourinhos side on track for the title. Wholesale NCAA Jerseys . -- The Sacramento Kings and guard Jimmer Fredette have completed a buyout of his contract, clearing the way for the former BYU sensation to become a free agent.OTTAWA -- Milestones dont mean much for Daniel Sedin in November. Sedin scored his 300th career goal and added an assist as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Ottawa Senators 5-2 Thursday night. Vancouver (13-9-5) came in having lost seven of its past eight games, but a solid effort finally put an end to their recent struggles. That was of more interest to Sedin than his own stats. "When youre in the middle of the season you dont think too much about it, but Im sure after the season or looking back it will be different," said Sedin. "It was nice to help the team (win), thats for sure." With the Canucks playing the first of a four-game road trip, Sedin said picking up the win was instrumental in setting the tone for the next three. "This is a big road trip for us and to start with a win is going to give us a lot of confidence moving forward," said Sedin. "As a team we played pretty good. The (penalty kill) did a good job and the power play got one, too, so overall it was a good game." David Booth, Jason Garrison, Dale Weise and Mike Santorelli also scored for the Canucks. Roberto Luongo finished with 37 saves. Clarke MacArthur and Mika Zibanejad scored for the Senators (10-12-4). Craig Anderson allowed four goals on 15 shots before being replaced by Robin Lehner, who allowed one goal on 13 shots. With the loss the Senators, who beat the Washington Capitals 6-4 on Wednesday, are now 0-4-1 when playing back-to-back nights. Senators coach Paul MacLean said his team deserved the loss. "We got what we earned," said MacLean. "(Wednesday) night we got what we earned and 26 times a year so far weve gotten what weve earned whether that was wins or losses. Every night weve earned it and (Thursday) we earned it again." MacLean added the Sens continue to make too many mistakes. "We dont play hard enough on the forecheck. We dont play hard enough coming back. We dont play hard enough defensively. Our goaltenders arent playing hard enough. Were just not playing hard enough for long enough to have an opportunity to win." The difference in this one was the second period when the Canucks scored four goals as 17,931 at the Canadian Tire Centre looked on. "Quite honestly I thought weve played better games than (Thursdays) game," said Vancouver coach John Tortorella. "Its good to get a win for us. No complaints here. Weve lost some games we should have won and I thought we played well enough to win, but we still have a lot of thingss to work on.ddddddddddddquot; Daniel Sedin tied the game 1-1 just 31 seconds into the second period as he beat Anderson far side. Just 45 seconds later the Canucks took the lead on Booths second goal of the season as he beat Anderson cleanly. Booth has had his share of struggles and admitted its nice to contribute offensively. "I felt good on my skates so thats the biggest thing," said Booth. "But its over now and youve got to start gearing up for Saturday in New York." The Canucks then went on to make it 3-1 with a power-play goal as Garrison was left all alone in front. Ottawa has allowed at least one power-play goal in each of the last seven games. Midway through the period Weise picked up a Garrison rebound and beat a sprawled Anderson. Weise was one of the Canucks better players and if the team hopes to have any long-term success they are going to need secondary scoring. "This is what you need for good teams to win," said Weise. "We cant rely on the (Sedin) twins every night. Our secondary scoring has to pitch in and it has to be consistent." Less than 20 seconds after Weises goal Andersons night came to an end. The Senators managed to cut the lead in half as Zibanejad made it 4-2 with just over one minute remaining in the period. The Canucks made it 5-2 early in the third as Santorelli took advantage of a Jason Spezza giveaway behind the Ottawa net. Santorelli grabbed the puck, shot and then picked up his own rebound to beat Lehner between the legs. Strangely enough Ottawa got off to the start it wanted as MacArthur picked up his 100th career goal midway through the first to give the home team a 1-0 lead, but it was never able to capitalize on the momentum. "Its frustrating," said Ottawas Kyle Turris. "That lapse we had in the start of the second and then we played pretty well the last half of the second and the third. Weve got to execute coming out of our zone and weve got to be more crisp with the puck." With the win Vancouver continues to dominate the Senators. Vancouver has won six straight and 10 of the past 11 meetings between the clubs. Ottawa has lost three in a row and six of its last seven home meetings against the Canucks. Notes: D Patrick Wiercioch, D Jared Cowen and LW Matt Kassian were healthy scratches for the Senators. a The Canucks were without C Jordan Schroeder who is expected to miss another month with a sprained ankle. C Jeremy Welsh, C Zac Dalpe and D Andrew Alberts were healthy scratches. ' ' '