Chelsea 2 Man. Utd. 2 (4-1 pens.)

Chelsea beat Manchester United on penalties to win the Community Shield on Monday after a feisty 2-2 draw that offered few clues as to the destination of the far bigger prizes to be fought over during the next nine months.
Frank Lampard again showed his knack of scoring from midfield with one of Chelsea's goals as they responded from a lethargic first half to take the lead while United's Wayne Rooney took his stoppage time equaliser with trademark zeal.
United's Portuguese midfielder Nani showed glimpses of the flair that could help him fill the large hole left by the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid while Chelsea's Michael Essien gave another powerful midfield display.
However, the traditional season curtain-raiser, that was marred by a bad-tempered clash between Patrice Evra and Michael Ballack, raised more questions than it answered.
While Carlo Ancelotti won a trophy in his first competitive match in charge since taking over from Guus Hiddink, his preferred midfield diamond looked far from polished, particularly in a first half in which United cut through Chelsea with ease.
United's new signing Michael Owen was given just 15 minutes and barely got a kick while fellow new recruit Antonio Valencia was also restricted to a substitute appearance.
Goalkeeper Ben Foster, deputising for the injured Edwin van der Sar, could have done better with both Chelsea strikes as England manager Fabio Capello looked on.
One certainty whenever United and Chelsea meet is a raw edge and Monday proved no exception.
United were furious when Ballack's crude bodycheck on Evra went unpunished by referee Chris Foy and with the Frenchman sprawled on the turf and United's players expecting the ball to be kicked out, Didier Drogba powered forward and squared for Lampard to shoot past Foster to put Chelsea 2-1 ahead with 20 minutes remaining.
"If the referee sees it properly it's a red card," United boss Alex Ferguson told reporters. "He's elbowed him clearly, he was lucky. The referee was in line and should have seen it.
"I'm disappointed because he has stopped the game twice before that. Once when Ballack went down he jumped up and was back on his feet again in seconds. That decision cost us the game. We've said it time and again, all we want is consistency."
Minutes later Evra launched a tackle on Ballack which earned him a yellow card.
Ancelotti was disappointed with Chelsea's display in the opening half an hour but said beating United would give his side confidence for the season.
"They are our most important opponent in the Premier League, they have great experience so it was important," said the Italian who broke Chelsea's penalty shoot-out jinx after they had lost their previous six, including the Champions League final in 2008 when United prevailed.
The impressive Nani opened the scoring after 10 minutes, waltzing across in from the left before arrowing a shot beyond Petr Cech. However, the 22-year-old's afternoon ended painfully when he dislocated his shoulder on the hour.
Chelsea looked far more comfortable after the break with Lampard and Essien much more involved. After 52 minutes Lampard linked up with Florent Malouda whose looping cross was not dealt with by Foster and he pawed the ball straight to Ricardo Carvalho who headed into an empty net.
Lampard appeared to have sealed it before substitute Ryan Giggs sent Rooney clear to bury a shot past Cech.
It was a temporary reprieve for United though as Giggs and Evra both had their penalties saved and Salomon Kalou struck the winning blow for Chelsea.

Reading 2 Chelsea 2

Brendan Rodgers, who learned at the feet of Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, almost masterminded a win over the current Blues crop at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday.

Chelsea had dominated the early moments, with John Terry heading over from a Frank Lampard corner and Deco, making a start despite much speculation over his future, seeing a penalty appeal turned down.

However, Jimmy Kebe gave Reading the lead less than ten minutes before the interval. Hal Robson-Kanu's effort bounced to the Malian off Ashley Cole, and the wide man was able to follow-up and stun the visitors.

Chelsea had their chances, though. Nicola Anelka had had a shot cleared off the line not long before Adam Federici saved well from Didier Drogba, but it was the Royals who struck first.

Before Carlo Ancelotti's side were able to regroup in the dressing room, Reading had doubled their advantage. Shane Long was brought down by a combination of John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho as he charged through, allowing Scott Davies, impressive in midfield, to slot home the subsequent free-kick from the edge of the box.

After the interval, Chelsea would make numerous changes and continue to get closer to finally making the net bulge. However, Alex, Michael Essien and Drogba haven't quite found their touch in front of goal yet and couldn't take advantage of far better second half play.

However, the Premier League side showed good character to salvage a result in the dying moments of the contest.

First, Salomon Kalou latched onto a Mikel John Obi through-ball and chipped home.

Then, Alex Pearce was the unlucky one as his header turned Florent Malouda's last-gasp free-kick into his own net.

Club America 0 Chelsea 2

Franco DiSanto and Florent Malouda each set up the other for a goal in the span of two minutes in the second half to lead Chelsea to a 2-0 win over Club America on Sunday in the final game of the World Football Challenge, reports espn.go.com.
Malouda took a pass from Ashley Cole and chipped it in front of the goal, where DiSanto beat Club America goalkeeper Armando Navarrete to the ball and knocked it into the net in the 76th minute.
Two minutes later, DiSanto, a halftime substitute, beat defender Oscar Rojas along the end line and dropped a ball back to Malouda, who fired it past Navarrete from about 12 yards out.
"It is very important for a young player like me to take advantage of every single opportunity," said DiSanto, 20, who made 16 appearances as a sub last season. "I'm just beginning with the Chelsea and I want to stay here."
Chelsea went undefeated in winning the four-team, round robin-style tournament, which was played in six cities across the United States over the last week. Club America was second, one point ahead of Inter Milan. AC Milan finished fourth.
The goals came about 15 minutes after Club America failed to capitalize on two of its best scoring opportunities. In the 61st minute, Chelsea goalkeeper Ross Turnbull pushed Enrique Esqueda's shot wide. Two minutes later, Pavel Pardo's free kick from 35 yards out glanced off the head of forward Salvador Cabanas, who flicked the ball off the post.
Esqueda also missed on back-to-back scoring chances in the first half, when goalkeeper Hilario tipped away a header. A minute later, Esqueda's shot missed just wide.
Chelsea outshot Club America 18-10, with 11 of those shots coming in the second half when the English Premier League team controlled the run of play.
Turnbull and Hilario combined for four saves. Navarrete finished with three saves for Club America, which plays in Mexico's Primera Division. Each team received a yellow card.
Chelsea kept most of its famous names on the bench. Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Michael Ballack and John Terry, who announced he would return to Chelsea, did not play.
Club America was without star goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, who earlier in the day led Mexico to a 5-0 win over the United States in the championship of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Coach Jesus Ramirez took several players off the field in the second half, saying he was saving them for an upcoming match against Mexican club San Luis.
"It is hard to take off most of our starting team because everybody wanted to continue on the field," Ramirez said through a translator. "We have to be smart, because we need most our players ready for this Wednesday."
The game was the second sporting event at the new Cowboys Stadium, which last week was the site of a pair of Gold Cup quarterfinal matches. The crowd of 57,229 mostly favored Club America, but was about 25,000 fewer than the turnout last week to see Mexico's national team.

A C Milan 1 Chelsea 2

A wonder strike from Didier Drogba and a goal for debutant Yuri Zhirkov allowed Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti to get the better of his former club AC Milan in Baltimore, reports espn.go.com.
Drogba produced a stunning shot from distance with just seven minutes on the clock which was cancelled out by Clarence Seedorf before half-time.
Russian Zhirkov then restored Chelsea's lead midway through the second half and this time there was no way back for their Italian opponents.
Juliano Belletti gave Milan a scare with just three minutes on the clock, unleashing a shot from outside of the box which forced a save from Zeljko Kalac.
There was little the Milan goalkeeper could do to stop Drogba's opener four minutes later, however.
The Ivory Coast striker took everyone by surprise with a sublime strike from around 35 yards out which blazed into the top left corner.
It took a while for Milan to recover from the blow, but they slowly worked their way into the contest and Petr Cech made his first save after 19 minutes, using his feet to turn away Ronaldinho's effort.
The alarm bells really started to ring for Chelsea 10 minutes later when a lovely passing move set up Seedorf for a chipped shot which came back off the crossbar.
And the Serie A side were back on level terms after 37 minutes thanks to Seedorf, who hit a first-time strike from Ronaldinho's lay-off which sailed into the net from 18 yards.
Milan hit the woodwork for the second time after 57 minutes with Ronaldinho unlucky not to add his name to the scoresheet.
But Chelsea kept their heads, and their patience was rewarded 11 minutes later when Zhirkov capped his first appearance with a goal.
The Russian capitalised on a game of pinball in the Milan area which began when Andriy Shevchenko's shot was parried by Kalac to Frank Lampard.
His effort was also cleared by the Milan defence but only as far as Zhirkov who finished the job from the edge of the area.
Milan could have snatched a draw in stoppage time but Cech tipped Filippo Inzaghi's effort over the bar.