In my mind, the Community Shield (previously known as the Charity Shield) was always a big deal for me. The winner of the FA Cup against the winner of the Premier League (formerly First Division). It had to be a massive exciting game, right? But year after year, it felt liked the jilted bride was left at the altar as the games hardly ever lived up to its promises.

Nowadays, I don’t get as excited by the final as I used to, but I still look forward to the match in the hope that it may be entertaining. But more often than not, I end up watching the match to study any tactical changes the teams have made during the preseason or to watch how new signings perform on the pitch.

In the last two Community Shield finals, Manchester United won after penalties (yawn). Prior to that, most of the scorelines ended 2-1 except for a few exceptions. In fact, the last scoreline that made the viewer’s pulse race was 17 years ago when Leeds United (remember them?) defeated Liverpool 4-3 after Eric Cantona scored a hat-trick for the Elland Road club.

This Sunday, we’ll see Chelsea face Manchester United in the Community Shield at Wembley Stadium. For the first game in the United States, the game will be televised live on both Setanta Sports and Fox Soccer Channel at 10am ET.

Many of the readers to EPL Talk will have seen Chelsea play during their US tour. To me, the Chelsea side looked incredibly impressive and played with much more pace and passion than they have in years. I haven’t had an opportunity to watch Manchester United this summer, so it’ll be interesting to see how they match up against Chelsea on Sunday. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sir Alex Ferguson uses the opportunity to give more of his B-players a run out on the pitch rather than risk injuring some of his key A-players for a relatively meaningless final.

What are your thoughts about this Sunday’s final and your memories and experiences of watching the Community Shield? Click the comments link below to share your feedback.

Image courtesy of Coachie Ballgames.