Pompey meet Manchester United for the second time this season in the most prestigious friendly in football at Wembley tomorrow.
The summer hasn't seemed as long as previous seasons, probably because the previous campaign was extended a week and our season begins six days before the rest of the Premier clubs.
It has still been an empty couple of months but the wait is over as Pompey fans will descend onto Wembley for the third time and hopefully leave celebrating another win and another piece of silverware to add to the trophy cabinet.
Manchester United fans will be hoping for revenge after Pompey stopped the Red Devils from going on to win the treble but Sir Alex Ferguson says that this game will be used to assess the fitness of his squad.
I hope that Harry Redknapp takes the game more seriously and I think he will given Tony Adams' comments about wanting to "destroy" the opposition tomorrow.
Lassana Diarra and Kanu are doubts for the clash but will probably feature in the squad. Glen Little and Sean Davis are also facing a race to be fit but Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe will feature up front.
Manchester United will be without several key players, most notably Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney whilst Owen Hargreaves, Park Ji-Sung and Louis Saha are also out.
Anderson is at the Olympics but Michael Carrick has recovered from a virus and will play and Gary Neville will captain the side.
Pompey have only ever won the Shield once and even then had to share that after a 1-1 draw with Wolves in 1949. We didn't compete for the honour after our first FA Cup triumph due to World War II and after our second league triumph the Charity Shield was contested by an England XI and a team touring Canada.
So it would be sweet to win the Shield outright and I fancy us to get a result against a United side missing key players, aren't quite up to full fitness and are playing a side that beats them every season.
The main thing is to enjoy the day as this could be the last time we go to Wembley for quite some time. This game is just reward for our efforts last season and should be treated as such before the campaign begins for real next Sunday at Stamford Bridge.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Portsmouth
GK: David JAMES
RB: Glen JOHNSON
CB: Sol CAMPBELL
CB: Sylvain DISTIN
LB: Hermann HREIDARSSON
RM: John UTAKA
CM: Lassana DIARRA
CM: Pedro MENDES
LM: Niko KRANJCAR
CF: Jermain DEFOE
CF: Peter CROUCH
Bench: Jamie ASHDOWN, Linvoy PRIMUS, LAUREN, Glen LITTLE, KANU
Manchester United
GK: Edwin VAN DER SAR
RB: Gary NEVILLE
CB: Rio FERDINAND
CB: Nemanja VIDIC
LB: Patrice EVRA
RM: NANI
CM: Paul SCHOLES
CM: Darren FLETCHER
LM: Ryan GIGGS
CF: Carlos TEVEZ
CF: Frazier CAMPBELL
Bench: Tomasz KUSZCZAK, Wes BROWN, Jonny EVANS, John O'SHEA, Dong FANGZHUO
My Prediction: Pompey 2 Manchester United 1
The summer hasn't seemed as long as previous seasons, probably because the previous campaign was extended a week and our season begins six days before the rest of the Premier clubs.
It has still been an empty couple of months but the wait is over as Pompey fans will descend onto Wembley for the third time and hopefully leave celebrating another win and another piece of silverware to add to the trophy cabinet.
Manchester United fans will be hoping for revenge after Pompey stopped the Red Devils from going on to win the treble but Sir Alex Ferguson says that this game will be used to assess the fitness of his squad.
I hope that Harry Redknapp takes the game more seriously and I think he will given Tony Adams' comments about wanting to "destroy" the opposition tomorrow.
Lassana Diarra and Kanu are doubts for the clash but will probably feature in the squad. Glen Little and Sean Davis are also facing a race to be fit but Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe will feature up front.
Manchester United will be without several key players, most notably Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney whilst Owen Hargreaves, Park Ji-Sung and Louis Saha are also out.
Anderson is at the Olympics but Michael Carrick has recovered from a virus and will play and Gary Neville will captain the side.
Pompey have only ever won the Shield once and even then had to share that after a 1-1 draw with Wolves in 1949. We didn't compete for the honour after our first FA Cup triumph due to World War II and after our second league triumph the Charity Shield was contested by an England XI and a team touring Canada.
So it would be sweet to win the Shield outright and I fancy us to get a result against a United side missing key players, aren't quite up to full fitness and are playing a side that beats them every season.
The main thing is to enjoy the day as this could be the last time we go to Wembley for quite some time. This game is just reward for our efforts last season and should be treated as such before the campaign begins for real next Sunday at Stamford Bridge.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Portsmouth
GK: David JAMES
RB: Glen JOHNSON
CB: Sol CAMPBELL
CB: Sylvain DISTIN
LB: Hermann HREIDARSSON
RM: John UTAKA
CM: Lassana DIARRA
CM: Pedro MENDES
LM: Niko KRANJCAR
CF: Jermain DEFOE
CF: Peter CROUCH
Bench: Jamie ASHDOWN, Linvoy PRIMUS, LAUREN, Glen LITTLE, KANU
Manchester United
GK: Edwin VAN DER SAR
RB: Gary NEVILLE
CB: Rio FERDINAND
CB: Nemanja VIDIC
LB: Patrice EVRA
RM: NANI
CM: Paul SCHOLES
CM: Darren FLETCHER
LM: Ryan GIGGS
CF: Carlos TEVEZ
CF: Frazier CAMPBELL
Bench: Tomasz KUSZCZAK, Wes BROWN, Jonny EVANS, John O'SHEA, Dong FANGZHUO
My Prediction: Pompey 2 Manchester United 1