Manchester United continued its dominance during July's preseason tour of the United States as four players scored in another easy win over the MLS All-Stars.
By Mike Slane
HARRISON, N.J. - Most professional All-Star games are high-scoring events, but in this case only one team was putting points on the scoreboard.
And it wasn't the "All-Star" team.
The Major League Soccer All-Stars were held scoreless for the first time against foreign competition as they suffered a 4-0 defeat to Manchester United Wednesday night at Red Bulls Arena.
"I'm not quite happy with our night, to be honest," MLS All-Star coach Hans Backe said.
Anderson, Dimitar Berbatov, Ji-Sung Park and Danny Welback scored for the English club, which improved to a 4-0 record during this summer's World Football Challenge tour. Park walked away with the MVP award.
The MLS All-Stars have been outscored by Manchester United 9-2 over the last two years. Additionally, the Premier League team has outscored MLS opponents 17-2 this month, including a 7-0 victory over the Seattle Sounders a week ago.
"Obviously, when you play at team like Manchester United, you expect it to be hard, you expect them to play like they play," MLS star David Beckham said. "It's always going to be a hard game, but it's not embarrassing. You're against one of the best teams in the world."
It didn't take too long for Manchester United to start pouring it on the All-Stars despite the MLS players having multiple scoring opportunities early on themselves.
"If we could have put one away, then it could have been different, it would have been closer," Beckham said. "But when you don't put chances away, then a club like Manchester United and players that play for Manchester United for capitalize on that."
Rooney and Berbatov nicely set up Manchester United's first goal 20 minutes into the action, finding the trailing Anderson for the strike.
In the seconds leading to halftime, Park beat MLS defender Sean Franklin in the box before placing a left-footed shot past goalkeeper Faryd Mondragón.
"It was obviously unfortunate with us going in 2-0 at halftime," Beckham said.
The All-Stars made several substitutions at halftime but their fortunes didn't change.
Seven minutes into the second half, Berbatov added to the tally after playing a nice feed from Rooney off the crossbar and following his own attempt to finally knock it home and give his team a three-goal edge.
Welback, a second-half sub, put the game away for good with a shot from just outside the box that took a big deflection off All-Star defender Geoff Cameron on its way into the back of the net.
Beckham, who played all 90 minutes, set up the best chances for his team to score during the game while facing his former team. With only three midfielders in Backe's formation, Beckham was the director of the team's attack all night.
"I think David was phenomenal," Backe said. "He's so, so competitive."
Beckham was the captain of the MLS squad, a role many thought would go to Thierry Henry of the hometown New York Red Bulls. The Galaxy midfielder mysteriously found the captain's armband in his locker prior to kick off.
"I was as surprised as anyone to get the armband because I expected Thierry to have it with it being his home and with it being his team and fans," Beckham said. "But I think Thierry might have sneakily put it in my locker before the game. I did thank him for it, but he didn't admit to it."
Many fans were there to see Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez, but the Mexican star remained in the team's hotel during the game after suffering a mild concussion in a practice session on Tuesday. He spent the night in a hospital for precautionary reasons and there is no timetable for his return.
Manchester United will play Barcelona in a rematch of the Champions League final Saturday in Washington, D.C.
