United’s Tour de Force Goes Right Past Club America
Two victories, seven goals, 124,087 fans.
Not a bad way for Manchester United to begin its four-game summer stroll through the United States.
Leo Beenhakker, for one, was happy to give the Red Devils their due Sunday evening. The Dutch coach of Mexican power Club America was graciousness personified after his team had been systematically dismantled, 3-1, by the English champions in front of 57,365 at the Coliseum.
“It was a great experience for my team to play a great team like Manchester United,” Beenhakker, 60, said. “In the first half, we started well, and although Manchester had some decent [scoring] opportunities, we played more or less on the same level as United.
“In the second half, at the beginning, they changed to a Formula One team. They played much quicker, they played much faster, with the consequence that they scored two fantastic goals.”
The driving force in United’s two-goals-in-two-minutes surge was Uruguayan forward Diego Forlan, who set up Ruud Van Nistelrooy for the first goal 62 seconds into the second half and then scored the second himself, off a Quinton Fortune pass from the left flank, less than two minutes later.
Van Nistelrooy’s goal, which sparked the match to life after a lackluster first 45 minutes, was beautifully taken.
Taking a pass from Forlan, he sprinted left to right between three Club America defenders and then fired a right-foot shot back across his body to the left, catching goalkeeper Jesus Adolfo Rios by surprise.
Rios threw himself to his right, but the ball was already past him. It was Van Nistelrooy’s second goal in as many Champions World Series games, the Dutch striker having scored once in Manchester United’s 4-0 victory over Celtic at Seattle last week.
Beenhakker was suitably impressed.
“In Holland, we all believe that every week and every month he is getting better and better and stronger and stronger,” he said. “He is a striker who is very complete, who knows everything about playing football in every position on the pitch.
“The way he scored the first goal was so typical and so quick and at such a high level that for me Ruud is at the moment one of the best, and perhaps the best, striker in the world.”
Forlan, who lives in the shadow of Van Nistelrooy and sees only limited playing time even though he scored nine goals last season, scored his second goal of the game in the 79th minute and Christian Patino managed a consolation goal for Club America three minutes from the end.
Sir Alex Ferguson, United’s coach, proclaimed himself satisfied with the result, while admitting that the score might have flattered his team.
“I thought in the first half it was a bit difficult to get rhythm into our game,” he said. “Maybe the heat had something to do with that. But the second half was much better for us. It was a matter of speeding the game up, that’s all we did.”
Ahead for United are games against Juventus in Giants Stadium at East Rutherford, N.J., on Thursday, and against Barcelona at Philadelphia on Sunday.
American goalkeeper Tim Howard, signed by Manchester this month, will make his debut against Italian champion Juventus.
“It’ll be good,” he said. “It’s my first chance and hopefully I’ll do well. All the guys have been fantastic to me and they’ve welcomed me with open arms. I have no complaints.”
Howard, who played for Major League Soccer’s New York/New Jersey MetroStars before making the big leap to the English Premier League champions, said the differences between the teams are obvious even in the few days he has spent with the club.
“Things are a lot more intense all around,” he said. “From the locker room to the training to the games.”
Club America out-shot United, 18-14, but Howard can expect Juventus’ shots to be far more accurate and to have far more sting.
Either way, he said, he is ready.
