Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal
handed Tom Cleverly the captain band as his
team took on Roma but it was Wayne Rooney
who stole the show with two goals and an
assist as the Red Devils won their opening
group game of the International Champions
Cup 3-2.
Miralem Pjanic’s wonder strike from 60
yards was the highlight of the game but
Rooney was not going to be denied his man
of the match award. The English forward
hauled United to victory with two stellar
contributions towards the end of the first
half.
A terrific Rooney goal – only made possible
by perfect technique – from 25 yards and
then an even better pass to Juan Mata helped
United in to a 2-0 lead. Then, after a foul on
Danny Welbeck, Rooney drilled the second
penalty of his tour past the Roma goalkeeper
in the 44th minute.
The 54,117 fans inside the Sports Authority
Field, however had to watch for over 40
minutes a disjointed performance from Van
Gaal’s side.
United had two early scares from a Roma
team that pinned them back for most of an
opening half that would have been filed
under “disappointing” until two strikes from
Wayne Rooney and a Juan Mata finish
allowed the manager’s XI to enter the break
3-0 ahead.
With Van Gaal using the 3-5-2 formation he
has promised will be the norm once the
Barclays Premier League season starts,
United’s central defenders were not on the
same page at all as Salih Ucan played Seydou
Keita in behind young Tyler Blackett for a
clear run on goal.
The second scare involved Ander Herrera,
who had starred in United’s 7-0 win over LA
Galaxy on Wednesday in Pasadena, but was
dispossessed too easily by Ucan. The
midfielder did the right thing by scurrying
back to tackle the forward but the
scrappiness in these opening exchanges
proved the underlying theme of United’s
display.
Blackett and Johnstone continually made
errors – the goalkeeper had a concerning
issue with iffy clearances – while Tom
Cleverley’s touch was close to non-existent.
Nominated as captain for the day, as
Cleverley was one of only two who was told
he would play the 90 minutes – Blackett was
the other.
As he had promised, Van Gaal made nine
changes at half-time. Only Cleverley and
Blackett remained. Roma, meanwhile,
introduced five new players including former
Chelsea defender Ashley Cole at left-back.
But Cleverly may have only taken the field
for the second half due to his manager’s
pre-match declaration but was substituted
by the manager in the second half.
It was, however, a later substitute, the
Bosnian midfielder Pjanic, who lifted the
crowd to their feet with 15 minutes left,
beating Ben Amos from ten yards inside his
own half with a perfect lob that David
Beckham would have been proud of.
Amos was to redeem himself rather with a
late save from a Leandor Castan overhead
kick but Francesco Totti reduced the deficit
to one with a late penalty after Michael
Keane handled in the area.
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