Manchester United made it four wins out of four in their tour of America with a convincing win over the best of the MLS in New Jersey. It was a pleasing result for the team as they defeated the All-Stars for the second year in a row in front of a packed-out crowd at the Red Bull Arena.

The All-Stars started well and had the first chance of the game after six minutes when ex-United legend David Beckham fired a shot wide of Anders Lindegaard from the edge of the area. Brad Davis then had an easier chance to score but could only fire straight at our Danish goalie from inside the area whilst Thierry Henry tried to make his mark on the game as well.

It was not a bad effort from Davis but he could not generate the power to trouble Lindegaard and it proved a costly miss. United straight away from the Dane’s save counter-attacked from the keeper’s long throw. Good play from Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney proved too much to deal with for the hosts allowing Anderson coolly to finish from the edge of the area after Rooney’s neat pass to put United ahead after 20 minutes.

Beckham was in the thick of the action moments after Anderson’s goal with United’s former no.10 and 7 forcing Lindegaard into a fantastic save after a brilliantly timed shot from 25 yards after the former England captain pounced on a stray Michael Carrick pass. It was a good save but one which the young goalkeeper would have expected to have dealt with.

After the All-Stars Columbian goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon made a couple of nice saves, including one from a fierce Rooney strike from the best part of 25 yards, United finally doubled the lead. Poor play by Shalrie Joseph (who played against United a fortnight ago for the New England Revolution) allowed Ashley Young and Patrice Evra to play the ball to Park Ji-Sung inside the area.

With alot of work to do, Park shuffled his way past his marker before powerfully shooting the ball into the far corner past Mondragon to send United into half-time 2-0 up. The goal was the Korean’s third of pre-season so far and even with the standard of defending not brilliant in the States he looks to be in tip-top form for the coming season which is great for our squad.

Ben Amos was the only change made immediately at half-time with the youngster coming on for Lindegaard in goal. Again it was another chance for Amos to impress and he did exactly what he was asked to do as United went onto score two more after half-time.

It took only seven minutes for United to add a third with Berbatov getting the goal that his first-half performance had deserved. An exquisite lofted pass by Rooney found United’s no.9 gliding into the area who after seeing his chip deflected onto the crossbar volleyed in the rebound to score his first goal of pre-season.

The All-Stars should have scored a consolation goal 30 minutes from time after United had made several substitutions but experienced Mexican forward Omar Bravo somehow managed to fire wide inside the area (when it seemed harder to miss) after Amos had parried a fierce drive from outside of the area from Chris Wondolowski.

After that United’s subs began to make their mark on the game and it was no suprise seven minutes later when Danny Welbeck scored United’s fourth. After being picked out by Anderson on the flank, the tall forward cut into the middle and from just outside the area shot goalwards with the ball going in via the aid of a deflection of Geoff Cameron’s knee flew past goalkeeper Tally Hall.

Star Man:

Despite being impressed with Berbatov and Anderson’s performances, I will have to agree with the choice of the official man of the match (MVP of the game) as my star man of the game and that of course is Park who aside from scoring his goal looked dangerous throughout the game.

Next up for United end the final game of their tour of America with a game against Barcelona in Maryland at FedEx field. Despite Lionel Messi not figuring for the reigning European Champions, it will be an important game for United and one the players will not want to lose especially after last season’s events at Wembley.

By @ADennehey87