Louis van Gaal hailed the more than
“300,000 fans” Manchester United have already played before in their
four games so far on their tour of America as they swept into Monday’s
final of the International Champions Cup in Miami against Liverpool.
While Van Gaal described the 18-day trip
as “preparation” to dampen expectation, this convincing win over Real
Madrid also ensures the new manager remains unbeaten. He said: “It’s
preparation time. So, also, for the opponents its preparation. You’ve
seen [Cristiano] Ronaldo arriving in the 75th minute. We also miss
players like [Marouane] Fellaini, [Adnan] Januzaj, [Robin] van Persie –
so you cannot say: ‘OK, so we’ll beat every team.’ But of course it’s a
very good result for us and it gives confidence to all the players. So
we are going the right way I think.”
This was before a packed 109,318 fans in
Michigan Stadium – aka the Big House, for obvious reasons – in an
encounter worth up to $20m (£11.9m) to the local economy and which was
broadcast live to over 40 nations. The attendance was a record for a
“soccer” game stateside, beating the 101,799 who saw the 1984 Olympic
gold medal decider at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl, in a result that ensures the
stakeholders dream final.
The competition organisers – the Premier
League, Major League Soccer and the US Soccer Federation – would all
hope for a box-office encounter between two behemoths of the global game
that would maintain the exponential growth of football, which is the
bottom line for events like these.
The showpiece match was news to Van
Gaal, who said: “It’s Liverpool in the final? OK, thank you. It’s also
good for English football and very important that two teams from the
Premier League will play in the final but also for them it is
preparation time. It doesn’t say anything but it is better to win than
lose.”
Despite Van Gaal’s objections regarding
how the tour is impacting on his ability to ready the players, he
appears to be warming to it. “It’s amazing,” the Dutchman said of the
mammoth Big House capacity. “Yesterday when I was asked why Manchester
United are here I gave sporting reasons and great clubs in this
tournament and the commercial activities. But I forgot to say that
within 14 days we have played for more than 300,000 fans. We also had
the chance to meet the American fans of course. These are very good
points.”
If Van Gaal does oversee a win over
Liverpool it would mean a trophy within three weeks of officially taking
over, though he is unsure if this would be the quickest trophy of a
glittering career. “I don’t know I also won the Taylor Com Cup in
Germany, the Super Cup in Germany and the Netherlands. But the impact of
this tour is bigger than the Taylor Com Cup or the Super Cup in the
Netherlands. We are here.
“I think that in the news all over the
world the broadcasters will show the first goal. It was a fantastic
goal. All the team has touched the ball I think.”
That had arrived after 21 minutes in a
slick sequence that ended in four smart passes that allowed Ashley Young
to score the opener. Darren Fletcher prodded the ball to Wayne Rooney
for the latter to engineer a one-two with the Scot. He played in Danny
Welbeck who recycled the ball to Young, who slotted home.
Javier Hernández ensured United’s match
with Liverpool with an 80th-minute finish that came when United’s
standout performer, Fletcher, fed Shinji Kagawa, who curled in a cross
from which the Mexican scored.
While each time Ronaldo, who made an
appearance despite Carlo Ancelotti claiming he would not because of a
post-World Cup break, touched the ball the crowd cheered, what mattered
here was the way United impressed throughout.
Van Gaal chose what has emerged as close
to his first-choice XI on the tour. Only the injured Chris Smalling and
a Luke Shaw who is struggling for fitness missed out, meaning that
Michael Keane and Young started at centre-back and left wingback,
respectively.
The remainder of the side had David de
Gea as the goalkeeper, Phil Jones and Jonny Evans alongside Keane,
Fletcher and Ander Herrera as the dedicated midfielders, Antonio
Valencia as right wingback, with Juan Mata the No10, and Rooney and
Welbeck as strikers.
This gang impressed throughout the opening 45 minutes, until Welbeck was replaced near half-time with a knee problem.
As the break neared Young appeared to
have a second. He curled in a cross aimed towards Rooney, who appeared
not to touch the ball but, in doing so, wrong-footed Iker Casillas and
the ball went into the net. The PA announcer credited Rooney.
With Keane mugged by Gareth Bale in the
incident that won a penalty which the Welshman converted, later Van Gaal
offered an assessment of the young defender and Tyler Blackett, who
entered at the break.
“They can do the job but they cannot do
the job for a lot of matches,” he said. “They can do it for one match
and maybe when you give them more the experience will increase. Today
you have also seen that the penalty was not so smart. He has to learn
from these errors I think. The same goes for Tyler.”
Van Gaal’s band now move on to Florida
for the fifth state and match of this trip. A win over Liverpool will
make the long flight home particularly sweet.
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