0-1, min. 5, Schneiderlin.
Manchester United started their pre-season off with a quality performance as they beat Club America 1-0. The goal scorer was debutante Morgan Schneiderlin in the early stages of the game.
The game started straight away with a weird passage of passing with Manchester United. The ball was played back towards the starting goalkeeper Sam Johnstone and he had to stretch out his leg to stop the Club America attackers pouncing onto the early chance.
The ball was up the other end of the pitch in the fourth minute which led to a corner for United. Ashley Young played the ball towards the near post but the ball was headed away. Juan Mata got the ball back around the edge of the 18-yard box and whipped it towards the back post, Morgan Schneiderlin leapt up provided a looping header and made the game 1-0.
Club America went on the attack straight away and almost levelled the game. A cross was played in from the left wing and it looped between the striker and the United defence. Osmar Mares tried to slide the ball in at the back post but he was only able to put it into the side-netting.
United started another promising attack after the teams exchange offside rulings. Schneiderlin played the ball through to Young, who just managed to beat the offside rule with his attacking run. He carried on down the wing and played a ground cross towards the feet of Mata whose left footed shot was straight at the keeper.
In the 18th minute, a long ball was played forward by Club America towards Michael Arroyo but a foul was given after minimal contact from United defender Luke Shaw. Rubens Sambueza stepped up to take the free-kick with his left foot but he blasted the ball straight into the wall.
The game went a bit quiet as both teams started to test the midfields up to the half hour mark. Even with the absence on chances, new signing Matteo Darmian showed his defensive capabilities as Club America kept trying to attack down their left wing but, Darmian was able to clear up each attack with ease.
Darmian showed defensive prowess.
The first pre-season injury came in the 31st minute as Paolo Goltz went down feeling his hamstring. He was substituted for Erik Pimental, who was sent off against L.A Galaxy earlier in the week.
After the substitute came on, Club America had a chance as the ball was played into the box towards Miguel Samudio and Daley Blind dived in from the side, no decision was called and the play carried on. This led to tempers being flared as Memphis Depay was dragging the ball forward and Sambueza slid him from behind. This led to the first yellow card of the game.
Memphis hardly did anything wrong in the first half apart from one selfish shot but, his best run of play came in the 39th minute when Phil Jones played the ball to him in the middle of the oppositions half. He provided a one-touch flick towards Wayne Rooney, who just plays the ball wide of the right-hand post.
Johnstone showed his talent in the 41st minute as Samudio was on the end of a long ball which Darmian just missed out on, the attacker carried on towards goal but the reflexes of Johnstone showed as he dove towards Samudio’s feet and grabbed the ball.
All of the new signings in the first half showed their talents in their different parts of the pitch. Memphis provided his box of tricks, Schneiderlin dominated the midfield and Darmian was consistent at right-back.
Fresh eleven for the second half for United.
At the start of the second half, a whole new United team was unveiled and it wasn’t long before they started to attack. Just a minute after the restart, Andreas Periera found Adnan Januzaj. Unluckily for the Belgian, he was denied by a brilliant slide tackle.
Pereira almost slotted the ball into the bottom right corner of the net in the 49th minute as Paddy McNair burst up the right wing and crossed the ball into the box. The ball went passed everybody and Periera was at the back of the box. He turned his defender but sliced his shot.
United looked comfortable in the opening exchanges in the second half. In the 53rd minute, Periera curled a brilliant cross into the box but, Januzaj was just a yard behind it and the ball went out of play.
Just two minutes after that, McNair showed great pace as he started a counter-attack. He passed the ball to Jesse Lingard. Lingard dragged the ball up the wing and turned in, he found Januzaj on the edge of the box but, his shot went just wide.
The game calmed down for 10 minutes until an overload over substitues came on for Club America, six in total. The players who left the field were Arroyo, Samudio, Osvaldo Martinez, Pablo Cesar Aguillar, Carlos Darwin Quintero and Javier Guemez. the players who came on in their places were Alejandro Diaz, Francisco Rivera, Jose Daniel Guerrero, Bryan Colula, Jonathon Sanchez and Adrian Marin.
A chance came in the 69th minute when Pereira whipped a free-kick into the box and found Ander Herrera. He headed the ball back across goal and Bastian Schweinsteiger wasn’t able to connect with it.
In the 76th minute, Januzaj had another chance after Pereira played a ball along the 18-yard line towards Schweinsteiger, who dummied the ball towards the Belgian. Januzaj tricked his way passed the defenders and hit a left footed shot. The goalkeeper got a strong hand to it and cleared the ball.
Chris Smalling was penalised for handball in the 82nd minute to be the third booking of the game. The decision was fifty-fifty as the ball seemed to hit his shoulder.
Club America had a rare attack in the closing minutes with Andres ‘Rifle’ Andrade. The shot that he produced showed why he got his nickname, it flew way over the bar.
The game finished with that last attack and United start the tournament with three points. The goal from Morgan Schneiderlin was just enough to hold off the well fought opposition.
