A whole lot has changed since the L.A. Galaxy hosted Manchester United at the Rose Bowl in 2014, a match won by the Red Devils 7-0 in front of 86,000 fans. That night in Pasadena, United had the home crowd advantage, and that match was much less competitive than the final box score conveyed.
Tonight, at the the StubHub Center in Carson, there were plenty of tickets available, at a venue that holds about 27,000.
-Here’s the starting lineup, in a 4-2-3-1 formation, that United Manager Jose Mourinho put out there. He admitted, it’s not indicative of what formation and line-up he’s likely to use this upcoming season (as you can see by the wing backs in defense)
Marcus Rashford
Juan Mata Jesse Lingard
Marouane Fellaini
Michael Carrick Ander Herrera
Daley Blind Antonio Valencia
Chris Smalling Phil Jones
David de Gea
-Marcus Rashford scored twice, with his first coming literally two minutes and change into this one. His second came 19 minutes in. The early brace set the tone right off the bat, and that them was another rout, with a final score (5-2) not really conveying the actual one-sidedness of the meeting (just like the Rose Bowl blowout a couple summers ago).
-United put a lot of starters out there at the beginning, in stark contrast to the Galaxy, who commenced this one with a lineup featuring a lot of second-teamers. New signings Romelu Lukaku and Victor Lindelof made their United debuts in the second half coming off the bench.
-Following in the match, in his postgame news conference, Mourinho hinted at the idea of Rashford and Lukaku forming a partnership. On top of that, he also made some very interesting comments about Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata.
-Marouane Fellaini, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Anthony Martial completed the scoring for United. Giovani dos Santos and Dave Romney scored for the Galaxy.
-The Galaxy’s mascot, Cozmo, really brought some quality, first rate trolling to the table tonight.
-This was the first international friendly of the summer and the beginning of United’s 2017 tour. It’s been 52 days since United defeated Ajax in Stockholm in the Europa League Final to claim some silverware.
-David Beckham, who has a strong connection to both of these teams, was in attendance tonight.
-United will next take on Real Salt Lake in Utah on Monday night. It’s their final friendly against a MLS side, before they move on to the International Champions Cup.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV.
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