Fergie again rang the changes for this one in his attempt to give everyone some game time and the big news was that Nani started this one. The entire starting line-up was as follows:-

——Amos——

Rafael—Smalling—-Evans—-De Laet

Nani—-Scholes—Gibson—-Giggs

Berbatov—-Diouf

The back five was clearly very inexperienced and on several occasions that was exposed quite mercilessly by a Kansas City side who were clearly fired up for this one.

Straight from the off, Kansas City got at United and didn’t give us a second on the ball and, to be quite honest, we were second best in the first half and this was highlighted when the Wizards took the lead when the offside trap was completely sprung (due to Rafael not getting out quickly enough) and Wizards’ Midfielder Davy Arnaud found himself clean through to slot past Amos.

A few minutes later, the scores were level when Berbatov was brought down in the box and a penalty was awarded. Bizarrely, considering this was a friendly game, the referee also sent the Wizards’ player off because he was the last defender. A correct decision by the rules of the game but as this was just a friendly, it was probably not what either manager really wanted.

Anyway, Berby stepped up to take the penalty and, such is the confidence oozing through him during this pre-season tour, nonchalantly rolled the ball into the side netting, sending the keeper the wrong way in the process.

After our initial scare, it looked like we might have finally got to grips with the game and that we would go on to win this but there was a massive shock just seconds later when the Wizards took a 2-1 lead through a header which came down off the bar and must have crossed the line by about an inch.

At half-time, United were down but with a man advantage for the second half, surely not out?

Well, the Wizards pretty much packed out the defence in the second half and we just couldn’t make the breakthrough despite having almost all of the possession and a fair few decent chances.

The player I felt most sorry for was Diouf who probably squandered a couple of our best chances when he completely miskicked a couple of shots when in great positions.

Obertan came on around the middle of the second half and looked lively and dangerous – he is one of the few youngsters who is coming through this pre-season tour with reputation enhanced.

Tom Cleverley also came on and produced a couple of decent crosses but he also wasted a few opportunities.

Macheda came on and looked more dangerous in this type of game because it wasn’t the kind of game where pace was necessary (due to the Wizards defending deep and in numbers). He had a couple of half-chances but couldn’t make them count.

All in all, this was a disappointing result with very few positives to take from it from a United perspective.

The return of Nani was good to see and although his performance didn’t reach the heights he showed towards the end of last season, this was to be expected given that this was his first match since the end of the season.