HOUSTON -- A massive crowd piled into Houston’s Reliant Stadium on Wednesday night as the MLS All-Stars took on English Premier League power Manchester United. The Red Devils would prove too strong on the night, running out 5-2 winners, but the match was as entertaining as anyone could have hoped for.
Bruce Arena’s starting lineup featured Donovan Ricketts in net with Kevin Alston, Jamison Olave, Chad Marshall and Heath Pearce manning the backline. The five man midfield included Sebastien Le Toux, Javier Morales, Shalrie Joseph, Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Marco Pappa, with Juan Pablo Angel playing as the lone striker.
Sir Alex Ferguson started the night with Edwin van der Sar between the pipes, Rafael, Wes Brown, Jonny Evans and Fabio along the backline and a three-man midfield that included John O’Shea, Darren Fletcher and Ryan Giggs. Dimitar Berbatov was left off the starting squad in favor of a Frederico Macheda, with Nani and Gabriel Obertan providing support from the flanks.
First Half
It took Manchester United less than 30 seconds to open the scoring. Second-year defender Kevin Alston played a lazy ball back across his own box where Macheda pounced and slid it calmly past Ricketts to give the visitors a very early lead.
Ricketts nearly gifted Macheda a second goal six minutes in. The keeper tried some unneeded fancy footwork and was pressured by the young striker into knocking the ball out of play.
The All-Stars, to their credit, tried to slow the game down and gain a foothold in the match, but with the Red Devils pressing the pace it took some desperate defending from Marshall and Joseph to keep United from punching in a second before the 10 minute mark.
In the 12th minute, Wes Brown’s header from a corner was deflected wide of the mark, setting up a second corner. Macheda would capitalize, rising above the MLS defense and putting a classy header into the far corner, extending United’s lead to 2-0 and putting the game in danger of getting out of hand in the very early going.
The MLS squad responded well with Morales putting van der Sar to work for the first time just moments later. The shot wasn’t actually all that dangerous, but it was one of the first real promising pieces of action from the All-Stars. Angel caused the first real moment of worry for United in the 15th minute with a vicious freekick that van der Sar did very well to keep out of his goal.
Ferguson was forced into an early change 23 minutes in when Tom Cleverly entered for the injured Obertan.
Angel continued to threaten United’s backline and went close again in the 25th minute when a low cross came to him in the center of the box. Some good defending was enough to put the New York striker off and force the shot high, but the All-Stars seemed to be finding their stride.
In the 28th minute a nice bit of individual play from Marco Pappa saw the Chicago winger find enough room for a hard shot on goal, but the angle was always in favor of van der Sar and the veteran ‘keeper was well placed to make the save.
The game opened up for the final portion of the first half with chances on both ends. Morales had another hit at the United goal in the 35th only to come up short and Giggs nearly set the table for Macheda’s hat-trick in the 37th, only to have the play brought back for offside.
In the 41st minute Darren Fletcher should’ve made it 3-0 in favor of the visitors after a brilliant little exchange saw Nani set him free behind the MLS defense. The midfielder’s shot pounded off the post and the rebound was just off for Macheda to follow.
Chad Marshall sent a header high and wide from a corner, marking the last real chance for either side in the opening frame and sending the game to halftime with Manchester United leading 2-0.
Second Half
The MLS All-Stars had a much better start to the second half than they did to the first. After bringing on Brian Ching, Omar Gonzalez, Jeff Larentowic, Nick Rimando, Bobby Convey and David Ferreira at the half, the home put forth a sustained bit of pressure in the opening 10 minutes. In the 48th minute a series of freekicks led to Marshall pounding another header on goal but the big defender hit it directly at van der Sar. Then in the 53rd Jonny Evans was handed a yellow card for a hard foul on Morales leading to another dangerous ball in from the wing.
United dealt with the pressure and escaped the early barrage unscathed, but the home team looked revitalized by all the changes.
Gonzalez nearly scored an improbable goal from near half field in the 60th. His driven cross seemed to fool van der Sar, but the United ‘keeper recovered in time to save himself from an embarrassing moment.
Moments later on the other end fullback Rafael had a chance to extend United’s lead. A darting run down the right flank and a nice cut opened up space for the shot but the youngster’s shot was directly at Rimando in the MLS net.
The crowd would be given plenty of reasons to cheer just after the hour mark.
The pro-Mexican fans in Houston were rowdy as Javier Hernandez made his first appearance for Manchester United, coming on in the 62nd minute to one of the loudest ovations all night. Moments later the Houston fans were on their feet again as hometown hero Brian Ching finally punished United for giving away another free kick.
Ferreira’s whipped freekick set the table for Ching to rise and place his header past the diving van der Sar to put the MLS back within striking distance at 2-1 in the 63rd.
It took United only seven minutes to put their lead back at two goals. Hernandez was lively and disposed defender Wilman Conde, who had just entered for the All-Stars. With no recourse but to pull the Mexican striker down, Conde gave United a freekick in a dangerous area 30 yards from goal in the middle of the park. Darron Gibson, another second half sub, hit a wonderfully struck freekick that found nothing but net.
Tom Cleverly would extend the lead in the 72nd minute with a brilliant goal of his own, juggling the ball over a defender before calmly beating Rimando and putting United up 4-1.
The stars would keep entering as Landon Donovan, Dwayne De Rosario and Brad Davis all came on after the goal, while United gave the crowd another moment to cheer with the entry of Paul Scholes.
Chicharito gave the crowd another moment to cheer as the young striker netted to make it 5-1 with just under 10 minutes left to play. It was a brilliant goal from the Mexican, who timed his run well to slip behind the defense and was poised enough to calmly chip the bouncing ball over the onrushing Rimando.
As if to cap off the perfect night for the Houston fans, former Dynamo star Dwayne De Rosario pulled a consolation goal back for the MLS, with the assist coming from his longtime teammate Bring Ching. Brad Davis nearly rounded out the night for the hometown fans in the dying moments pounding three shots on van der Sar’s net only to be denied three times.
In the end the English side walked away dominant winners in a 5-2 route, but it was an entertaining night and the over 70,000 fans in attendance were treated to a nice spectacle of attacking soccer.
