Cristiano Will Always Be CR7: United Youngsters Slip by a Pesky Philly Union

Yesterday the Reds continued their pre-season tour of the States in a meeting with the Philadelphia Union of the MLS. The Union, who are languishing one step up from the bottom of the Eastern Conference, gave the former EPL champions a run for the money.
Sir Alex chose to begin the first half with the Reserves starters, Macheda, Obertan, Welbeck (who was on loan last year), Cleverley (also on loan), Fabio da Silva, and buoyed them with Scholes, Giggs, Kuszczak, Brown, O'Shea, and Jonny Evans.
United came very close to scoring several times in the first few minutes with Welbeck and Obertan combining, but at the half mark the score was still 0-0. Giggs seemed very peeved at a few youngsters (Macheda especially) when they wouldn't listen to his direction and wasted long balls that turned into goal kicks.

Edwin Van der Sar, who was watching from the sidelines, commented to the MUTV crew that he thought "the manager is probably giving them an earful right now so it's best that I'm out here." The pundits were sure that Sir Alex would change the starting XI after a lackluster start, but he made no changes at halftime and the youngsters were given another runout. Shortly into the second, though, after no goals came about, SAF brought in the big guns starting with Berbatov, Fletcher, Rafael da Silva, and new-signing Chris Smalling entering the fray. Corry Evans (Jonny's brother) made his debut as a first-teamer as well.
Jonny Evans (who had secured a starting spot last season with Rio's injury) made two superb blocks that should have been goals. Perhaps SAF was getting a tad nervous, although he remained calm on the bench.
He didn't have to wait long as the Union got sloppy at the back in the 76th and Danny Welbeck jumped on a loose ball, passing wonderfully to Obertan, who knocked it home. Berbatov rattled the crossbar with a turnaround shot and Giggs was denied a penalty after being blatantly blocked in the area.
It didn't matter as the Union could not muster anymore chances and the Reds walked away with the victory.
Most would say that United should have won 10-0, but the MLS has come a long way in recent years and they are also in the middle of their season, while the Reds are still trying to amp up their fitness for the beginning of the EPL season.
The Reds will travel to Kansas City to play the Kansas City Wizards on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium.