A new American attendance record for a soccer match was set on Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor, MI, as a crowd of over 109,000 filled the stands at Michigan Stadium to watch Manchester United and Real Madrid play their final group stage match in the International Champions Cup. Not an empty seat could be seen, and the fans provided a raucous atmosphere leading up to kickoff. Listening to MUTV commentators express their incredulity at how the University of Michigan fills up the stands on a regular basis for their NCAA football games was fairly amusing, and really went to show how much Americans take the scale of such events for granted.
United have been playing with a renewed sense of confidence so far during this US tour, and they enjoyed the better start to the match. Captain Darren Fletcher, Wayne Rooney, Ander Herrera, and Juan Mata were all impressive in midfield, with Mata especially catching the eye with some accurate long passes. After the debacle that was their last season in the Premiership, you would be forgiven to think that it would take United some time to not just adjust to a new coaching regime under Louis van Gaal, but to pick up the pieces and recover their confidence in general. What has really stood out from their play so far is that based on their body language and – to be frank – the sheer audacity of some of their passes and movement, the confidence is in abundance.
Exhibit A would be the buildup to their first goal, which opened the scoring in the 21st minute. In a matter of seconds, United went from playing square balls inside their own half to a devastatingly-quick attacking surge that culminated in Ashley Young slotting the ball home. To be fair, Iker Casillas could have been in a better position to cover his near post, but this was still a very well-worked goal.
Falling behind seemed to wake Real up, and within minutes, they were level courtesy of a penalty, after Gareth Bale was pulled down by Michael Keane in the United box. Bale sent David de Gea the wrong way from the resulting penalty:
Not to be deterred, it seems, United provided another example of how quickly things can change in football when the ball quickly went from de Gea’s hands to an Ashley Young goal in the 37th minute. A superb long crossfield pass from Keane found Young in space on the left wing, and an intended cross was missed by everyone and snuck into the far post. Ironically, Rooney’s missed attempt at connecting for a header on goal might have been enough to distract Casillas from moving to cover the ball from curling in.
The first half was not without hiccups for United, however, as Danny Welbeck limped off after picking up a knock late in the half. A minor point of concern for van Gaal will be the naivete displayed by Keane on giving away the penalty and when Welbeck’s substitute Wilfried Zaha had a golden opportunity on a 2 vs. 2 break shortly before the half but ended up getting tackled after being indecisive. These youngsters will be counted on to help provide squad depth, and they will need to develop better concentration to avoid such mental lapses that van Gaal will surely have little patience for.
The second half saw the anticipated wholesale substitutions, and by the hour mark, United had made 6 changes. The changes clearly disrupted their rhythm and momentum from the first half, and allowed Real to begin to look dangerous in their search for an equalizer. De Gea was forced into a good off-balance save after an Arbeloa shot took a deflection, and Bale saw a freekick bounce off the post.
About 70 minutes in, it appeared that both teams had basically mailed it in for the rest of the match, as neither particularly showed the same drive and energy that had been present up to that point. There was still a treat left for the crowd, and a huge ovation rose from the crowd as reigning World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo came on as an unexpected substitute.
One of United’s own subs, Javier Hernandez, drove the final nail in the coffin to cap off a disappointing tour for Real Madrid when he headed home a Shinji Kagawa cross in the 80th minute. The score stood to the end, and ensured that United will advance to Monday’s tournament final. Though results do not always matter in the preseason, Real manager Carlo Ancelotti should be at least slightly concerned that some of his players looked lethargic on the field, and for their collection of stars, there may yet be concerns about a lack of depth. Of course, Ancelotti also has the luxury of finishing his plans for the new season knowing that Angel di Maria, Sami Khedira, Toni Kroos, James Rodriguez, and Karim Benzema will be back.
Conversely, Manchester United will have every reason to be highly encouraged by their performances on this tour, whether they win or lose on Monday night. As previously mentioned, the contrast to last season, when they frankly appeared clueless at times, has been very apparent. The squad remains the same, but much of the credit here has to go to van Gaal’s tactical and motivational approach that is already bearing early fruit.
(Video credit: Fox, wigan88)
(Featured image: Getty/Leon Halip)