PASADENA, Calif. – Newcomer Ander Herrera pulled the strings as Wayne Rooney, Reece James and Ashley Young each tallied braces helping Manchester United cruise to a 7-0 victory over the LA Galaxy in front of 84,362 at the Rose Bowl Stadium.
Danny Welbeck opened the scoring before Rooney’s brace while James added two in the second half and Ashley Young rounded out the scoring late. Herrera had two assists for United in the victory. Galaxy now hold an 8-14-6 record against European competition and a 40-26-29 record in exhibitions overall.
The two sides traded chances within the first 10 minutes as new United signing Ander Herrera launched a blast from beyond the penalty area that was pushed away by Galaxy goalkeeper Jaime Penedo. Moments later, the Galaxy had an attempt of their own as a one-timed volley by Gyasi Zardes was saved by Red Devils goalkeeper David De Gea.
United got their goal in the 13th minute when Mata exploited a hole in the Galaxy defense and found Welbeck who fired a shot past Penedo for the opening goal. After the action evened out following Manchester’s early lead, United hit back with two quick goals moments before halftime.
Rooney doubled United’s lead in the 42nd minute after an A.J. DeLaGarza handball set up a penalty kick opportunity that was easily slotted past Penedo. The English international added another in the first minute off first half stoppage time after a Tommy Meyer defensive miscue set up an opportunity for Rooney to chip the ball over Penedo for an easy finish.
Both teams opted for wholesale changes at the half with the Galaxy bringing on Rob Friend, Bradford Jamieson IV, Kenney Walker, Brian Rowe, and Kofi Opare. Arena went to the well again a minute after the half hour mark adding LA Galaxy II stalwarts Kyle Venter, Rafael Garcia, Oscar Sorto, and Raul Mendiola as well as Landon Donovan.
A minute after LA’s second mass substitution, United struck again this time as Young fired a low cross into space finding James, who buried a chance inside the area past a helpless Rowe. James scored another in the 84th minute when new signing Ander Herrera fed Young who saw his attempt saved by Rowe. The chance then fell perfectly for Reece who fired into an empty net.
Herrera played the distributor again in the dying minutes helping Young score twice to round out the Galaxy’s worst ever loss in a friendly match.
LA return to action on Monday against Seattle Sounders FC at CenturyLink Field.
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com.
Manchester United 7, LA Galaxy 0
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Chevrolet Cup
Rose Bowl Stadium – Pasadena, Calif.
Scoring Summary:
MU – Welbeck (Mata)13’
MU – Rooney (PK) 42’
MU – Rooney 45’+1
MU – James (Young) 62’
MU – James (Young) 84’
MU – Young 88’
MU – Young (Herrera) 90’
Misconduct Summary:
LA – Robbie Keane (caution) 48’
Lineups:
LA Galaxy:
18-Jaime Penedo (12-Brian Rowe 46’), 20-A.J. Delagarza (25-Rafael Garcia 61’), 21-Tommy Meyer (31-Kyle Venter 61’, 27-Charlie Rugg 67’), 22-Leonardo (28-Kofi Opare 46’), 33-Dan Gargan (36-Oscar Sorto 61’), 6-Baggio Husidic (38-Bradford Jamieson 46’), 8-Marcelo Sarvas (10-Landon Donovan 61’), 19-Juninho (34- Kenney Walker 46’), 24-Stefan Ishizaki (40-Raul Mendiola 61’), 7-Robbie Keane (cap) (30-Chandler Hoffman 61’), 11-Gyasi Zardes (16-Rob Friend 46’)
Substitutes not used:
1-Brian Perk, 4-Omar Gonzalez, 14-Robbie Rogers, 32-Jack McBean
Coach: Bruce Arena
Manchester United:
1-David De Gea (13-Anders Lindegaard 46’), 4-Phil Jones (2-Rafael 46’), 6-Jonny Evans (42-Tyler Blackett 46’), 12-Chris Smalling (38-Michael Keane 46’), 28-Luke Shaw (23-Tom Cleverley 46’), 8-Juan Mata (17-Nani 46’), 24-Darren Fletcher (cap), 25-Antonio Valencia (18-Ashley Young 46’), 21- Ander Herrera, 10-Wayne Rooney (41-Reese James 46’), 19-Danny Welbeck (26-Shinji Kagawa 46’)
Substitutes not used:
40-Ben Amos, 50-Sam Johnstone, 29-Wilfried Zaha, 35-Jesse Lingard, 47-James Wilson, 48-Will Keane
Coach: Louis van Gaal
Referee: Baldomero Toledo
Referee’s Assistants: Fabio Tovar, Eduardo Mariscal
4th Official: Alex Chilowicz
Attendance: 86,432
