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Manchester United routs Revolution as World Football Challenge begins

Man Utd New England 1 (Reuters)

Manchester United kicked off its American tour by winning big against an American club.

Federico Macheda scored two goals as Manchester United opened the 2011 World Football Challenge with a 4-1 victory over the New England Revolution on Wednesday night in front of a crowd of 51,523 in Foxborough, Masachusetts. Michael Owen and  Park Ji-Sung also scored for the Red Devils, which started just four players from the side that faced Barcelona in the most rcent Champions League final.

Wayne Rooney and Ashley Young played in the game, with Young's appearance marking his debut with United since transferring over from Aston Villa last month.

The Revolution's lone goal came from Kenny Mansally.

You can see highlights from the game after the jump:

 

What do you think of United's 4-1 win? Do you see them winning the World Football Challenge?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Sir Alex told MLS to start promo-relegation(see post-game press conference). It is time, but it won’t happen under under Don, Sunil and Bob.

    OUT: all 3 of them!

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  2. I’m all for improving the league of course, but they don’t need EPL quality—they need an owner who gives a spit about winning and about building his team and his fans a soccer-specific stadium.

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  3. True. I forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me about those reasons. There’s a lot of money rollin around (literally) here in Miami – one would think there’s someone willing to take part in ownership. Oh well. Alas…

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  4. Support in Miami may in fact be > than support in NE. However, someone has to pay the players, build the stadium, etc etc etc. That = ownership, which = Revs in NE.

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  5. There’s been a several comments regarding New England doing so poorly. I’m wondering if this has something to do more with the fans or ownership…which leads me to my ultimate question/proposition that MLS should move the Revs from NE to Miami. IF it is indeed a lack of fan support, then I feel like support would be much better in Miami. Thoughts on this?

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  6. Actually what it shows is fans appreciate top quality. This game was the epitome of meaningless and people showed to see the stars. MLS doesn’t need pro/rel to win over casual fans, it needs a better standard of play. If NE were as far out of the playoff hunt as they are now, but were as good as a lower-tier EPL team, and their average opponent was EPL quality, people would come. (Heck how many big-4 sports teams are NEVER in the playoff hunt, they still get fans, even if only to watch the visiting teams.) Conversely, even if NE were somehow fighting for the supporters shield, but as low-quality as they are now, crowds would still be small. Meaningful competition helps, but do you think anyone who already can’t be bothered to cheer for the Revs would show up to watch them fight to avoid relegation? They wouldn’t care if they got relegated b/c they don’t care about them in general.

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  7. Then the ones that do show up in team gear, only wear their colors on gameday and dont represent anywhere else. Pussified Eurosnobs

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  8. It’s all about the cash. I always want to know, how many of these people come back to see REVS game or a DC UNITED game.

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  9. agreed but thats not true everywhere. man u is coming to seattle, chicago, and NY (for the all-star game). seattle will be packed but it will be lots of seattle fans (this shouldn’t be a shock to anyone). chicago is playing the game at soldier field, which will probably be split pretty even between fire and man u supporters. ny is the all star game, so one can’t really compare. NE is mls hell, though, to be sure.

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  10. That’s beautiful. Maybe we should import those Fulham fans into America and have them give a talking to the Americans that don’t support MLS.

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  11. Perfect example of why our game needs promotion/relegation to make every game meaningful. People flocked to a meaningless game but can’t be bothered to support the team every week.

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  12. I was so happy to see something related to this comment, on a board years ago, I think it was when Fulham signed McBride. Some American fan went on there, talking about how great this player was, and started talking down MLS, saying how it’s not worth going to watch, etc. All the responses from the Fulham fans were about how stupid that sentiment was, how watching games live was better, about how you should support your local team/league, and so on. I got the feeling that the original poster thought he’d show the Fulham fans how knowledgeable he was, and it was good to see him get a good scolding for his “I’m too good for the people around me” attitude, when he probably thought he sounded impressive or something.

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  13. for all those WFC haters.. i agree the game is a pointless distraction from MLS season but it looked like an entertaining game in front of 51,000 New Englanders.. and at this point just about every Rev’s game is pointless

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  14. This challenge pisses me off and just reminds me how many posers show up to watch Man U but wouldn’t be caught dead at a MLS game.

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  15. In all seriousness, it was ok, but Man U was hardly pressuring in midfield, when the Revs got it they just sat back and let the Revs have more space than you’d see in a match that mattered. Very few of the Revs players deserved to be on the same field as their opponents. I can’t say I watched the match closely, but I was impressed with how much defending Feilhaber was doing.

    That said, I would like to see how well the Revs could play if Dabo could get healthy, and be on the field with Feilhaber, even if Benny were moved out to the wing. I liked what I saw of Dabo in the last match he played, albeit for only 20 mins or so, before he got hurt. If they could get a decent forward as well, they could do some damage to something other than their fans eyes.

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  16. I was expecting a better game from the Revs since they are in mid season form. Being a Dynaamo fan at least we dont have to worry about them making a playoff run.

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  17. Wait, there’s actually a “winner” of the World Football Challenge? Okay, that was sarcastic but the next question is actually more serious. How do they determine the winner of WFC (general point system?) and is there any cash or hardware involved?

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  18. Any attendance #’s.

    I got a call from the box office on Monday asking if they could help with tickets for the game. I ended up taking the high road and saying no thank you… what was in the back of my mind was “I’m not giving Kraft another dime until he treats the supporters better”

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  19. Really not a bad showing from the Revs. Switching out their back line kind of killed it for them, although I can’t say the result wouldn’t have been similar if the back four had stayed in.

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  20. Well, the routing didn’t begin until both teams put their subs in, it was 0-0 at the half. So we can therefore conclude that the Revs’ starting line up is equal to Manchester United’s.

    (no, I will not share what I’m smoking, it’s only for me)

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