Revolution v. Manchester United, 7.13.11

There may be some arguments to be made against MLS teams playing midseason friendlies against some of the best European club teams in the world, but you won’t find them here. I prefer to dwell on the saner arguments in favor of MLS’s inter-league competition known as the World Football Challenge.

Let me begin with some of those arguments in favor of the friendlies. First, the European teams can build their powerful brands in the huge and growing North American market. And because July is the very start of the foreign leagues’ preseasons, the European teams can begin getting their players into game shape. On the other side, the MLS and Mexican-league teams acquire instant cachet by hosting matches against the acknowledged best clubs in the world. MLS and the Mexican league also get a chance to prove that it's not totally absurd for their players to be on the same field with the likes of Manchester United and FC Barcelona. Furthermore, existing North American fans of European clubs get to see their teams’ multi-millionaire superstars up close, they get to don their Rooney and Messi jerseys, they get to show off their knowledge of silly team chants in public. MLS fans get to see their hardworking and modestly compensated players temporarily infiltrate the highest circles of the soccer universe.

There are other arguments in favor of these matches, but do we really need to make them? If you don’t admit to being at least mildly intrigued by the prospect of an MLS team taking on a soccer superpower, even in a friendly, then you’re either a boring soccer snob or a liar (or more likely both).

There was enough interest in the Revolution-Manchester United friendly to draw over 50,000 spectators (including myself) to Gillette stadium. That’s over four times the Revolution’s current average home attendance figure of about 12,000. I for one was not disappointed by either team’s performance. Revolution starters acquitted themselves well in the first half, holding Manchester United to zero goals. I liked Steve Nicol’s strategy. He played Franco Coria at centerback alongside A.J. Soares. Coria is excellent in the air and would be in a position to disrupt the many crosses that would rain down on New England’s penalty box, and A.J. Soares is remarkably consistent and composed for a rookie. The speedy Kevin Alston started at right back as usual, but Chris Tierney—not Darius Barnes or Didier Domi (the latter still presumably injured)—started at left back, just behind workhorse Zak Boggs. Tierney, with his great ability to cross from the left, made routine overlapping runs forward. In the 12^th minute, one of his crosses deflected off the foot of Man. U.’s Nani and found Shalrie Joseph, who headed the ball just wide of the back post. It was one of the Revolution’s only good chances of the night.

Joseph and the starting defense mostly played well, while Rajko Lekic had a forgettable, ineffective game. Sainey Nyassi had one of his lesser games as well, combining impressive speed with an unfortunate knack for giving the ball away and seeming to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, as when, about twenty minutes into the match, Benny Feilhaber expected Nyassi to make a run and passed the ball wide to him and out of bounds. Near the end of the half Feilhaber tried the same thing and got the same result, though this time it was all on Feilhaber—Usain Bolt couldn’t have caught up with that pass. Feilhaber did his best work on the defensive end against Man. U., including breaking up a play between Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov in New England’s penalty box.

As for Manchester United, they looked predictably fast and skilled and powerful. But in the first half they were just a little off on nearly everything they tried, also predictable given that this was their first match since playing Barcelona in the Champions League Final on May 28. (These guys get paid well, but they sure don’t get a long off-season.) It seemed that every five minutes Manchester United had a good chance to score but failed to finish. Berbatov headed at least two headers off target, and in the 41^st minute he missed a wide-open shot from the six, though to be fair Matt Reis made a great save on that one. Rooney also sailed a header over the crossbar, and he flubbed a bicycle-kick attempt in the 35^th minute. A minute or so after Reis’s great save on the Berbatov shot, Rooney also miss-hit what looked to be a sure goal.

By one important measure—that of the 0-0 score at the end of the half—the difference between the starting lineups was not great. In other important ways, and in virtually all senses, Manchester United is in a different league than the Revolution. When Manchester United players maintain possession, as they did throughout most of this game, it is a seemingly effortless exercise. They radiate competence and authority when dribbling, trapping, passing, and shooting. They think two or more moves ahead, like good billiards players. When the Revolution players hold the ball, they look rushed and unsteady, like someone learning to walk a tightrope; there’s always a good chance a pass will be off target, a touch will be too heavy, a run will be mistimed. Manchester United players are also human and subject to miscues, but they’re a little less human. And better quality almost always prevails, even in the fickle world of soccer.

There were massive substitutions in the second half, and the game got out of hand quickly. Manchester United scored three goals in the first fifteen minutes or so, then tacked on another one near the end of the game. The Revolution managed to score a fluke goal of their own off a set piece. (Scoring fluke goals off set pieces is becoming a Revolution hallmark this year.) It’s worth noting (for the millionth time, but still) that Manchester United’s roster is deep. They can sub in guys like Rio Ferdinand for Nemanja Vidic, Ryan Giggs for Nani, Federico Macheda for Berbatov, and Michael Owen for Wayne Rooney. That’s a downright laughable embarrassment of riches and just spelling out the names makes me realize why so many Premier League fans don’t bother watching MLS games. The Revolution’s substitutes included guys like Ryan Guy, Stephen McCarthy, and Otto Loewy. Otto Loewy! If I’m not mistaken his only MLS appearance this year came in a 5-0 U.S. Open Cup loss to Sporting KC at a place called the Blue Valley District Activities Complex in Blue Valley, Kansas. Could you come up with a farther cry from playing for Manchester United at Old Trafford?

Still, you have to give Steve Nicol credit for scheduling this game, for playing his best available players in the first half, for playing his best player (Joseph) for the entire game, and for playing most of his lesser players during the second half, giving those players the opportunity to tell their future grandchildren that they got to square off against the mighty Man. U. That’s the kind of thing these friendlies are good for. It was a kick to watch these Revs’ players I’ve gotten to know so well in the last few months taking on some of the best in the world. And whatever the Revolution’s deficiencies, this game was for me a pure joy to watch. There was no flopping, no gamesmanship, no posturing, just a remarkably good team playing against another one that gave its all and was happy to be there.

Two Manchester United goals were for me worth the steep price of my well-cushioned club-level seat. Their finest goal was their last. The build-up started on the left side with Gabriel Obertan mesmerizing Zak Boggs and the crowd with some step-over moves that gave his teammates time to get into position. Obertan ultimately found Ji-Sung Park, who one-touched a perfect pass in traffic to Giggs, who then one-touched another perfect pass back to the streaking Park, who settled the ball, dribbled once, then calmly, leisurely, almost patronizingly chipped it over the sprawled Revs’ goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth. I don’t want to sound like one of those boring soccer snobs I mentioned earlier, but it was the kind of combination and finish that no MLS team is now capable of producing. Then again, how many teams in the world are?

The other worth-the-price-of-admission goal came off the foot of Macheda, who scored two goals against New England and nearly had a third. In the 61^st minute he settled a long cross at the back post and put it into the net. The almost superhuman speed with which he got the shot off was reminiscent of Brazil’s Rivaldo in the 1998 and 2002 World Cups. I hadn’t thought about him in years, and was happy to have the memories dredged up by Macheda’s lightening strike.