LA Galaxy 0-7 Manchester United
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.
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