Yesterday Manchester United kicked off their pre-season tour of Asia with a 3-2 win over a Malaysia XI. Man United played in front of 85,000 fans who were mainly wearing the Man United shirt.
New signing Michael Owen started on the bench but he did later come on to score the winning goal. Last time Malaysia and Man United met was in 2001 and United beat Malaysia 6-0.
Man United went 1-0 up only eight minutes in when Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney combined and Rooney opened up the scoring.
26 minutes in Man United were 2-0 up and cruising. Rooney went from goal scorer to provider and Nani was put through on goal to put Man United in a comfortable position. At that point United were in control and nothing looked like changing.
Things did change in the 44th minute. Van Der Sar was lobbed from 30 yards out by Mohd Amri Yahyah. Fantastic goal and a great time to score it.
Malaysia were level in the 52nd minute when YahYah got his second goal of the game. Ben Foster had been brought on for Edwin Van Der Sar during half time and he made an awful mistake.
Foster slipped when he was trying to receive Darron Gibson's backpass, the ball went straight past Foster. Both YahYah and Foster ran for the ball but Foster was beaten and Malaysia drew themselves level.
Just after the hour mark, Sir Alex Ferguson brought on new signing Michael Owen.
84 minutes in Ryan Giggs was through in on goal but the goalkeeper blocked the ball and took Giggs out. Owen got to the ball and put it into the back of the net, he scored on the debut and he also scored the winning goal.
Considering it was the first game of pre-season Man United looked good. Nani looked better, so did Anderson and Berbatov but we will have to wait to see if they are consistent. It was great that Owen scored on his debut and overall I am happy.
