Following victories in both of their U.S. tour openers, Manchester United and AS Roma faced off in Denver on Saturday to mark the curtain-raiser to this summer’s International Champions Cup. Series A runners-up last season, Roma opened their US tour with a 1-0 victory over Liverpool in Boston earlier this week while Manchester United thumped LA Galaxy 7-0 in Pasadena on the same night. A 7-goal win played at a relative stroll is a tough act to follow, and (ever the pragmatist) Louis van Gaal surely stressed this to his lineup ahead of kickoff against Roma on Saturday as their counterparts figured to pose much stiffer competition than the LA Galaxy.
Roma had the brighter start of the two as they were able to counter United’s 3-5-2 formation, which enjoyed so much success against the Galaxy. Mattio Destro almost gave Roma a dream start as early as the second minute as he latched onto a long through ball and managed to lob the ball over Sam Johnstone, but the ball ended up bouncing over the bar. Besides that early missed opportunity, both teams showed the effects of not having spent much time in Denver to acclimatize to the higher altitude. A high in the mid-80s during the match very likely did not help matters either. Roma enjoyed an advantage in possession, and in typical Italian style managed to stymie Manchester United’s attempts at a more attacking approach. However, neither team was able to create further clear-cut chances in the opening half-hour.
At the 35-minute mark, Wayne Rooney livened up the proceedings with a wonderful effort to open the scoring. United had possession deep in the Roma half, and Rooney took a short pass about 25 yards from goal, turned, and unleashed a curling shot that looped past the outstretched fingertips of Skorupski and nestled itself into the far post corner.
Roma had barely recovered from falling behind (and doing so against the run of play) when Rooney struck again, this time playing a long pass from just inside his own half that was expertly brought down by Juan Mata and lobbed over the oncoming Skorupski for a second goal in just four minutes. A foul on Danny Welbeck earned United a penalty just as the half was about to wind down, and Rooney, easily the most impressive player for United thus far on their tour, drove it home to make it 3-0 at halftime.
Coming out for the second half, both teams made a combined 14 changes, and this completely altered the flow of the game. Roma seemed to display more rhythm on the ball as the second-half lineup fielded by United did not include any projected starters outside of Chris Smalling and Luke Shaw. Roma struggled at times to maintain possession and looked downright disorganized at times. A combination of stubborn defending and Roma’s own inability to create chances saw the score remain unchanged until the 75th minute. Then, Miralem Pjanić shocked everyone watching with a moment of sheer individual genius.
Make no mistake: this was not “lucky.” It takes a remarkable measure of self-confidence and full intent to even attempt something as audacious as that, and Pjanić somehow made it happen. Roma icon Francesco Totti pulled one more back for Roma in the 90th minute, but United was able to hold on for the 3-2 victory.
Overall, Roma will be disappointed that they did not really pick their game up until after the break when they were already down 3 after that inspired finish to the half by United. They have every reason to be encouraged by their control of possession, and it would have been hard to argue against their deserving a better result if their comeback bid had not fallen short.
On the other side of the ball, Van Gaal will be concerned about United’s inability to sustain possession against a team closer to their standard of play, which was especially evident in the second half and may hint at a depth issue as well. Considering that both teams had been in Denver for only a few days prior to this match, they could both be forgiven for slowing down the pace of the game and appearing to struggle to adapt at times. This could become a sticking point for organizers hoping to attract European teams to Denver in the future.
(Image: Getty/Justin Edmonds)
