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Manchester United prepare for Barcelona with 3-1 win over SJ Earthquakes

By on July 21, 2015

There is method to Louis van Gaal’s madness. The Dutchman set Manchester United out for their international Champions Cup matchup against the San Jose Earthquakes in exactly the same lineup as he did against Club America last Friday (bar replacing the injured David de Gea) and made exactly the same halftime substitutions, all ten in total. By the end of the ninety minutes, Van Gaal had played twenty-one of his players. He established a squad that resembled a starting eleven in the first half, then gave his substitutes an opportunity to impress.

By United’s high-profile meeting with Barcelona on Saturday, Van Gaal hopes to have ironed out his starting eleven. “Against Barcelona, I’ll play longer with our [starting] lineup, so I already have to sort of select our first lineup,” the former Netherlands manager told Football Every Day. “I have to select which players are going to play sixty minutes, so it’s our first selection.”

The San Jose Earthquakes were Van Gaal’s guinea pig opponents. Of course, the difference in class was starkly obvious at times; but while United had better touches and were tactically more savvy, the Quakes made up for it at times with their worth ethic and physicality. Wayne Rooney might be able to make Clarence Goodson look silly on the training ground but won’t soon be winning headers against the Quakes’ center back pairing Goodson and Victor Bernardez.

United often broke down the Quakes’ defense but Goodson was almost always there to sweep up. United were dominant early on and were given a particularly wide berth down the left. All too often, Marvell Wynne was caught out by Ashley Young or Luke Shaw. Eight minutes in, Young’s through ball put Shaw in down the left wing and Rooney dummied Shaw’s low cross, only for the ball to be slightly behind Depay at the far post.

In the twelfth minute, Morgan Schneiderlin put Young’s cross back into the mixer at the far post and the ball was only just cleared by the Quakes. It was only a matter of time before the opener came for United, and thirty-one minutes in, Young got down the left with far too much space to run. Bernardez crossed over to cover the space, which in turn opened up space for Young to cut the ball back to Juan Mata, whose fifteen-yard first-time shot trickled in at the right-hand post.

Five minutes later, the Quakes were again caught out on the left wing and Jean Baptiste Pierazzi covered for Wynne as United broke. Amidst all the confusion, Pierazzi overhit a backpass to Victor Bernardez and Memphis Depay broke onto the loose ball. United’s new signing coolly tucked a low effort past Bingham to double the Red Devils’ lead.

As much as their attack impressed, United’s defense was also vigilant for a friendly. Van Gaal’s men immediately dropped back into shape early when losing the ball. Moreover, Van Gaal did thorough research on the Quakes and even credited Kinnear on changing into a more defensive formation.

The Quakes clawed themselves back into the match, although chances still remained few and far between. Kinnear noted: “I think we rushed ourselves a little bit.” Yet the intensity was there, which could have been easy to lose after the second goal. And lo’ and behold, in the dying moments of the half Shea Salinas caught Morgan Schneiderlin off guard and ghosted past the centreback to charge into the box from the right. Salinas cut the ball back to Fatai Alashe, who finished off the chance.

By the end of the first half, the Quakes kept a respectable 38% of possession and kept the scoreline respectable as Mata saw his fifteen-yard effort from Young’s cut-back blocked off the line. Both managers walked into the dressing room mildly pleased at halftime. Van Gaal said he was “satisfied” with United’s performance and credited their defensive organization after the match.

Both sides fielded their reserves in their second half lineups, although United’s substitutes featured World Cup and Premier League winners while the Quakes put on a combination of young and aging substitutes. Although Andreas Pereira headed Anders Lingard’s cross neatly home on the hour mark to put the game to bed, Van Gaal wasn’t satisfied. “In the second half I thought we played very badly. [We had] a lot of unnecessary ball losses. The only highlight was the goal from Periera,” said the Dutchman.

Van Gaal went so far as to flatter the Quakes by suggesting that San Jose were the better side after fifty minutes.

The San Jose Earthquakes might have lost by the scoreboard’s count and Quakes coach Dominic Kinnear said,”we made it easy on [United] with the giveaways that led to some of the goals but I think the guys put in a great effort tonight.”

But on all other fronts, the match was a clear win for the club. Simply to host some of the world’s best at their own Avaya Stadium was an honor unto itself. Moreover, they impressed United coach Louis van Gaal. “We are now on the West Coast, so the temperature is better than on the [East] coast, the humidity is better and also the training facilities are better,” said Van Gaal.

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.