EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey, 2 August 2003 — Manchester United put on an entertaining show at both ends of the field on Thursday, recording a 4-1 victory over Juventus in an international friendly.
United attacked from the opening whistle, getting goals from four international players — Ryan Giggs (Wales), Paul Scholes (England), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Netherlands) and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Norway).
A capacity crowd of 79,005 — a record for soccer at Giants Stadium — on both ends of the field, watched United win for the third time in as many matches on their US tour.
The crowd surpassed the 78,972 who showed up to watch the US in the Women’s World Cup opener on June 19, 1999.
American goalkeeper Tim Howard, who signed with the English Premiership powerhouse only two weeks ago, acquitted himself well in his United debut on the same field where he forged his professional reputation.
Howard, 24, had played for the New York New Jersey MetroStars in Major League Soccer for four seasons. “I thought he was excellent,” Ferguson said. “He showed the attributes we recognized in the boy before. It was a very good debut for him. “I was hoping the boy would get a good debut because it was his hometown.”
Howard’s finest moments came midway through the second half with United nursing a 3-0 lead as Juventus brought in several attacking-minded players.
Howard certainly was up to the task, knocking away a pair of point-blank shots by Italian international Alessandro Del Piero and David Trezeguet only seconds apart in the 71st minute.
The first half featured end-to-end attacking soccer by both teams, although United definitely pushed forward more and placed more pressure on the Juventus goal.
United finally were rewarded for its efforts in the 24th minute after Scholes was fouled 24 yards out on the right side. Giggs then bent the enusing free kick around the Juventus wall and past goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon into the upper right corner of the net for a 1-0 advantage.
United doubled their lead in the 57th minute converting a short pass from Argentine Juan Sebastian Veron and knocked home a 12-yard shot with his left foot. Veron, the subject of serious transfer rumors to Chelsea, set up United’s third goal in the 60th minute. He sent a high pass that Van Nistelrooy chested, brought down and blasted into the short side from eight yards.
Beckham-Mania Grips Hong Kong
as Real Tickets Sold Out in Hours
In Hong Kong, tickets for Real Madrid’s exhibition match against Hong Kong were sold out within hours of going on offer as Beckham-mania gripped the city, leaving hundreds of fans bitterly disappointed, an official said yesterday.
All 16,000 tickets on sale to the soccer-mad public were sold out within six hours of going on sale late Thursday.
A man named Lu, who was the last lucky fan to snap up a ticket waved his maximum allotted four tickets in delight as he shouted “I’m so happy”.
He told reporters he had queued for about 12 hours.
“Of course I’m happy because I was lucky and managed to get a ticket.”
Despite early announcements from the police warning people that some stood no chance of getting the coveted tickets, hundreds continued queuing up to the last minute, only to be left disappointed when sales ended. Fans who forced to return home empty-handed were far from happy, with some pushing over metal barriers erected by police to control the huge queues that had camped outside the ticket booths days before ticket sales began.
One angry fan said: “I had to queue for ages today in the boiling heat. Then I queued for hours to wait for a ticket before they tell us they are all sold out. It’s too bad.”
Other fans fiercely criticized the method of selling the tickets, given the huge appeal of the star-studded Spanish giants, who boast newly-signed England captain David Beckham and superstars Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo among their ranks.
