Preview: Red Devils poised to upset Postecoglou again
This Saturday, Manchester United will want to go one better than local rivals Manchester City. The latter suffered their second consecutive pre-season friendly match defeat on July 18 as AmaZulu triumphed 2-1 to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s birthday in style.
Manchester United commenced their summer preparations on a negative note as Singha All Star XI beat them 1-0 in Thailand. David Moyes will be hoping for a better performance from his players against A-League All Stars. Red Devils fans can anticipate a good result knowing that the weather in Sydney promises to be cooler than in Bangkok where humidity and heat played a big role in the loss.
Robin van Persie and David de Gea joined the squad earlier this week and could make an appearance during the match. Wonderkids Adnan Januzaj and Wilfried Zaha are likely to make Manchester United’s starting XI following their impressive display in Asia.
The public can expect an open game after Ange Postecoglou promised not to employ negative tactics or create a special plan to mark Van Persie. The Melbourne Victory coach, who will be in charge of A-League All-Stars, was quoted as saying:
“We won't be man-marking anyone. I'll be more interested on what we do when we've got the ball. There wouldn't be much point (because) there'd be 10 other blokes to look after as well.”
Postecoglou will be looking to settle scores after losing to the Red Devils 13 years ago, when he met them at the Maracaña Stadium in Brazil during the Club World Championship. He was in charge of South Melbourne FC back then. A lot has changed now; even Alex Ferguson will not be the man in the Manchester United dugout.
Where to watch the match – Live stream, start time, TV channels
If you live in Canada or the United States, you may want your alarm clock to wake you up for an early start.
Watch A-League All Stars vs Manchester United live:
In Australia at 19:30 local time on Seven
In Canada at 5:30am ET on Sportsnet World
In USA at 5:30am ET on Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Soccer 2Go, FOX Deportes
Internationally, this game will be broadcast live on MUTV. The TV schedule tab on the match page contains worldwide information. LiveSoccerTV’s channel compilation for the Red Devils’ second Asia Tour 2013 fixture includes GOL T, Sport TV1 and SuperSport 3 Africa.
