Harrison, NJ – The Major League Soccer All-Stars were no match for Manchester United on Wednesday at Red Bull Arena as the defending English Premiership champions ran away with a 4-0 win at the 2011 MLS All-Star game.
After falling 5-2 to United in last year’s game, the MLS All-Stars were hoping for a better result this time around.
But after a scoreless first 20 minutes that saw the All-Stars put together some decent build-up play, United opened the scoring through Anderson, with Park Ji-Sung scoring on the stroke of halftime to double the advantage.
Dimitar Berbatov tallied a goal shortly after the break, and Danny Welbeck capped the scoring with a deflected shot in the 68th minute.
The early part of the match saw the MLS All-Stars put together some decent possession play, with David Beckham’s long-range effort going just wide before United took the lead.
Wayne Rooney set up the goal as he laid a ball off to Anderson inside the penalty area, and the Brazilian easily beat goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon with a first-time effort.
United goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard was called into action to keep out another Beckham effort as he tipped the ball over the crossbar, while Brad Davis forced a good stop from the United ‘keeper a few minutes later.
Despite some positive play from the All-Stars in the first half, they went into the locker room down two goals as Park took a pass inside the area, cut back past a defender and sent a well-placed shot inside the far post.
A number of changes were made at halftime by both teams, but United continued to control the action in the second half.
Rooney set up the third goal by playing Berbatov into the area with a nice through ball that allowed the Bulgarian to lift his shot over the head of goalkeeper Tally Hall. The ball struck the crossbar but came right back to Berbatov for a simple finish.
The All-Stars got a rare chance to get on the scoreboard in the 64th minute when Chris Wondolowski’s shot was saved by goalkeeper Ben Amos, with Omar Bravo missing the net from 10 yards on the rebound.
But United quickly answered with another goal as Welbeck took a shot from just outside the area that deflected off of Geoff Cameron and found its way into the net.
Beckham nearly ended the game on a positive note for MLS, but his free kick in the final minutes hit the outside of the net.