SAN JOSE, Calif. – Manchester United continued their successful American tour Tuesday night with a 3-1 defeat of the San Jose Earthquakes in an International Champions Club friendly.
The sellout crowd at Avaya Stadium contained a mix of fans in Manchester United red and Earthquakes blue, and they enjoyed watching the 20-time English Champions dominate throughout the night.
Manchester United opened the scoring in the 32nd minute when Juan Mata collected an Ashley Young cross at the top of the penalty area, beat his defender on the dribble and took a shot – or was it a pass meant for Memphis Depay? – that deflected in off the right upright.
Depay doubled the Manchester United lead five minutes later, stealing a poor back pass from San Jose’s Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi and easily slotting a shot past David Bingham.
San Jose got on the scoreboard a couple minutes before halftime. On the right wing, Shea Salinas beat his man near the end line and pulled it back for Fatai Alashe to stab home from eight yards out. It was San Jose’s only shot in the opening 45 minutes.
Just before the whistle blew for intermission, Depay teed up Mata for an open shot from the right wing, but Bingham came up with a kick save to keep the score at 2-1.
Both teams made wholesale changes to their field players at the break; nine changes for San Jose, 10 for Manchester United. By game’s end, only goalkeepers Bingham and Sam Johnstone played the entire match.
The liberal substitutions allowed US youth national team midfielder Marc Pelosi to make his Earthquakes debut. Pelosi had an open shot from the top of the arc midway through the second half, but his 20-yarder sailed over the crossbar.
Manchester United stayed in control in the second period, and stretched their lead to 3-1 at the hour mark when Jesse Lingard lofted a cross for an Andreas Pereira header.
The win is the second straight for Manchester United in International Champions Club play after the Red Devils' 1-0 defeat of Club America. Manchester United have another ICC match on Saturday just a couple miles up the road in Santa Clara, where they will face FC Barcelona at Levi’s Stadium.
The loss was the sixth straight in all competitions for San Jose (two in ICC matches, three MLS games and an Open Cup match). The Earthquakes return to MLS regular season play Sunday, looking to close the seven-point gap between them and the last playoff spot in the Western Conference when they face the Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place (7 pm ET; MLS LIVE in US, TSN2 in Canada).
