Saturday, July 26 Man Utd vs Romashare
2:10 PM
Manchester United and Roma kick off the second match-up of this year's International Champions Cup.
Both Manchester United and Roma had quite surprising domestic campaigns last season, albeit for entirely different reasons. For the Red Devils, a team that consistently has been in the top four in the Premier League, it was nothing short of an nightmare of a season that saw them break records all for the wrong reasons and as a result will not be playing in Europe this season.
For the Giallorossi, they hit the ground running with an impressive bang, recording ten straight wins before stumbling to a quartet of consecutive draws against Torino, Sassuolo, Cagliari and Atalanta--all of which allowed reigning champions Juventus to quickly close the gap and move ahead in the Scudetto race.
Yet despite having to settle for second, 17 points behind the Bianconeri and concluded their season with a series of losses near the end, Rudi Garcia's men still must be satisfied with their performance that will see them return to the Champions League after several seasons.
Heading into this clash, however, it's probably Louis van Gaal's troops who are feeling more confident as they cruised to a 7-0 win over MLS side LA Galaxy in their friendly clash on Wednesday, with Wayne Rooney grabbing himself a brace. Although Roma also won their match against Liverpool as well--as opposed to last time they had a convincing 2-1 victory--this time around, it was thanks to a fortuitous late goal as Daniel Agger turned Marco Borriello's attempt into his own net.
Both teams have made some moves in the transfer market, with Manchester United grabbing rising young talent Luke Shaw for a massive £30 million from Southampton and their opponents getting veteran defender Ashley Cole on a free from Chelsea. Given his side's smooth sailing in their previous friendly, it remains to be seen whether van Gaal tinkers further with who will feature and in what formation. Or, he perhaps may opt to stick with it against Italian opposition and see whether they will be able to do what fellow Premier League side Liverpool were unable to do versus a resilient Roma side.
Watch Manchester United vs Roma live on Saturday, July 26, 2014:
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