United gear up for Philly challenge

Sir Alex Ferguson's men are making final preparations ahead of the second game in their second game of the five-match North American tour

The friendly against Philadelphia Union kicks off at 19:30 local time and 00:30 UK time on Thursday.

It's being played at the 68,000-capacity Lincoln Field Stadium and, like in the first game of the tour, in Canada on Sunday morning, the match has not sold out.

But regardless, it should prove a decent opportunity for the tour squad to regain their fitness against relatively weak opposition.

Union, who were only created in 2009, are in sixth position in the eight-strong Major League Soccer Eastern 16 points behind the leaders and two off the bottom.

Here is the pre-match press conference.



You can watch the match live on MUTV and the programme starts at midnight, Wednesday going into Thursday.

Alternatively you can watch the match live online. Find links here.

Reds Away will be bringing you live Twitter updates on the match from 00:25. Add redsaway to Twitter now.

Tour firm offers Wembley travel deal

Independent United travel firm, Champion Sports Tours are running a £90 package for the Community Shield trip to Wembley.

For the price, customers will get train tickets from Manchester to London, leaving on Saturday August 7 and returning after the match, which is a day later.

They also get a one-night stay in a London hotel.

The price is based on two people sharing a twin room.

For details, go here. To book, call 0161 282 1966 or email debbie@mufctravel.com

Chelsea tickets on open sale

Tickets for the Community Shield match against Chelsea at Wembley on August 8 will go n open sale later today.

All season ticket holders and members who applied have got tickets, which cost either £40, £30, £20 or £15 depending on where you sit in the stadium. Under 16s and over 65s get £5 off.

From 20:00, anyone can buy tickets online but they must first register.

Or they can wait until 08:00 tomorrow and buy over the phone from United's ticket office on 0161 868 800.

Go here for a full ticket, travel and pub guide to this game.

Dunfermline 1-5 Manchester United XI

A United XI side continued their good start to their pre-season campaign by coming out 5-1 winners in Scotland.

In front of a crowd of 2,518, the reds went ahead after just 21 seconds when Norwegian striker Joshua King slotted past Chris Smith following a defensive mishap.

The visitors went two up inside 11 minutes when talented attacker Nicky Ajose hit a superb cross-shot from 20 yards out.

It was further bad news for Dunfermline on 16 minutes King grabbed his second, latching on to the end of the through ball of his countryman Magnus Eikrem.

United further proved their superiority just after the half-hour mark when Rodrigo Possebon scored on the counter attack from a Dunfermline corner.

Having made three substitutions, the hosts improved after the break and Andy Kirk pulled them a goal back with a 25-yard free kick.

United were, however, to have the last of the scoring, when William Keane beat sub 'keeper Kyle Allison with a low shot.

The United XI side is next in action at Yeovil next Saturday. Here is a full ticket and travel guide.

United: 1. Conor Devlin, 2. Scott Wootton, 3. Joe Dudgeon, 4. James Chester, 5. Oliver Gill, 6. Rodrigo Possebon, 7. Oliver Norwood, 8. Ravel Morrison, 9. Joshua King, 10. Magnus Eikrem (captian) and 11. Nicky Ajose.

Subs: 12. Ezekiel Fryers, on for 3, 63, 13. Sam Johnstone, unused, 14. Ryan Tunnicliffe, on for 4, 60, 15. Cameron Stewart, on for 7, 46, 16. William Keane, on for 9, 46, 17. Robert Brady, on for 11, 46.

United 3-1 Celtic

A superb performance from Dimitar Berbatov and a cameo from Paul Scholes capped a decent 3-1 win for the reds.

In the evening Canadian heat, United made a good start, keeping possession on a large, dry pitch.

Scholes delivered some superb crossfield passes and moved the reds up the pitch in the opening half hour.

The first moment of magic came on 31 minutes when Berbatov dashed into the box, collected a Diouf pass with one foot and shot superbly in with the other for 1-0.

After that, the English side dominated the remainder of the first half, but were unable to add a second before the break.

But Celtic came back into it early in the second period, with substitute Georgios Samaras having a head goal disallowed for offside.

The Greek striker was, however, to be rewarded for his energetic performance when he scored from the penalty spot on 61 minutes after Chris Smalling had committed a foul.

It was the Scots who then gained momentum and looked the more threatening, but it was United who were to take the lead.

Again it was Berbatov who looked dangerous, but rather than taking a chance to shoot in the area, he feigned a shot and squared it to substitute Danny Wellbeck, who tapped in for 2-1.

Another substitute, Tom Cleverley, was to benefit from the Bulgarian's man-of-the-match performance on 86 minutes.

Berbatov laid it into the path of the 20-year-old midfielder, whose shot was deflected into the Celtic goal.

After the game, Berbatov said: "I was enjoying the whole game. We started well with a win. Celtic are a very good team. It was a good test of our physical and technical form."

United will fly to Philadelphia tomorrow to prepare for their match against Philalphia Union on Thursday.

United: 1. Edwin Van der Sar, 21. Rafael , 33. Chris Smalling, 23. Johnny Evans (W Brown 46), 20. Fabio (O'Shea 46), 11. Ryan Giggs (Cleverley 45), 24. Darren Fletcher, 18. Paul Scholes (Gibson 46), 26. Gabriel Obertan (Welbeck 62); 32. Mame Diouf (Macheda 63), 9. Dimiatar Berbatov.

Subs: 30. Richie De Leat on for 21 on 62, 6. Wes Brown on for 23 on 46, 22. John O'Shea 46 on for 20 on 46, 35. Tom Cleverley on for 11 on 46, 28. Darren Gibson on for 18 on 46, 19. Danny Welbeck on for 26 on 62 and 27. Federico Macheda on for 32 on 62.

Toronto all set for United welcome

United are gearing up for their first pre-season test against Celtic in Toronto in the early hours of Saturday.

The match kicks off at 19:00 local time and midnight from Friday into Saturday UK time.

It will be be shown live on MUTV, with an hour-long preview show called Countdown to kick off - USA 2010 being aired at 20:00 and again at 22:30.

The match programme starts at 23:30 and ends at 02:30. All times are UK time.

There will, as ever, be internet links to video streams. Find them here from 21:00 on Friday.

Ticket sales are reportedly not that high, so expect to see gaps around the stadium.

As for the players, humidity has made life pretty uncomfortable for United and the heat won't help either.

During the day, temperatures in the Canadian city will climb up to 29C/84F and it will be very sunny, though it will cool down a little by kick off.

The relatively high temperature might make for a slow tempo match, especially given the fact that it is only the start of pre season.

Fulham neutral end tickets won't be sold to reds

Neutral end tickets for United's first Premier League away match of the season on August 22 will not go on open sale, Fulham FC officials have confirmed.

At Craven Cottage, the Putney End (pictured) behind one goal has seven blocks - P1 to P7. P1 to P4, which are towards the right and centre as you look at the pitch, are sold as away tickets through the visiting club's ticket office.

Tickets in P5 to P7 are sold through Fulham.

Once United's last league game at Fulham sold out, tickets for those three blocks went on general sale on the website of ticket exchange company Seatwave.

Technically, they were sold at face value, which was £49, though with a hefty commission of £16.90 and a recorded delivery fee of £8.

But despite the inflated price tag, Reds logged on to snap the tickets within minutes.

However, Fulham has confirmed that, this year, only members and season ticket holders will be able to buy Seatwave tickets.

A club spokesman said: "Due to the high level of interest in this fixture, we haven't made any provision for a general sale of tickets for this game and I wouldn't anticipate that position altering."

"Sale of tickets on the exchange is restricted to other season ticket holders and club members."

What it means for reds is that the only place to get tickets for this match is through applying in the usual way to United's ticket office.

United are expected to announce ticket prices sale dates by July 24.

We predict United will get 2,930 tickets costing £49 for adults, £38 for over 65s and £22 for under 16s.