Depleted Manchester United to face Earthquakes at Levi’s
San Jose Earthquakes coach Mikael Stahre may not know the exact makeup of the Manchester United squad his team will face Sunday in an exhibition friendly at Levi’s Stadium.
But he’s fairly certain of one thing.
“Every single player on the Manchester United roster is a really good one, even if they’re young or the most experienced players,” Stahre said. “It’s for us to go out and be quite relaxed and take the opportunity to play against a tough team and learn from them.”
Manchester United, the storied English Premier League team, arrived in the U.S. last weekend for a fivegame tour missing a handful of marquee players. Paul Pogba of France, Romelu Lukaku and Marouane Fellaini of Belgium, and Marcus Rashford and Phil Jones of England are all absent after appearing in the semifinals of the recent World Cup.
Alexis Sanchez, a forward from Chile, just resolved a visa issue and has joined United for its U.S. tour. Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea is not expected to join up with the team until next week.
It was enough to leave United manager Jose Mourinho describing his team’s preseason as “very bad” last week, the Associated Press reported, and himself “worried because I am not training with all my players.”
Yet from an Earthquakes perspective, Stahre said, the mere presence of a team like Manchester United represents an opportunity.
The Earthquakes have had their own struggles this season, currently 2-11-6 in MLS play and in danger of missing the playoffs for the fifth time in six years. Sunday’s exhibition marks a break from league play, but also a chance to establish some kind of rhythm against a world-renowned club.
“They are quite complete,” Stahre said. “They play a really fast game. But they can also protect the ball in a good way, they can control the game.
“Of course we have to defend in the proper way, but also try to play our game and be offensive as well. Every single week we are facing good opponents in MLS. (Sunday) we can go out and more enjoy the game and play without any big pressure.”
There are some signs that strain is growing for a team that has gone winless in its past 10 games. During a 2-0 loss to Montreal last weekend, TV cameras captured a heated sideline discussion between Stahre, the first-year coach, and Earthquakes midfielder Fatai Alashe that apparently stemmed from confusion over the latter being subbed out following halftime.
That night, team captain Chris Wondolowski took to Twitter to address criticism being leveled toward Stahre. Wondolowski wrote: “Sorry kept quiet long enough but can’t take people who are not in our locker room blaming our coach! It’s on myself and is (sic) players to step up to do the right thing.”
Personnel, at least, should not be an issue Sunday. Stahre said the Earthquakes will “probably use most of the players on the roster” against United and that for some of the team’s young players “it will be a really big game, for sure.”
For United, this will be their last tuneup before facing AC Milan, Liverpool and Real Madrid in the annual International Champions Cup.
“A friendly game means you can also try things,” Stahre said. “We will play a little bit different lineup for sure, and give some young players a chance to play. But (they must) trust themselves and play the game. We can’t just sit back and wait. We have to play also and attack, and enjoy the moment.”