Manchester United suffer new low with post-season friendly defeat

Times

28-05-2025

'The past is the past,' Omar Berrada, the Manchester United chief executive, said on Wednesday as he spoke to the club's in-house TV cameras, after wiping the sweat from his brow in the humidity of Kuala Lumpur.
The problem he has, before a massive summer for the club, is that the past is very hard to forget, especially when the team he is trying to rebuild continues to remind everyone of how bad they are.
A week after United went Awol in the Europa League final, they served up another dire display, this time against the ASEAN All Stars, a team containing players from the 12 nations of the southeast Asian confederation.
More than 72,000 fans filled the seats of Malaysia's national stadium. The greeting that they gave to their heroes in red was akin to Beatlemania. The screams were relentless as Ruben Amorim and his players got off their red battle bus and they continued throughout the warm-up and the first half.
As the match progressed, the adulation from the fans began to dry up, however.
What unfolded before their eyes proved to everyone present, including those who booed at the final whistle, that the players are not superhuman. Far from it. Granted, this was a friendly match, part of United's money-spinning two-match tour of the Far East — and the game was played in energy-sapping 30-plus degree heat — but there was little sign of any plan, invention or order.
'It's a match they will remember for the rest of their lives,' the compere said as the All Stars XI went up to collect their medals at the Bukit Jalil Stadium.
For Maung Maung Lwin in particular, that will be the case. May 28, 2025 will be for ever remembered by the Myanmar captain as the day that he scored the winner against United.
He is used to turning out against inferior opposition in Thailand's top league for Lamphun Warriors, but when one on one with 19 minutes to go, he slotted the ball past Tom Heaton, leaving Amorim and his players having to watch the hosts lift the Maybank Challenge Cup.
Among the United players to receive a good welcome early on was Harry Maguire. Maguire was once booed on a pre-season tour in Australia, but here in Malaysia, he is very much loved by the supporters. His every touch was greeted with a cheer from the United fans in the crowd. The same went for André Onana, another who has had his critics back home.
'O-na-na' they chanted every time the Cameroonian was called into action, which was often.
The same problems that had dogged United all season were present here — an open midfield, a lack of quality up front and all but no creativity.
Nguyen Hai Long, the Vietnamese striker, drifted to the right but then cut in from the flank and sent a wicked shot just a yard wide of the goal. From the resulting goal kick, Onana lumped the ball out of play looking for Patrick Dorgu.
Ayden Heaven and Manuel Ugarte put in goal-saving blocks as the hosts applied the pressure. Before being one of four players to be substituted on 30 minutes, Jack Moorhouse, the ball-carrying academy midfielder, moved confidently with the ball but there was no outlet for him to find up front.
United's first and only shot of the first half came when Kobbie Mainoo found room in the box and let fly with a volley from eight yards that was blocked on the line by the chest of a defender.
The sight of Bruno Fernandes coming out from the tunnel at the start of the second half lifted the mood of the United fans. Surely now they would see some quality with him on the pitch.
The captain did inject life and creativity into the team but again, in front of goal, United were poor. Chido Obi, who replaced Rasmus Hojlund at half-time, put one of his shots wide.
As United tired, gaps started to open up and after some patient play down the left, Lwin left Godwill Kukonki and made a diagonal run, which was spotted by Adrian Segecic, who played the ball through to the striker and he prodded the ball past Heaton before lining up with all his team-mates for a photo in front of the cameras.
Alejandro Garnacho, playing for the first time since his post-match strop in Bilbao, buzzed around the box but when he slotted Obi in for another chance, his shot was blocked.
United's last effort involved Jonny Evans trying to thread the ball through a packed All Stars defence. At that point, it became clear that United would not score.
Manchester United (3-4-2-1): A Onana (T Heaton 46min) — R Munro (T Fredricson 46), H Maguire (D Armer 30; J Evans 46), A Heaven (G Kukonki 46) — D Dalot (J Kamason 30; A Diallo 46), Casemiro (S Kone 30; T Collyer 46), M Ugarte (B Fernandes 46), P Dorgu (H Amass 46) — J Moorhouse (S Lacey 30 (T Fletcher 46; J Thwaites 67), K Mainoo (A Garnacho 46) — R Hojlund (C Obi 46).