Latest news with #AseanAllStars
Malay Mail
8 hours ago
- General
- Malay Mail
Manchester United's Amad responds to middle finger uproar in Malaysia with 28-word apology
KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 — Manchester United winger Amad Diallo has once again addressed the viral photo of him appearing to make an offensive gesture during the club's post-season tour of Malaysia, this time offering an apology. 'Again, my intention was not to hurt people. I responded to an unhealthy individual,' the 22-year-old wrote on X yesterday. 'I apologise to those who feel concerned. Malaysia was an incredible trip for us.' The incident followed United's 1-0 defeat to the Asean All-Stars in Kuala Lumpur. Amad clarified that his reaction was aimed solely at a fan who had insulted his mother. 'I have respect for people but not for the one who insults my mom,' he wrote in an earlier post. 'I shouldn't have reacted like that, but I don't regret what I did. We had a great time in Malaysia with good people.' United wrapped up their tour with a comeback victory in Hong Kong, capping off a season where Amad emerged as a promising talent for the club. Initially joining United in 2020, the Ivorian international secured a first-team spot after a standout loan spell at Sunderland. Despite missing much of the latter part of the campaign, he recorded 11 goals, contributing to United's efforts during a challenging Premier League season. The 20-year-old winger played in United's friendly against the Asean All Stars at Bukit Jalil National Stadium on May 28, a match that ended in a 1-0 loss for the Red Devils. Following the game, the team faced jeers from local supporters, reflecting frustration over United's underwhelming performance this season, which saw them finish 15th in the Premier League — their worst result since 1974. Malaysia marked the first stop on United's post-season tour, with the squad now continuing their journey in Hong Kong.
South China Morning Post
14 hours ago
- General
- South China Morning Post
Ruben Amorim hopes for Hong Kong return when Manchester United have had ‘good results'
Ruben Amorim has said it would be 'so much fun' to bring Manchester United back to Hong Kong in a future where the club was thriving. Barely 24 hours after they landed in the city, United beat Hong Kong 3-1 on Friday night, before rushing straight for the airport and home. Head coach Amorim's team had lost to Asean All-Stars in Malaysia 48 hours earlier, amid inevitable rumours over disquiet among a United contingent asked to tag their Asia tour onto the end of a long season. 'We want to return with titles and better results, and lots of people watching the games,' Amorim said. 'It would be so much fun if you've had good results. We've really enjoyed Hong Kong, the people are really lovely and respectful. We're grateful for all of them.' Amorim said his tired players would now go away, switch off and be ready to 'use every minute of pre-season'. 'They know we've underperformed,' he said. 'Everybody knows next season is going to be massive. We need to be so much better.'
Times
a day ago
- Business
- Times
Inside Manchester United's chaotic post-season Asian tour
It's Wednesday night and it's party time in the national stadium of Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur. A scratch team of players from the southeast Asian football federations, known as the Asean All-Stars, have done the unthinkable and beaten Manchester United in the first match of a two-game post-season tour for Ruben Amorim's beleaguered side. In the stadium's offices the prize for the victory, the Maybank Challenge Cup, (named after the sponsor of the friendly) is being handed around to staff for photographs. Just down the corridor in the interview area, the smiling match-winner from Myanmar, Maung Maung Lwin, is applauded as he does his umpteenth media engagement. Down in the bowels of the stadium, Lwin's team mate Sergio Agüero (no, not that one) is beset by anxiety rather than elation. The naturalised Malaysian, born in Argentina, is lurking around the dressing-room door, hoping that Alejandro Garnacho fulfils a promise he made during the game to give him his shirt. Instead, when United's wantaway winger departs, a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes, he simply walks past Agüero and others present. Luckily for Agüero, one of United's kitmen saves the day, scooping Garnacho's jersey off the floor and handing it to him. On the big red United bus, which has 'TOUR' — and the insignia of all their sponsors — emblazoned on it, there is plenty of gallows humour. 'Only after the season we've had, can we lose a post-season friendly and get booed off by our own fans,' the joke goes. In the immediate aftermath of the embarrassing defeat there were no quips from the players. For the second time in the space of a week they were made to watch their opponents lift a trophy and, to make matters worse, the presentation ceremony was delayed because the officials had gone back into the dressing room to get changed. The United players, who also went on a lap of honour, were angry that they had to wait in the 30C-plus heat, so they complained to the organisers, who ran into the dressing room and brought the officials back on to the pitch. By that point on Wednesday night, Harry Maguire, André Onana and Diogo Dalot were on a private jet to India, having left the stadium at half-time. The three players, who had played in the opening half against the Asean All-Stars, had been chosen to appear at a question-and-answer session in Mumbai the following day. When United announced they were undertaking a post-match tour to Malaysia and Hong Kong, they did not want to alienate their strong Indian following. United have millions of Indian followers but they have never played a match there, so Onana, Dalot and Maguire skipped the second half of the first friendly and the entirety of the final match against Hong Kong, which United won on Friday night, to take part in the Q&A session in Mumbai. They arrived back in Manchester on Friday, which made them the envy of their team-mates, who are due to arrive home 24 hours later. United insist their players understand why they had to come on this trip — the £8million raised will, to a certain extent, soften the £10million penalty the club will pay to Adidas for failing to qualify for the Champions League for a second successive season. Privately, however, three sources have used the same phrase to describe the feelings of most of the squad at being dragged to the Far East during a time when they could have been on holiday with their families. 'They're fuming,' they said. Players attended several events organised by some of United's biggest sponsors, including Adidas, Tezos, Apollo, Maybank and Snapdragon, during this week-long, 14,000-mile round trip. One downbeat peripheral player advised a team-mate to give short answers in a Q&A session in Kuala Lumpur so that the appearance ended as quickly as possible. Ashley Westwood, the Hong Kong head coach, summed up the situation perfectly when he said that the United players needed these fixtures 'like a hole in the head' but conceded that money talks. 'This trip is all about revenues, it has become a thing,' Westwood said the day before United beat Hong Kong 3-1 on a sodden pitch. That said, the tour has been enjoyable for the players and staff in other senses. Given that this is essentially a post-season wind-down, the atmosphere in and around the W Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, where they stayed three nights, and the W Hotel in Hong Kong, which hosted them for one evening, has been relaxed and less disciplined than it would be on a pre-season tour. That became clear on the Air Malaysia aircraft that carried the players, staff and executives from Manchester to Kuala Lumpur last Sunday evening, shortly after United had defeated Aston Villa 2-0 in the final match of a wretched Premier League season. In the business and first-class seats saved for the players, music was played and some squad members and staff had a few drinks. The players have not been subjected to a curfew on this trip. Joshua Zirkzee walked over the road from the team hotel in Kuala Lumpur to a Thai restaurant one night after being unimpressed by the room-service options. Amad Diallo and Garnacho hired some scooters and whizzed around the city. A few players went out to a nightclub after they arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Monday night, accompanied by security staff. One popular member of staff wowed those present with his left-field dancing. Some players had a drink in the hotel bar after the loss to Asean All-Stars. Staff joined in too. Bruno Fernandes told them that he would pay for their drinks all night and he did. In the corner of the bar stood a gold vending machine that sells 187ml bottles of champagne for £40 a pop. If you buy five bottles, your sixth is free. Fernandes's future has been a hot topic among the travelling party. Some are convinced he will leave, others refuse to believe it. They all agree unanimously that United need to do everything they can to keep the 30-year-old captain. They know he is their best player and his leadership skills are valuable, particularly because morale is so low now after finishing 15th in the Premier League and failing to qualify for the Champions League. Fernandes has been seen giving guidance and help to the younger members of the 32-man party that United brought to the Far East. 'Are you a proper United fan then?' the United employee in a white Adidas polo shirt said to two men in United shirts as he walked them down the red carpet at the stadium in Kuala Lumpur (which was stuck to the floor by red electrical tape) last Wednesday in the VVIP area. Some of the 72,5000 fans present were guests of wealthy businesses trying to impress clients or reward employees, but some of them were genuine fans, including Daniel, an engineering student who paid £262 for his VVIP ticket, which involved a slap-up buffet dinner in a roped-off area of the stadium. 'We had [Edwin] van der Sar, [Patrice] Evra, Rio [Ferdinand], [Nemanja] Vidic, the Brazilian twins [Rafael and Fabio da Silva] …' the 25-year-old says, reciting the squad that United had when he started supporting them in 2008, as if to prove his credentials. United's squad is much worse these days but there was no way that would put him off coming to the match. 'It doesn't matter,' he said. 'It's about loyalty. The appeal of the Theatre of Dreams is not just about the 'Theatre' — it's about the actors, who are the players, and the producer, the coach.' Although there are 9,000 empty seats in Kuala Lumpur, selling north of 75,000 tickets (a small section of which were available for £8 and £16), is a sign that support for United remains strong. One man in the crowd is Anwar Ibrahim, the Malaysian prime minister. As a United fan, he is unhappy with the result, unlike many of the cabinet members in attendance, who are Liverpool supporters. That United retain a strong following in Asia is also evident, judging by the fact that more than 300 fans turned up to greet them at the team hotel, even though it had not been advertised that the players were staying there. 'This match is the biggest sporting event in Kuala Lumpur in 2025,' Christopher Raj, the chief executive of ShekhinahPR, a local firm contracted to publicise the All-Stars match, said. 'We had 600 media applications for the match but we only had space for 250. 'Today we have more than 100 media waiting for the team to turn up. They've been here for a long time.' When the squad eventually arrived, security guards had to hold the fans and media back behind a cordon on either side of the bus. Luke Shaw signed a few shirts for local media inside the hotel lobby — about 50 yards away from the fans — but most of the players went straight through reception and up to their rooms, as instructed by security staff, who are always aware of a potential crush due to the excitement of the crowd at these greetings. To avoid such an issue, the coach carrying the team to their hotel in Shanghai on their 2016 pre-season tour dropped the players off at the back entrance of the hotel, much to the annoyance of hundreds of people who were waiting for them in reception. Isuandar, a 31-year-old engineer from Kuala Lumpur, was happy to get a glimpse of his hero, Fernandes, from about 50 yards away. 'I have been here waiting for hours,' he said. 'Manchester is the biggest team in Malaysia.' TJ, who has travelled over from the UK, was less impressed. 'They can't come over and see a few kids,' he shouted as his young son beside him cried. 'It's disgusting.' When on pre-season tour, United sometimes organise well-attended public training sessions for their fans, but they chose not to on this occasion. It was probably for the best given the standard of football on show during the hour-long session in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. Zirkzee and Matthijs de Ligt, both returning from injury, did some running and stretches before the rest of the squad split into two units for the rondos. After that, Amorim directed a pretty lacklustre training drill that began with Tom Heaton launching the ball to the halfway line, where ten outfield players would each touch the ball before someone tried to shoot. Even though they were playing against mannequins, some of the passing — and in particular the finishing from Chido Obi — was poor. The organisers had bought the 7ft-high yellow mannequins especially for United's training session in an effort to impress Amorim, the head coach, and his staff but some were not filled with enough water and they collapsed in a heap, prompting jokes from the sidelines about a comparison between the men in yellow and United's defence in their Europa League final defeat by Tottenham Hotspur the previous Wednesday. Obi looked far more polished by the time he and United arrived in Hong Kong, where they were met by a deluge that made the pitch for their final friendly difficult to play on. The downpour was so great that the roof started leaking in the press room — a problem teams visiting Old Trafford will be familiar with. Obi, 17, scored twice as United came from behind to win 3-1 in what was Jonny Evans's last game at the club. Before heading to the airport, Fernandes and Garnacho — now without sunglasses –— signed autographs and posed for selfies with fans outside the dressing room.
Malay Mail
2 days ago
- General
- Malay Mail
‘Really hard to face fans': Amorim admits fatigue after Man United loses in Malaysia, eyes redemption in HK
HONG KONG, May 30 — Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim said his team cannot hide after they were booed off in their defeat in Malaysia ahead of their friendly with Hong Kong today. Three days after they concluded their worst Premier League season with a 15th-placed finish, Amorim's team kicked off their Asian tour with a 1-0 loss to Asean All-Stars in Kuala Lumpur, with many among the 72,000 fans voicing their displeasure. 'It's hard to face the fans around the world (after such a poor season),' Amorim told a press conference on Thursday. '(But) it is clear, we cannot hide. 'If one thing is really important in this club, we need to face our fans in this moment, and give something to our fans around the globe. We want to do that, but sometimes it's really hard. 'We were not really focused in the last game (on Wednesday), everyone can feel it. In that moment I can understand the fans and the players.' Harry Maguire, Andre Onana and Diogo Dalot will not feature in Friday's match as they travelled to India instead for a club sponsor event. Amorim also ruled Luke Shaw out. Matthijs de Ligt, Mason Mount and Joshua Zirkzee did not play in Malaysia, but the Portuguese coach gave them a clean bill of health at Hong Kong Stadium for their final match of the tour. 'Of course the team is tired because we flew to Malaysia and with the jet lag we had a game in difficult conditions,' Amorim said. 'But we are ready to play again and are really happy to be here.' Hong Kong's coach Ashley Westwood, a former United academy player, suggested that Amorim's team would have preferred post-season rest over extra games and travel. 'If truth be told, no players want to do (a post-season tour), you want to recover,' Westwood told reporters. 'Most Manchester United players are reporting for international duty on June 2. They probably need this like a hole in the head.' — Reuters
Malay Mail
2 days ago
- General
- Malay Mail
Soccer-Man United boss Amorim says it is tough to face team's angry fans around the world
HONG KONG, May 30 — Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim said his team cannot hide after they were booed off in their defeat in Malaysia ahead of their friendly with Hong Kong today. Three days after they concluded their worst Premier League season with a 15th-placed finish, Amorim's team kicked off their Asian tour with a 1-0 loss to Asean All-Stars in Kuala Lumpur, with many among the 72,000 fans voicing their displeasure. 'It's hard to face the fans around the world (after such a poor season),' Amorim told a press conference on Thursday. '(But) it is clear, we cannot hide. 'If one thing is really important in this club, we need to face our fans in this moment, and give something to our fans around the globe. We want to do that, but sometimes it's really hard. 'We were not really focused in the last game (on Wednesday), everyone can feel it. In that moment I can understand the fans and the players.' Harry Maguire, Andre Onana and Diogo Dalot will not feature in Friday's match as they travelled to India instead for a club sponsor event. Amorim also ruled Luke Shaw out. Matthijs de Ligt, Mason Mount and Joshua Zirkzee did not play in Malaysia, but the Portuguese coach gave them a clean bill of health at Hong Kong Stadium for their final match of the tour. 'Of course the team is tired because we flew to Malaysia and with the jet lag we had a game in difficult conditions,' Amorim said. 'But we are ready to play again and are really happy to be here.' Hong Kong's coach Ashley Westwood, a former United academy player, suggested that Amorim's team would have preferred post-season rest over extra games and travel. 'If truth be told, no players want to do (a post-season tour), you want to recover,' Westwood told reporters. 'Most Manchester United players are reporting for international duty on June 2. They probably need this like a hole in the head.' — Reuters
