Man U blasts by MLS All-Stars

HARRISON, N.J. - Faryd Mondragon didn't get by with any help from his MLS All-Star friends last night, allowing a pair of goals in his first-half start en route to a 4-0 defeat to Manchester United.

For the second straight year, Manchester United trumped MLS' best, this time at Red Bull Arena. Last year, it was a 5-2 defeat of the All-Stars at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

Manchester's Anderson got things rolling in the 20th minute beating Mondragon with a shot to his right corner. Then, in stoppage time of the first half, Ji-Sung Park danced around a defender to put Red Devils up two.

Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and Danny Welbeck also scored for the reigning English Premier League champions, who have outscored their opponents 18-2 in winning the opening four games on their U.S. tour.

Sir Alex Ferguson's powerhouse will wrap up its preseason tour in Washington on Saturday against FC Barcelona in a rematch of the Champions League final, which the Spanish team won, 3-1. Then it's back to England for the Community Shield game and then the start of another season the following week.

The final score might have been a little misleading because David Beckham and his MLS buddies had a couple of good shots at goal, but make no mistake - Manchester United was far superior in the game at Red Bull Arena that drew a sellout crowd of 26,760.

The MLS even looked good for about 18 minutes with Beckham, who starred for the Reds in his prime, having a great chance in the seventh minute, only to see his 25-yard drive slide wide of the goal.

Rooney, though, gave the Manchester United faithful in the mixed crowd - half for Man U, half for the MLS squad - something to cheer about in the 20th minute on a great tic-tac-toe play.

Beckham had a chance to tie the game 2 minutes later, but United keeper Ander Lindegaard parried his 20-yard blast over the crossbar.

Rooney helped stretch the lead to 3-0 in the 52nd minute, looping a pass over the defense to Berbatov. The Bulgarian chipped the ball over rushing backup goalkeeper Tally Hall only to see it hit off the crossbar. Berbatov chested down the rebound and ripped a shot into the net.

Welbeck closed out the scoring in the 68th minute on a shot from the top of the box that deflected off defender Geoff Cameron past Hall.