Sport

10-man Kansas City shock Manchester United

July 26, 2010 Edition 1

Soccer

NEW YORK: Manchester United suffered the first defeat on their pre-season North America tour when they were upset 2-1 by the 10-man Kansas City Wizards in Kansas City yesterday.

Despite having Jimmy Conrad controversially sent off late in the first half for a harsh tackle, the home team held on to record a memorable victory over their far more illustrious opponents.

In front of 52 000 fans at Arrowhead Stadium, the Wizards opened the scoring in the 11th minute through midfielder Davy Arnaud before Dimitar Berbatov levelled from the penalty spot.

Just one minute later, Kansas again edged ahead when Kei Kamara headed Ryan Smith's corner past Ben Amos, although subsequent television replays did not confirm whether the ball had crossed the goal line.

Breakneck

A scoreless second half concluded a game played at a breakneck pace that featured several near misses.

United coach Alex Ferguson opted to field a relatively young side, with Amos, Ritchie De Laet and Mame Biram Diouf lining up with more experienced players Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Berbatov.

Meanwhile, Sporting Lisbon drew 2-2 with Tottenham Hotspur at New York's Red Bull Arena yesterday.

The draw gave the teams eight points each after their two games, but Sporting lead because they conceded one fewer goal than Tottenham.

"It was very good to be in a|position to win this trophy," said Sporting's Nuno Coelho. "That was the main objective of our coming to America."

For Sporting, the game marked the end of its pre-season before playing Portugal's Liga Sagres on Thursday.

Tottenham are also nearing the end of their pre-season, with only four European friendlies left to play.

"We're in good shape," said Spurs coach Harry Redknapp, whose team finished fourth in the Premier League last season. "There's still some work to be done. We need to improve if we're going to improve on last year."

The teams hardly treated the game as a pre-season contest. Despite searing heat, they pressured each other all other the field.

Valdes's goal came when he collected the ball in the penalty area and knocked it just inside the right post. Tottenham's second-half substitute, Jonathan Obika, equalised when he received a pass outside the box, beat a defender, and blasted the ball in off goalkeeper Rui Patricio's outstretched hands.

Tottenham scored first in the 24th minute after captain Robbie Keane took a pass from midfielder Niko Kranjcar about 40 metres out, dribbled into the box, and knocked the ball past goalkeeper Rui Patricio.

Sporting came back seconds later, though, when Diogo Salomao chipped to midfielder Matias, who hit a low header past goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini to level in the 25th minute.

For Valdes, scoring the decisive goal proved a nice way to introduce himself to the Sporting fans. - Reuters & Sapa-AP