23 Jul 2007(Mon)

July 20, 2007: Manchester United were magnificent ambassadors for...well, Manchester United, when they came to Tokyo at the beginning of this week.

Press conferences, charity work, training, playing, signing autographs; they were busier than the Vietnamese keeper against Japan.

On Tuesday evening, the Red Devils played the Red Diamonds, English champions against Japanese champions, and over 58,000 turned out to watch on a dank evening. In fact it was so wet, miserable and slightly chilly out there in the Saitama countryside that it reminded me of driving over the Pennines to Old Trafford (a different one) to watch cricket, only to be denied again by a Mancunian summer.

United's tour, of course, had come under fierce criticism from both the Asian Football Confederation and from FIFA. The general feeling was that big European clubs like United came to the Far East just to take, take, take and not give anything in return; and were showing disrespect by touring when the Asian Cup was being held in Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand (have I missed any?).

This was absolute nonsense all along, and Sir Alex Ferguson gave the perfect reply when asked about it.

He said it was unfortunate that the tour clashed with the Asian Cup, but they had to take the window of opportunity when it was open, as players were committed to the European Championship and World Cup every second year. Fergie spoke of the charity work and the soccer schools, and insisted United were not trying to "steal" fans from other clubs.

"It is not about us taking. We also give," he said.

The match ended 2-2, and United's charity included a goal for Hideki Uchidate, who embarrassed Edwin Van der Sar with a Cristiano Ronaldo-style strike that swerved and dipped on its way into the net. Reds' second was a touch of genius from Shinji Ono, proving again that you can lose some of your physical fitness but you can't lose class.

After the game, Fergie picked out Yamada and Ono for special praise.

"I think number six (Yamada) did very, very well. I like him. I think he's a clever footballer and very mobile," said Sir Alex.

"And the number eight (Ono) in the second half, took his goal very well. A clever goal."

Rio Ferdinand also spoke of Ono -- this time by name -- and said he "always thought he was a very talented footballer -- and he showed that again tonight. I liked him at Feyenoord."

Oh, Shinji! What might have been...

ends