Man Utd made an unconvincing start to their pre-season preparations on Wednesday as Federico Macheda earned them a 1-0 win over AmaZulu.
Red Devils edge past AmaZulu in first date of South African tour
Manchester United made an unconvincing start to their pre-season preparations on Wednesday as Federico Macheda earned them a 1-0 win over AmaZulu.
The Italian forward struck midway through the first half in Durban as the Red Devils made hard work of a side that sits mid-table in the South African standings.
An experimental United side looked short of their best, with goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard called on to make a couple of decent saves, while the hosts were only denied a penalty due to an offside flag.
Yet with four players in the United line-up who have yet to make their competitive debuts - and more introduced in the second half - perhaps a low-key outing was to be expected.
United new boy Shinji Kagawa made a late substitute appearance too and Ferguson will expect a substantial improvement during United's 22,000-mile pre-season campaign.
Macheda in particular will hope to continue to impress, before England forward Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck link up with the squad in Scandinavia next month.
Unproductive
Macheda has scored just three times in 51 appearances for United since announcing his arrival in 2009 with vital goals against Aston Villa and Sunderland, and has endured unproductive loans spells at Sampdoria and Queens Park Rangers,
In effect, it has been three wasted years for the Italian, who will be 21 next month and whose career is now approaching a crossroads.
He took this opportunity to catch the eye, though, and it was his shot that was parried towards Javier Hernandez by Tapuwa Kapini inside the opening two minutes.
The Mexican was unable to react quickly enough, however, and the ball bounced into him before rolling wide.
Macheda broke the deadlock when he collected Dimitar Berbatov's pass and calmly found the net.
Assist
Despite his assist, Berbatov's days at Old Trafford are surely numbered.
The Bulgarian was at least enjoying his deep-lying role against AmaZulu, though, and met makeshift left-back Robbie Brady's astute corner kick perfectly on the edge of the area, thundering a volley goalwards that Kapini did well to touch over.
Of the United youngsters on show, Warrington-born teenager Jesse Lingard started well but faded and the experiment of converting Republic of Ireland Under-21 international Brady into a full-back showed promise.
Highly-regarded 18-year-old Tyler Blackett was also given a taste of first-team action.
However, Ferguson kept £17million arrival Kagawa on the bench until the final two minutes, which offered little chance for the Japanese to make any meaningful contribution.
United now face Ajax Cape Town in Cape Town on Saturday.
