Red Devils land in soccer-crazy Seattle

Lindy Rumer July 15, 2011 1

Red Devils land in soccer-crazy Seattle

SEATTLE: The English Premier League title holders Manchester United are now in Seattle for the second stop of their summer tour of the United States.

Sir Alex Ferguson, Steve Nicol. Courtesy: AP PHOTO

The Red Devils arrived in Seattle Thursday and were at CenturyLink Field for preparation of their next friendly match against the Sounders FC.

In their opening match at Gillette Stadium in Boston on Wednesday, the Red Devils outplayed New England Revolution by four goals to one thanks to goals by Michael Owen, Park Ji-Sung, and Frederico Macheda as they started their US campaign off to a great start.

Following their victory over the New England Revolution, the soccer mania is on the up in the United States as their women’s team is in the final of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011 being played in Germany.

Sir Alex Ferguson. Courtesy: AP PHOTO

Soccer-crazy fans in Seattle have shown massive interest in the English domestic champions’ match against their local side Seattle Sounders as over 64,000 tickets have been sold as per the latest reports.

It is important to mention here that the average presence in the Seattle matches is 36,000 crowd per game, so the figure has already outclassed all the averages and it’s still growing.

Sir Alex Ferguson

The Red Devils are also scheduled to play the Chicago Fire on July 23, the MLS all-stars in Harrison, New Jersey on July 27, and FC Barcelona in Washington, D.C. on July 30.

Sir Alex Ferguson was caught by surprise by the huge number of ticket sales as he told local media, “It’s a very encouraging sign that soccer is definitely working here”.

He stated, “The important thing about Manchester United is, the fans understand that you’re trying your very, very best and we will try our very, very best next week. There’s no question about that.”

Sir Alex Ferguson

Giving reasons for the choice to play in the United States, Sir Alex Ferguson said that the facilities and accommodations in the US make it an attractive training destination and this was one of the reasons why they didn’t opted for a place closer to England.

Ferguson said, “I think we need to stretch ourselves a little bit. Our experiences last year against MLS teams were very difficult in Philadelphia and Kansas (City) — we lost the game in Kansas (City). It’s a good idea of how the strength of MLS is now. It’s improving, there’s no question about that.”