United, playing for the first time since losing to Barcelona at Wembley Stadium in May, needed much of the opening half to get warmed up and, eventually, started clicking on all cylinders. Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis made a point-blank save on Dimitar Berbatov and defender Kevin Alston cleared a Wayne Rooney shot off the line. Rooney also whiffed on a bicycle kick.
Manager Alex Ferguson started substituting, and the second-string strikers put the match away. Michael Owen scored in the sixth minute of the second half, breaking in alone on the left to finish a Michael Carrick feed. Three minutes later, Federico Macheda made it 2-0 on a breakaway, again off a Carrick assist.
The Revolution surprised United, though, as Kenny Mansally slipped past Rio Ferdinand, earning a free kick from inside the penalty arc. Mansally then redirected Benny Feilhaber’s kick in the 56th minute.
“The wall definitely wasn’t 10 yards away, and I didn’t think I could put it over the wall,’’ Feilhaber said. “I mishit it a bit, Kenny was in the right spot, it went in off the shins, or wherever it hit him - great finish by him.’’
That seemed to energize the Revolution and provide some hope.
But Macheda converted for the second time, finishing unmarked at the back post off a corner kick in the 61st minute. United closed the scoring on a Ji-Sung Park finish in the 81st minute. Gabriel Obertan started the sequence, freezing the Revolution defenders on the left side of the penalty area, then centering. Park and Ryan Giggs played a give-and-go from inside the penalty spot, Park chipping over goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth.
“You saw his touches, he has something special,’’ Ferguson said of Macheda. “We’re expecting big things from him.’’
