Diego eyes a starting place

On target: Diego Forlan tucks away one of his two goals

Paul Thomson|Evening Standard|In Los Angeles

14 April 2012

Diego Forlan hopes his two goals in Manchester United's 3-1 win over Mexican outfit Club America will help persuade Sir Alex Ferguson he is worth a regular place in the starting line-up.

United, who beat Celtic last week, maintained their success rate on the tour in intense West Coast heat might in front of a mainly Mexican crowd of 57,365 at the LA Coliseum.

Ruud van Nistelrooy opened the scoring with his customary goal 60 seconds after the break before the 24-year-old Uruguayan grabbed two goals, one with a firm header from Quinton Fortune's cross, following several first-half misses.

Forlan, a £7million signing from Argentina's Independiente, went through a 27-game barren streak following his move in January last year but then hit nine crucial goals in United's surge to the Premiership title last term.

He said: "I have been a substitute many times since I have been with United but all you can do is wait for your chance and then take it.

"Hopefully that is what I have done. You can't afford to let your confidence drop just because you miss a chance. I kept working hard but the goals give you a better feeling."

Ferguson said the South American had been squeezed out by a combination of van Nistelrooy's exceptional form and the need to play either Ryan Giggs or Paul Scholes just behind the Dutchman.

The United boss said: "Diego scored some really important goals for us last season and made a major contribution to winning the title.

"The problem was that in the run-in to the Championship Ruud hit a vein of form which was incredible. Playing him up front, with either Ryan or Paul just behind, proved beneficial for us. I didn't want to change it so Diego suffered for the team. But he is only 24 and will improve."

United started in lethargic fashion but the defence, superbly marshalled by stand-in skipper Rio Ferdinand, was rarely troubled.

Ferguson, whose side play Juventus and Barcelona in the next seven days, said: "It got a bit competitive, which is a good thing.

"There's no problem with that. Unfortunately we got a couple of bookings but overall it was played in a good atmosphere and the crowd was terrific.

"The Mexicans are very competitive people and they are very passionate about the game and I think that showed today.

"The welcome in Los Angeles has been fantastic. I think with the Mexican influence here you get a more passionate and football-minded partisan crowd.

"It would have been interesting to see if Club America had scored first and made us chase the game.

"The atmosphere would have been electric.

"It was quite a difficult. It was quite warm out there and in the first half we couldn't get much of a tempo going.

"But in the first 15 minutes of the second half we won the game. They were very good goals and that's been the feature for us.

"We've scored very good goals over here. I didn't think they deserved a 3-1 defeat because in the second half they put a lot into it.

"There was the typical influence of their Dutch coach, Leo Beenhakker, playing two wide players who stretched us a bit.

"But at the end of the day, it's a competent performance. They've had to work hard and it's another game under their belt."

Champions League runners-up Juventus are next up for United at Giants Stadium in New Jersey on Thursday, followed by a Philadelphia showdown with Barcelona on Sunday.

Ferguson added: "It should be terrific on Thursday. We know Juventus so well and Marcello Lippi and I have faced each other so many times.

"I'm looking forward to it. Giants Stadium has a great atmosphere."

Ronaldinho made his debut for Barcelona following his £21million move from Paris St Germain and was among the penalty scorers as the Spaniards beat Juventus 6-5 on spotkicks after a 2-2 draw in Boston. Javier Saviola hit a first-half brace for the Spaniards, who then threw away their two-goal lead in the final few minutes of the match. Marco Di Vaio pulled one back with four minutes left and within 60 seconds Fabrizio Miccoli equalised.

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Diego eyes a starting place

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