San Jose Earthquakes 1-3 Manchester United

Manchester United’s mission on this warm California evening was to reach for the game-fluidity they require come the opening day of the Premier League against Tottenham Hotspur, a quest that had started in Friday’s 1-0 victory over Club America in Seattle. For San Jose Earthquakes, Louis van Gaal sent out the same XI that started then in an identical 4-2-3-1 shape despite the plan to operate a 4-3-3 in the fresh campaign.

In front of the watching Sir Alex Ferguson, United controlled the opening against a Major League Soccer outfit who had lost 5-2 a few days ago against Steven Gerrard’s Los Angeles Galaxy in a contest billed as the California Clasico.

Memphis Depay produced the first bright moment as the 21-year-old took the ball and dribbled at the home defence in a show of strength. The shot he hit at David Bingham was fierce enough for the goalkeeper to spill, though the Wayne Rooney could not make him pay on the follow-up.

As United asserted themselves more chances were created. Two of these had Van Gaal's men ahead before half-time. In the first, Ashley Young passed to Juan Mata, who was hovering to the left of the area. The No8 hit a cross-shot towards Depay but with the Dutchman failing to get a touch on it despite his best efforts, Mata claimed the opening strike as the ball passed Bingham into the back of the net.

This was just after the half hour and within minutes United had doubled their advantage. This time, there were no doubts that Depay was the the scorer of this one. A dodgy back-pass from Jean Baptist Pierazzi aimed at Bingham left the keeper stranded. Depay nipped in and slotted a cool finish past the home No1. Two-nil to the visitors.

United were coasting so what happened next will have infuriated Van Gaal. As Shea Salinas approached Sam Johnstone's goal, he ghosted past Morgan Schneiderlin too easily and from near the byline the midfielder found Fatai Alashe who beat the United goalkeeper from close range.

That was about it for the opening stanza, though Luke Shaw made one dashing run at the Earthquakes before the referee, Juan Guzman, blew for the break. As the teams wandered off against the panoramic backdrop of the Santa Cruz Mountains, the manager may have been preparing a few stern words for Schneiderlin. Whether this XI had made any progress in the search for that all-important rhythm was arguable. To have scored one more goal than in Seattle was the only clear and obvious improvement.

As expected Van Gaal sent out the same second half outfield side that took on America at the weekend. The big loser here was Marouane Fellaini. Van Gaal has said the Belgian's three-match suspension means he wants to look at other players ahead of the new term. So Fellaini was reduced again to watching as United kicked off for their fourth half of the tour. This time they attacked the open end of the Avaya Stadium, which is graced by an outdoor bar thought to be the world's longest.

The awful free-kick Andreas Pereira offered up suggested the Brazilian had been drinking there. The youngster tried a clever sideways pass but found only Mathieu Coutadeur. From here United were spun on their heels as the Earthquakes raced downfield but the threat fizzled out and Pereira escaped serious embarrassment.

Redemption, though, was soon his. From the right Jesse Lingard swept over a delivery and Pereira thumped a header home and that was 3-1 to United. Despite the clearly visible empty seats the attendance was given as a capacity 18,000. At the same time down in Pasadena 93,226 were crowding into the Rose Bowl to witness Barcelona take on LA Galaxy. The discrepancy would have been considerably less if Van Gaal had not switched this contest from Berkeley's California Memorial Stadium last month to cut down on the travel he dreads so much.

He will not care less. What should exercise him is the strategy for the next two matches. The outings against Barcelona in Santa Clara on Saturday and Paris Saint-Germain next week are the manager's final 180 minutes before Tottenham visit Old Trafford on 8 August.

Van Gaal's second stanza XI were no better than the first. Towards the end Bastian Schweinsteiger hit an aimless pass and then hung his head. The evening proved this kind of exercise: at the moment United are rather far away from the slick and quick football machine Van Gaal wants. To ensure they are not seriously under-cooked for the Spurs game the Dutchman should surely field his best XI as a unit in those last two matches in the hope it will click and convince.

Manchester United first half (4-2-3-1): Johnstone, Darmian, Jones, Blind, Shaw; Carrick, Schneiderlin; Mata, Depay, Young; Rooney

Manchester United second half (4-2-3-1): Lindegaard; McNair, Evans, Smalling, Blackett; Schweinstieger, Herrera; Lingard, Januzaj, Pereira; Wilson

San Jose Earthquakes (4-3-3): Bingham; Wynne, Bernadez, Goodson, Stewart; Alashe, Pierazzi, Salinas; Cato, Amarikwa, Garcia

Attendance: 18,000