United scrape a draw at Kagawa’s home

TOKYO.  A stoppage time goal from new-face Wilfried Zaha saved Manchester United from the brink of a humiliating third defeat in their pre-season Asian tour Friday, drawing 2-2 with Cerezo Osaka at Shinji Kagawa’s former J.League home.

Friday, July 26, 2013
Wilfried Zaha celebrates his last-minute equaliser for Manchester United. Net photo.

TOKYO.  A stoppage time goal from new-face Wilfried Zaha saved Manchester United from the brink of a humiliating third defeat in their pre-season Asian tour Friday, drawing 2-2 with Cerezo Osaka at Shinji Kagawa’s former J.League home.Kagawa, who moved to Old Trafford from Borussia Dortmund a year ago, also delighted a sell-out crowd of 44,856 at the Nagai Stadium by scoring United’s first goal minutes after fluffing a penalty by kicking straight into the hands of Osaka goalkeeper Kim Jin-Hyeon.The Red Devils now have two wins and two defeats in Asia after losing to the Thai league All Stars 1-0 two weeks ago in Bangkok, overwhelming the A-League All Stars 5-1 in Sydney and again bowing 3-2 to the J.League’s Yokohama Marinos last Tuesday."I’m happy,” new United manager David Moyes said after the match. "I thought our team did very well. I’m delighted with the way we scored the late goal.”"I thought it was our best performance since we’ve been on tour.” Zaha’s late goal was the result of the English champions pulling out all the stops in sweltering evening weather in the final minutes as Adnan Januzaj dribbled toward the area and passed to Anderson on the left side.The Brazil midfielder crossed to the far side with Zaha beating Kim for the equaliser one minute into additional time, scoring his first ever goal for United.