US tour to sharpen United

Manchester United are in the United States for a pre-season tour and boss Sir Alex Ferguson says fitness and match sharpness are top priority.

Ferguson’s side will take on the New England Revolution in Foxborough on Wednesday before crossing the country to play the Seattle Sounders.

After that, it’s two games in five days as they look to put out the Chicago Fire and an MLS All-Star side that will include former United star David Beckham.

Then it’s back to more familiar opposition, with United having a chance to avenge their defeat in this season’s Champions League final.

Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona will be United’s final opponents in Washington before they fly back to the UK, and Ferguson said the squad should be in top condition by the end of the two-week trip.

“I think the first thing is to get the fitness in our game. We’re maybe a little bit short in preparation, because we’ve only six days – normally we have 10 days, but we’ll make it up when we go to Seattle,” Ferguson said.

“We’ll work seven days there training, which will be good. That, and get our rhythm and tempo in our game, that’s what we look for in pre-season. By the end of the tour we should be in good shape.”

Ferguson said the facilities in Foxborough had come a long way since he last visited the town 17 years ago.

“We’re delighted, I mean it’s a fantastic stadium,” he said.

“I was here, I guess it was Foxborough, back in 1994 – incredible difference, you know.”

“We’re very pleased. The pitch is a bit dead because of the way they’ve laid the new turf on it so it takes time for that to knit.”

“It could probably do with a good downpour of rain actually, but other than that, it’s fine.”