NEW YORK, July 25 – English Premier League club Manchester United suffered the first defeat on their pre-season North America tour when they were upset 2-1 by the 10-man Kansas City Wizards in Kansas City on Sunday.
Despite having Jimmy Conrad controversially sent off late in the first half for a harsh tackle, the home team held on to record a memorable victory over their far more illustrious opponents.
In front of 52,000 fans at Arrowhead Stadium, the Wizards opened the scoring in the 11th minute through midfielder Davy Arnaud before Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov levelled from the penalty spot in the 41st.
Just one minute later, Kansas again edged ahead when Kei Kamara headed Ryan Smith’s corner past Ben Amos, although subsequent television replays did not confirm whether the ball had crossed the goal line.
A scoreless second half concluded a game played at a breakneck pace that featured several near misses.
United coach Alex Ferguson opted to field a relatively young side, with Amos, Ritchie De Laet and Mame Biram Diouf lining up with more experienced players Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Berbatov.
