Manchester United youngster Tom Cleverley clearly has a sense of soccer history. His spectacular goal against the MLS All Stars last night in Houston was a clear homage to Pelé’s famous strike against Sweden in the 1958 World Cup final.
Check it out:
And the original:
Cleverley is faithful to the source material, while adding a few flourishes of his own. It’s got a good beat and you can dance to it. We give it a 10.
The 20-year-old midfielder and 18-year-old striker Federico Macheda, who scored two goals, showed that the cupboard is by no means bare at Man U. The Red Devils put on an entertaining show en route to a 5-2 drubbing of the disjointed MLS All-Stars.
Despite the lopsided scoreline, the game was a success—with more than 70,000 fans in attendance at Houston’s Reliant Stadium—and the MLS team appeared on the verge of making our prediction come true when Brian Ching‘s header hit the net in the 64th minute to make it 2-1.
But then the floodgates opened with goals by Darron Gibson, Cleverley, and rising Mexican star Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, who was making his Manchester United debut.
The timing of the event was not in the MLS side’s favor as probable starters Edson Buddle, Landon Donovan, and Dwayne DeRosario had all played the night before in CONCACAF Champions League action, and Seattle stars Steve Zakuani and Fredy Montero were unavailable due to the Sounders’ CONCACAF game on the same night as the All-Star tilt.
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