Manchester United take on AFC Bournemouth in Chicago in the early hours of Thursday morning (02:30 UK time) in their second game of their United States tour.
The Red Devils beat West Ham United 2-1 in their opening game in New Jersey, with captain Bruno Fernandes scoring a brace.
United have played the Cherries only 24 times in history, winning 14.
They have drawn five and lost five of their matches versus the team from the south coast of England.
Here are three interesting plotlines to consider before the game.
Get back to winning ways vs the Cherries
The Red Devils stopped a slide of poor results against the Hammers last time out and will hope to do the same against the Cherries.
United have not won any of their previous four matches against Bournemouth.
Their last victory came in May 2023 at the Vitality Stadium after an acrobatic strike from Casemiro.
They have since lost their last two matches at Old Trafford 0-3 and drew both games in Bournemouth 2-2 and 1-1.
Record at Soldier Field
United have been playing regularly in the United States for two decades now and have found themselves in Chicago before.
Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium that first hosted a goalless 0-0 draw with Bayern Munich in 2004.
They also beat the Chicago Fire MLS team in 2011 3-1, with Cory Gibbs firing the home side into a shock lead before Wayne Rooney, Rafael and Nani responded.
United also came unstuck 2-0 versus Paris Saint-Germain in 2015 with Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring against the team he would join the next summer.
Victory would mean taking big step to clinching Summer series
Ruben Amorim’s team find themselves in second place in the table and Bournemouth are first after their 3-0 victory over Everton.
A win for either side would put them on six points and most likely set them up to win the series.
According to the club’s official site, “at the end of the three games the team with the highest points will win the series. If two or more sides have the same points, they’ll be separated first by goal difference, then by goals scored and, finally, on a head-to-head basis. There will be no extra-time or penalty shootouts in any of the matches.”
Winning a pre-season tournament hardly seems a big deal but this group of players need to develop a killer instinct quickly after last season’s shambolic effort.
Therefore, any small chance to win must be taken seriously to develop the culture that Ruben Amorim so desperately wants to instill at the club.
Featured image Nathan Stirk via Getty Images
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
