EPL: Man United win marathon shootout – Spurs cruise in California

The fans in California stayed late for both EPL-Serie A matches in the International Champions Cup. One was lopsided, the other a marathon of penalties.

After three matches in the eastern part of the United States, the ICC continued with two matchups in California. Both games consisted of a Premier League v Serie A clash, with all four teams looking for a trophy for this upcoming 2018-19 season. Here is how it happened in San Diego and Carson as Spurs played Roma and Man United took on AC Milan.

Roma 1-4 Tottenham

Spurs went down 1-0 after just two minutes in San Diego. Was it gonna be same old Spurs? Not even close. Fernando Llorente quickly scored a brace, with goals in the 9th and 17th minutes. Spurs attack continued to dominate with Roma unable to contain the wings or crosses.

Serge Aurier sent a ball in and it found the head of Lucas Moura for the third goal. Just before halftime, Lucas smacked home the fourth with his left foot to close the book and earn Spurs the easy victory over Roma.

Spurs seek to keep this hot start in California going when they play Barcelona in Pasadena on Saturday. The two sides have only played two competitive matches against each other. Both were in 1982. AS Roma will take this defeat on the chin and move to Dallas next week. Barcelona will await them as well.

AC Milan 1-1 (8-9pens) Man United

The first half got off to a fast start when Alexis Sanchez gave the Red Devils the lead at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Following Sanchez’s strike, Milan equalized three minutes later thanks to Suso. Those two goals would be the only ones in regulation and we went straight into a shootout.

The penalties lasted over 20 minutes as Man United won in a 13 round penalty shootout. With a 3-2 lead heading into the last round, Jose Mourinho let his keeper Joel Pereira take the last penalty in the regulation rounds. It was saved by Pepe Reina, who then stepped up immediately and scored to tie it at 3-3 and take it to sudden death. It finally ended after round 13 when Kessie chipped the 26th penalty over the bar. United win and grab two points.

The Red Devils will have two full days of rest before their Saturday clash with Liverpool in Michigan. AC Milan will have even more rest before they fly to Minneapolis to play Tottenham, the only team thus far in the ICC to score four times in one game.

This Wednesday/Thursday across the US brought some exciting preseason football. More is to come in a few hours when Arsenal begin their ICC schedule in Singapore against Atletico Madrid.