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Antonio Valencia scored the opening goal in the first half before setting up summer signing Javier Hernandez for a freakishly fortuitous second after half-time, while Dimitar Berbatov scored a magnificent third after Salomon Kalou's consolation.

But the plaudits of the perennial season curtain-raiser should also go to United veteran Scholes as the 35-year-old delivered a vintage display to dictate the midfield at Wembley. It was an added, ironic twist that Scholes should conjure such an impressive lesson in long and short-range possession in a match which was billed as the chance to move on from the World Cup.

Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and John Terry were booed by respective rival fans following their abject performances in England's dismal failure in South Africa, while the watching Fabio Capello was also singled out for verbal abuse.

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Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar has admitted that a somewhat disrupted pre-season has left some of the club's star players a little short of match fitness ahead of the new Premier League  season.

United won the Community Shield on Sunday at Wembley, beating Chelsea 3-1, but the veteran keeper acknowledged that there was still some work to do before Monday's opening fixture against Newcastle United.

"We've been away for three weeks and most of the international players they stayed at home or started a little bit later with the preparation," the Dutchman.

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Michael Owen, the fit-again Manchester United striker, has expressed concerns that his recovery could be jeopardised on the notorious Wembley pitch in Sunday's Community Shield game against Chelsea.Owen ruptured a hamstring in the Carling Cup final last February, an injury he attributed to the poor state of the playing surface, compared by Sir Alex Ferguson to a "ploughed field".

The United manager questioned whether "a horse show had been on it" and said it had "killed" Wayne Rooney, while other players reported injuries. The pitch has since been relaid twice, at a cost of £250,000 to the Football Association, but United are sufficiently concerned that it is thought Ferguson will wait until he has inspected the new Desso playing surface before finalising his team plans and, specifically, deciding whether Owen should be risked.

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The centre-back, who recently verbally agreed a new contract, was a part of the Old Trafford squad that missed out on the league silverware by one point in 2009/10.

Chelsea pipped their rivals to the trophy on the final day and, ahead of Sunday's Community Shield, Vidic wants to set the record straight after United previously won.

Three successive titles. "It hurt to lose the title last year, especially as it was very close," he said. "We finished just one point behind Chelsea and were very disappointed we didn't make it. Targets

"But this is a new season, we have to forget what happened last year, and the three before that, if I am truthful. "Our targets do not change. We have to win the league again.

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Had things turned out differently for the Netherlands at Soccer City in Johannesburg on July 11, Robin van Persie would be reporting for duty with Arsenal this week with a World Cup winners' medal. Instead, Spain's defeat of the Dutch in the final meant van Persie finished the tournament empty-handed, while his own poor performances in South Africa will have been a source of concern for Gunners manager Arsene Wenger.

Van Persie missed the second half of last season after injuring his ankle in a friendly with Italy in November, but returned to fitness in time to hit scintillating form in the Netherlands' pre-World Cup friendlies. In three games he scored four goals, including a beautifully taken brace in a 2-1 win against Mexico and his side's opening goal in a 6-1 demolition of Hungary in Amsterdam that was Holland's final warm-up match.

The 26-year-old looked fit, sharp and hungry, and ready to mount a serious challenge for the World Cup Golden Boot, but he struggled to assert himself in South Africa and his influence was fitful. The Netherlands may have made the final, eliminating Brazil en route, but van Persie looked far from his best. His only goal came in a 2-1 group-phase win over Cameroon, after the Dutch had already secured a place in the second round, and he was a peripheral figure in the final.

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Manchester City Aim To Turn Pounds In To Prizes: At a time of acute financial uncertainty for football clubs across the globe, Manchester City continue to buck the trend. After failing to achieve Champions League qualification last term, City turned to the chequebook once again and Roberto Mancini will approach the new Premier League campaign with a squad brimming with world-class talent. Spain winger David Silva, Germany full-back Jerome Boateng, Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure and Serbia left-back Aleksandar Kolarov have all arrived at Eastlands during the close-season.

It means that owner Sheikh Mansour has now spent in excess of 284 million pounds (339 million euros) on transfer fees alone since taking over the club in August 2008. With traditional powerhouses like Real Madrid, AC Milan and Bayern Munich all currently reluctant to splash the cash, City are the only major side in Europe with the resources to make waves in the transfer market. The result is that they repeatedly find themselves linked with jaw-dropping moves for some of the continent's biggest names, but Mancini believes they must speculate in order to accumulate.

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Manchester United [ Images ] midfielder Anderson was dragged out of a burning car but escaped with only minor injuries after an early-morning crash in Portugal, local media reported on Sunday.

Witnesses quoted by the Jornal de Noticias daily said the Brazilian player had lost control of his sports car in the early hours of Saturday on a local road near Braga in northern Portugal. The car hit a wall in a nearby field and caught fire.

"I thought he was dead. My brother dragged him out of the car, and we put out the flames before the entire car burnt down," one of the witnesses told the paper.

The car was a two-seater, but there were two other passengers in it, a Brazilian woman and another man, according to local police.

"The three were given medical discharge at the end of Saturday morning. They only had minor and superficial injuries. The young woman needed the most treatment, but only small things," the paper quoted a spokesperson at the Braga hospital as saying.

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England's failed footballers should count themselves lucky that their ignominious World Cup exit was met with little more than a public mauling by the media. Their counterparts from North Korea, who lost all three of their group games, have been subjected to a six-hour excoriation for "betraying" the communist nation's ideological struggle, according to reports.

There are even fears for the safety of the team coach, Kim Jung-hun, who was accused of betraying the son and heir of the regime's "dear leader," Kim Jong-il. Early this month the players were summoned to an auditorium at the working people's culture palace in Pyongyang, forced onstage and subjected to a six-hour barrage of criticism for their poor performances in South Africa, according to the US-based Radio Free Asia.

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After a lengthy pre-match fireworks display, Macheda struck after just 24 seconds, collecting an embarrassingly bad pass from MLS defender Kevin Alston and slotting home. The Italian then headed in a corner from Nani in the 12th minute as United took firm control of the game, watched by a crowd of 70,728. Local Houston Dynamo forward Brian Ching pulled one back for MLS but that merely prompted a late surge from United with Darron Gibson curling in a beautiful free-kick, before Tom Cleverly coolly finished to make it 4-1.

Hernandez, who joined United from Chivas, was given a warm welcome by many Mexican-Americans in the crowd. He ran on to a long ball and confidently lobbed MLS keeper Nick Rimando. Canadian Dwayne De Rosario notched a consolation goal in the final moments for the North American league.

Real Madrid  have confirmed that captain and record-breaking striker Raul Gonzalez will leaved the club on Monday after 16 years in the first team and with German side Schalke his destination. Raul, who has played for Real since 1994, won six La Liga championships and three Champions League titles during his time with the Spanish giants.

He has scored 323 times in 740 appearances for the club. Fellow veteran Guti, a product of Real's youth system who made his pro debut in 1995, said earlier Sunday that he was leaving with Besiktas in Turkey his likely new home. Both men have been told by new coach Jose Mourinho that they do not form part of his plans for the new season.

A statement on the Real official website on Sunday announced that 33-year-old Raul would be afforded a farewell celebration at the Bernabeu.

"The farewell party will start at 1pm. Club president Florentino Perez will be present, and it will be followed by a press conference by Raul and general director Jorge Valdano," said a club statement.

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