Ferguson content

News: Alex Ferguson believes the young players at his club have good reason to be proud of themselves following Manchester United's final match of their three-game 10-day tour of the United States.

Players like Phil Bardsley, Chris Eagles, Jonathan Spector and Kieran Richardson were all given lengthy run-outs on Saturday against AC Milan and each put in encouraging performances, giving their manager optimism for the future of the club.

"This was an opportunity for them (the young players) to prove what they are worth and give them the incentive to push on. The young players who played in America have not done themselves any harm."

United went down 9-8 on penalties to AC Milan after being only seven seconds away from achieving victory.

Andriy Shevchenko equalised to take the game into a penalty shoot-out after Paul Scholes had put United ahead in the 33rd minute.

But goalkeeper Tim Howard missed his spot kick to hand the Italians an unlikely victory. The defeat came on the back of losses to Bayern Munich, also on penalties, and Celtic.

Ferguson, however, would swap pre-season success for a safe passage in Europe as his side look ahead to a Champions League qualifier first leg against either MSK Zilina or Dynamo Bucharest on August 11th.

"You would like to win pre-season friendlies but the important thing is to get to the August 11th and to get my best 11 players to take us hopefully into the next stage of European football," he said.

"You have to look at the long view and it is about bringing players on gradually."

United were due home yesterday but will have little time for rest as they host the Vodafone Cup this week.

Next up are PSV Eindhoven at Old Trafford tomorrow when Ruud van Nistelrooy and Louis Saha are expected to play their first pre-season matches.