Soccer News: Alex Ferguson's pre-season plans have been hit by a triple dose of bad news.

First Ferguson learnt that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, one of the four strikers he expressed so much delight in having available just 24 hours earlier, had suffered a recurrence of the knee problem that wrecked last season.

Then, while he was still airborne, star winger Cristiano Ronaldo was selected for the Portuguese Olympic squad, ruling the talented teenager out of the first six games of United's season, including the two-legged Champions League qualifier.

Instead of taking on Chelsea in the Premiership opener at Stamford Bridge on August 15th, Ronaldo will be facing Morocco, having already played in Portugal's opening game against Iraq three days previously.

Ferguson had hoped the 18-year-old's impressive performances in steering his nation to the Euro 2004 final would see him left out of the largely under-23 Olympic competition.

Because a third-place match is also part of the tournament, should Portugal reach the last four, it would effectively make Ronaldo unavailable for United until the September 11th visit to Bolton, by which time he will also have played in World Cup qualifiers against Latvia and Estonia.

And soon after touching down in the US Ferguson was dealt another blow when it was revealed recent signing Gabriel Heinze has been included in Argentina's Olympic squad.

The commanding centre half, signed by United from Paris St Germain at the start of the summer, is one of the three over-age players named by coach Marcelo Bielsa.

Ferguson is powerless to do anything about either selection as the Olympics are a FIFA-registered competition and release of players is automatic.

If that news was not bad enough, Ferguson will also be waiting anxiously for the results on the scan Solskjaer is due to have this week on his right knee, which was operated on last September.

Solskjaer had been expected to be part of the squad that flew to the United States yesterday but was pulled out at the last minute.

If Solskjaer is ruled out of the opening month of the campaign, with Ronaldo also missing, Ferguson may be forced into a quick revision of his plans for new signing Alan Smith.

The United boss stated categorically yesterday that he saw Smith as a centre forward, not a right-sided midfield player where he operated frequently for Leeds.

But with Darren Fletcher also out of the US tour with an injury, there may be few alternatives.

Smith has at least made the trip across the Atlantic, unlike Ferguson's other two close-season signings, Liam Miller, who is also injured, and Heinze, who helped Argentina make the final of Copa America with a 3-0 win over Colombia last night.