Manchester United readies for US trip

Manchester United departs for North America on Tuesday for an eighteen day tour of the continent.  They will be making stops in Canada, the US and Mexico during their stay.  Sir Alex Ferguson named his 22 man roster for the trip and several notable names will be staying behind.  Missing are the likes of Wayne Rooney, captain Gary Neville, Vidic and Patrice Evra.

There will be several of the stars on the trip.  The likes of Nani, Edwin van der Sar, Giggs, Scholes, and Berbatov will be on hand along with several of the young stars in the Manchester United stable who will get a chance to show off for the boss.   Newly signed Mexico up and coming star Javier Hernandez will also be joining the team midway through the trip.

The team will spend the first week in Canada training and then facing Celtic in Toronto on July 16th.  Then Manchester United will head to Philadelphia to play the Union of the MLS on Wednesday July 21st.  Then it is on to Kansas City to face the Wizards on Sunday the 25th before moving on to Houston where they will play the MLS All Stars.  Finally, they'll cross the border into Mexico and play Chivas on July 30th.

After returning to England, Manchester United will face Chelsea in the Community Shield on August 8th and then open EPL play on August 16th against newly promoted Newcastle United at Old Trafford.

Travelling squad: Edwin van der Sar, Tomasz Kuszczak, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Dimitar Berbatov, John O'Shea, Wes Brown, Rafael, Jonny Evans, Darren Fletcher, Darron Gibson, Chris Smalling, Nani, Fabio, Federico Macheda, Danny Welbeck, Javier Hernandez (will join in Houston on 27 July), Mame Biram Diouf, Tom Cleverley, Ritchie De Laet, Corry Evans, Ben Amos, Gabriel Obertan