It is a preseason ritual to have most major teams in Europe engage in preseason matches to help identify weaknesses and first new sign-on’s, what is surprising is when teams in the world’s most competitive league loses to an otherwise unrated team from Africa, Manuel Pellegrini’s first game as Manchester City manager finished in a 2-0 pre-season friendly defeat against SuperSport United in Pretoria on Sunday.
Fernandinho was given a starting berth at Loftus Versfeld and City looked strong in the first half, but could not find the breakthrough.
Pellegrini changed the entire eleven man squad at half-time, and the hosts needed only 11 minutes after the restart to break the deadlock.
Senegalese striker Mame Niang rose highest to nod the opener past Costel Pantilimon in the 56th minute, with a neat finish from South African forward Kermit Erasmus sealing matters nine minutes from time.
There were further disappointment to come for the Premier League runners-up, when Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure limped off in the 83rd minute.
But Arsenal enjoyed a much more successful start to their tour of the Far East, hammering an Indonesia All Stars XI 7-0 in Jakarta.
England forward Theo Walcott slammed home the opener for Arsenal after 19 minutes, before the floodgates opened after the interval.
Chuba Akpom slotted home nine minutes after the restart and Olivier Giroud’s quickfire brace had stretched the Gunners’ advantage to 4-0 by the 73rd minute
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