Bebe salvages draw for United

Substitute Bebe scored two minutes into stoppage time to salvage a 1-1 draw for Manchester United at Ajax Cape Town yesterday in the second match of a pre-season world tour. The Portuguese tapped a low cross into the net after Ajax had snatched the lead four minutes from time at a chilly Cape Town Stadium through a looping Alcardo van Graan back-heel from a corner. New £17 million ($26 million) signing Shinji Kagawa from Japan made his first start for the Red Devils and showed many deft touches before squandering a good second-half scoring chance. United, who defeated AmaZulu 1-0 last Wednesday in the other match on the South African leg of their tour, lacked many first-choice players like Wayne Rooney and captain Nemanja Vidic due to post-Euro 2012 rests, the Olympic Games and injuries. While United kept possession for lengthy periods at the start of the match, they did not trouble former Liverpool goalkeeper Sander Westerveld and it was Ajax who created the first chance, only for Zimbabwean Khama Billiat to fire wide. A few minutes later and the Cape Town club had another half chance, but Terror Fanteni turned too slowly on the edge of the penalty area and his shot was blocked. Billiat was proving a constant threat to the United defence and won a free-kick on the edge of the box, but the referee spotted a foul when the ball was floated across the goalmouth. United finally came close to breaking the deadlock on 34 minutes when Antonio Valencia crossed from the right and Javier Hernandez headed goalwards, only to be denied by a flying one-hand save from Westerveld. Ajax threatened again soon after, only to waste a two-on-one situation through poor ball control, and United goalkeeper Ben Amos breathed a sigh of relief when an edge-of-the-box shot beat him only to finish just off target. Little Mexican Hernandez got a touch to a low cross but could not prevent the ball trickling wide and the first half ended with Ajax holding their own against the three-time European champions. United laid siege to the Ajax goalmouth in the early stages of the second half, with Hernandez going close and Ajax defender Nazeer Allie thwarting another threatening situation with a headed clearance. But the goal would not come and Kagawa wasted a golden chance to break the deadlock just past the hour mark when he sneaked unmarked into the heart of the area, only to head a Hernandez cross wide. Manager Sir Alex Freguson rang the changes with 20 minutes left, bringing on new signing Nick Powell, Bebe, Ryan Tunnicliffe and Jesse Lingard for Paul Scholes, Hernandez, Valencia and Anderson. Having survived a pounding from United, Ajax started to push forward entering the final 15 minutes in pursuit of a winner and Amos needed to get down quickly to push a snap shot away. Next stop for the Red Devils on the six-match tour is China for a clash with Shanghai Shenhua next Wednesday, and they will also play Valerenga in Norway, Barcelona in Sweden and Hanover in Germany. Meanwhile, United centre-back Chris Smalling has been ruled out for up to 10 weeks with a broken foot and is now set to miss the start of the new season. Smalling had been trying to regain fitness at United’s Carrington training ground after recovering from a thigh injury that put paid to his hopes of appearing for England at Euro 2012. But United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, speaking from South Africa, where the English giants are currently on a pre-season tour, told MUTV-United’s own television station-that the 22-year-old had suffered a new setback courtesy of a metatarsal break. “He got an injury on the Wednesday and, straight away, we decided to have the operation, so he’s out,” Ferguson said yesterday. “It’s difficult to say with a metatarsal but it could be 10 weeks. “He’s not carrying any luck, the kid, but he’s young and we’ve done the right thing in getting it done immediately and getting him back on the road as quickly as we can.” Now it seems unlikely that Smalling will play again until the end of September at the earliest. That would mean the former Fulham man missing United’s opening six Premier League games, plus their opening Champions League match. In addition, Smalling is also set to be sidelined from at least three England matches and, quite probably, October’s World Cup qualifiers with San Marino and Poland as well, given the limited time he would then have to regain match fitness.