Having received criticism for dropping out of the FA Cup to participate in the Club World Cup, Manchester United had hardly covered themselves in glory in Brazil.
They could only muster a 1-1 draw during their opening match against Mexican side Necaxa, before they were soundly defeated 3-1 by a Romario-inspired Vasco de Gama.
It meant that they went into the final group match against South Melbourne 14 years ago today needing to overcome Australian side South Melbourne, as well as hoping that Vasco would see off Necaxa by three goals or more to advance through to the semi-finals.
With that scenario regarded to be unlikely, Sir Alex Ferguson started with an experimental lineup inside Rio de Janeiro's Maracana Stadium, which included the likes of Danny Higginbotham, Ronnie Wallwork, Mark Wilson and Jonathan Greening.
Also in the team was Quinton Fortune, who having joined the club during the previous summer from Atletico Madrid, had made just one start for the Red Devils, in which he scored against Bradford City.
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However, the South African international staked a claim for more regular action by scoring two goals within the opening 20 minutes against Melbourne.
First he broke the deadlock when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's cross from the right was collected by Andy Cole, who instead of shooting picked out Fortune with a flicked pass. From there, the United winger fired the ball into the top corner of the net. Then, Cole was again the provider as he slotted a pass through for Fortune to lift an effort over advancing Aussie goalkeeper Chris Jones.
Solskjaer saw a shot strike the crossbar before the break, but after the restart United struggled to create openings and it was their opponents that carved out the better chances. The best of those arrived 18 minutes from time when Vaughan Coveny saw his low drive beat Raimond van der Gouw, only for the ball to hit both posts before it was cleared to safety.
"Fortune was excellent. He's got great speed, balance, is a good crosser of the ball and he showed tonight he can score goals," Ferguson told reporters after the match.
Although United had kept up their part of the bargain with a 2-0 win, Vasco only beat Necaxa 2-1, meaning that the English side returned to domestic matters earlier than expected.
MAN UNITED: Van Der Gouw; P Neville, Higginbotham, Berg, Wallwork; Cruyff, Wilson, Greening, Fortune; Solskjaer, Cole
SOUTH MELBOURNE: Jones; Iosifidis, De Amicis, Blatsis, Clarkson; Panopoulos, Trimboli, Curcija, Anastasiadis; Lozanovski, Liparoti
Liam Apicella
