Sir Alex Ferguson blamed the inexperience of his backline for Manchester United's 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Wizards, who played 51 minutes with 10 men after Jimmy Conrad was sent off.

"I thought the inexperience of the defenders showed in the first 15 minutes," Ferguson said. "We never quite recovered from that. That was a bit of a handicap, that inexperience. I felt our young goalkeeper [20-year-old Ben Amos] organized them and calmed them down. Their center forward [Teal Bunbury] was a handful physically. He gave us a hard time that way. They are very committed, the American players, they are very athletic. It is a big game for them. They are playing Manchester United. You hav e to expect that kind of motivation. You know they are going to get stuck in. I wasn't too bothered about that, to be honest.''

Ferguson, who lamented that United's possession was ragged, was pleased that Portuguese star Nani, back from a dislocated shoulder that kept him out of the World Cup, was able to get in 69 minutes. On a down note, Scotsman Darren Fletcher and Irishman John O'Shea will almost certainly miss Wednesday's MLS All-Star Game in Houston on Wednesday after suffering "niggling injuries."