Friendly: San Jose Earthquakes 1 Man. United 3

Memphis Depay netted his first Manchester United goal as Louis van Gaal's men secured a 3-1 victory over San Jose Earthquakes in an entertaining encounter in California.

The Dutchman's effort – a low finish after he took advantage of a wayward backpass – was sandwiched between efforts from Juan Mata and substitute Andreas Pereira, who also netted his first goal for the senior team at the Avaya Stadium in San Jose.

Van Gaal started with the same side that overcame Club America in Seattle – Sam Johnstone in goal, a backline of Matteo Darmian, Phil Jones, Daley Blind and Luke Shaw and a midfield featuring Michael Carrick, Morgan Schneiderlin, Ashley Young and Mata; Memphis once again sat behind Wayne Rooney up front.

United’s attacking duo were at it from the off with Memphis looking sharp. On four minutes, the Dutchman powered forward, twisted and turned before seeing his shot parried by David Bingham in the Quakes goal. Rooney looked to pounce, as did Mata but the Spaniard could only find the side-netting. Five minutes later, a brilliant run down the left from Shaw almost resulted in Memphis' opening Reds strike after a Rooney dummy, but the Quakes just about managed to clear the danger.

The Reds continued to look a threat – on both wings. Shaw and Young combined well on the left, while, on the opposite side, Mata enjoyed some neat link-up play with Darmian who showed his eye for attacking on a number of occasions inside the opening 45 minutes.

It was the left side that proved to be the most fruitful for van Gaal’s men as the half drew to a close. Young went on another forward run and pulled the ball back for Mata on the edge of the area. After taking a touch in the box he fired a low shot past Bingham and, although Memphis nearly got the final touch, it was Mata's goal. Four minutes later, Memphis did get his name on the scoresheet as he capitalised on a loose backpass from Jean Baptiste Pierazzi to calmly slot home.

It had been all United up to that point but the Quakes, playing in their home stadium, weren’t going down without a fight and, three minutes before the break, Fatai Alashe's low sliding finish pulled a goal back.

It was all change for the Reds as van Gaal brought on the same outfield players who featured in the second half at CenturyLink Field, although Johnstone remained in goal due to fitness concerns over David De Gea and Anders Lindegaard. There was one tactical tweak as Adnan Januzaj went on the left to allow Pereira to the no.10 role.

And it was Pereira who restored the Reds’ two-goal advantage after the hour mark with a fine headed finish from Jesse Lingard’s curling cross. It was the Brazilian Under-20 international’s first senior goal and you could see how much it meant from his celebration.

One of the Earthquakes' raft of half-time changes, former Liverpool youth-teamer Marc Pelosi, blasted an excellent drive just over the bar, while the last chance fell to Chris Smalling, but the defender couldn’t keep his half-volley down from a corner after the Earthquakes keeper totally misjudged the flight of the cross.