Reds Pass Altitude Test In Utah

Six hours before kick-off in Utah, Real Salt Lake owner Dell Loy Hansen met a group of Manchester United staff with a smile and a firm handshake. He was personable and oozed the charisma of a self-made man, as he talked up one of the "biggest events" in his club’s young history.

He thanked us for visiting his team in the suburban city of Sandy, joked about our English accents and left at pace with new friends in the bag. His positive attitude was omnipresent throughout Real Salt Lake, a relatively small but aspirational operation where the staff are all on first name terms. It was a friendly place to be and everybody was clearly delighted to have United in town for the day.

Specifically, the Reds were at the Rio Tinto Stadium, a quirky 20,213-seat venue that is set against the backdrop of the Wasatch and Oquirrh mountain ranges. They are vast and sprawling, providing a genuinely stunning view that is seldom seen behind football grounds. As much as we love the Manchester Ship Canal beside Old Trafford, it cannot compete with such an awesome scene as that.

Yet for all of its beauty, the home of RSL wields a hidden threat – altitude! Due it standing at 4,500 feet above sea level, the air is thick and packed with Oxygen, providing an environment that would be fit for long-distance runners to train for marathons, rendering this a tough place to play football.

Having arrived ludicrously early following a flight from L.A., this writer went for an ill-advised run around the pitch and just about managed 10 painful laps, before stopping to regain some breath and composure. It was tough and the idea of playing 11-a-side was wholly unattractive at that time.

The weather also posed a challenge. In the afternoon the heat was searing at an intimidating 40 degrees, ahead of a forecasted storm that rolled in 5pm and prompted an official warning for fans to take shelter indoors, as the giant USA flag hanging patriotically at one end of the stadium almost blew away.

Bizarrely, however, after a spell of fork lightning and powerful winds, a rainbow emerged and the scorching heat returned. A security guard outside the press box was amazed, telling me: “Man we haven’t had weather like that since it snowed in April. It’s crazy how it coincided with you guys turning up!”

Unflustered, Mourinho actually saw the adverse conditions as a positive with the start of the season approaching. “Everybody says it is very difficult to play here because of the altitude and because of the conditions,” he told us. “It is an extra difficulty for us and in pre-season what we need are difficulties.

"We are going to have that during the season. Sometimes it is cold, sometimes it is warm, maybe we go to Macedonia for the Super Cup and it it is very warm. But then we start the Premier League in an English stadium and we have a little storm. So we have to adapt. It is good for us.”

As planned the manager fielded two separate XIs in the first and second halves, giving every player 45 minutes of game time as Tour 2017 gathers pace in week two. Although it was fairly comfortable, the 2-1 win was a solid workout and one that will benefit the Reds, particularly with the more competitive International Champions Cup matches against Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona to come.

Fresh from scoring his first goal for the club, Romelu Lukaku spoke to us and admitted the altitude played a big part in the team's performances. "The last five minutes before the end of the first half were tough," he said. "Physically we worked really hard and in the second half we created a lot of chances. We didn’t score but at least physically everyone is healthy and working hard, which is good for us."

The players presumably felt jaded when they left the Rio Tinto Stadium, after a morning flight from L.A. and a match played at altitude in stifling heat, yet the benefits are obvious. This was a physical examination that was passed with flying colours, while Tour 2017 builds momentum in week two.

Like the Rio Tinto Stadium, United are only at the foot of the mountain, yet Jose Mourinho’s men are determined to reach the summit this season and feel confident about the climb ahead.