Ruud and Rio in bust-up as United crash

RUUD van Nistelrooy’s anger spilled over again in Tokyo last night as the Dutch striker was involved in a furious face-to-face row with Rio Ferdinand.

The Dutch striker, who was involved in ugly incidents with opposition players during the first two matches of United’s pre-season tour, turned his ire on a team-mate at the National Stadium as the Red Devils slipped to a 2-1 defeat to Kashima Antlers.

Van Nistelrooy has yet to score on United’s Far East trip and his frustration came to the fore again close to the end of last night’s contest when Ferdinand hesitated over a routine pass to the striker from the halfway line and allowed himself to be tackled.

The incident brought furious gesticulating from van Nistelrooy, who had been lurking on the edge of the area waiting for a pass. And the former PSV man’s anger had clearly still not subsided at the final whistle as he clashed with Ferdinand, who exchanged obscenities over the matter.

The incident also capped a troublesome night for Ferdinand, who was booed and barracked during the game by at least one United supporter in the 40,000 crowd.

The England defender was heckled during the pre-season friendly wins at Clyde and Peterborough by United supporters angry at his refusal to sign a lucrative £100,000-a-week contract.

United will learn their Champions League qualifying opponents today with Ferguson desperately hoping his team can find their shooting boots in the next fortnight.

Despite dominating much of the second-half against Kashima the Red Devils had already missed half a dozen decent chances when Park Ji-Sung blazed the best opportunity over the crossbar from six yards eight minutes from time, leaving Ferguson’s men to watch their 100% pre-season record slip away like the earthquake which rippled through the National Stadium midway through the first-half.

While the result is irrelevant in terms of United’s chances of success this term, the manner of the defeat was a worrying reminder of their failure to find the net on a consistent basis 12 months ago, the sorry effort neatly summed up by their FA Cup final blank against Arsenal in May.

With Italian outfit Udinese, progressive Spanish contenders Real Betis and crack Czech side Slavia Prague among the potential foes for a place in the group stage of Europe’s premier club competition, the United boss has his fingers crossed the renewed striking worries are not the start of a repeat performance.

The United camp may not be quite as relaxed should today’s draw in Nyon pit them with one of the three or four clubs they would prefer to avoid, Celtic’s stunning demise in Slovakia providing a timely reminder nothing can be taken for granted.

At least Ferguson can content himself in the knowledge his team are creating the chances to miss, with Cristiano Ronaldo threatening danger every time he gets possession.

The Portuguese youngster was creating so many problems for the beleaguered Kashima defence they probably didn’t even notice the tremor from an earthquake whose epicentre was over 100 miles from the Japanese capital.

Impressive striker Masashi Motoyama did the damage to United with two blistering volleys either side of a close-range Ryan Giggs effort and but for Tim Howard’s agility, the 26-year-old would have had a hat-trick.

Ferguson also revealed that skipper Roy Keane will play in United’s final friendly against Royal Antwerp next Wednesday.