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If it's not abandoned, due to inclement weather, Manchester United will take on Kitchee FC in Hong Kong on Monday for the final friendly of their Asian and Australian 2013 pre-season tour. Afterwards, the club will fly back to Europe to resume the remainder of their preparations for the fast-approaching 2013-14 campaign.
A handful of players continue to be unavailable on this tour: Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic, and Nani are tending to knocks at Carrington while Javier Hernandez (Chicharito), Antonio Valencia, Angelo Henriquez, and Guillermo Varela have been given extended rests this summer after their relatively recent involvement for their respective national teams. Shinji Kagawa recently joined up with the club for two friendlies in his homeland of Japan, however, he will excused from tour duty in Hong Kong due to him also needing more rest:
"We've given Shinji more holiday because of his football with Japan in the summer. We try and give all players four weeks, if possible, and Shinji hasn't quite had that time. So we'll give him another week's rest. I think Shinji's going to do some training with the club, so he can have some more time at home in Japan. He'll do some training here."
- David Moyes
Michael Carrick has been dealing with a tight groin as of late so he's possible to be spared from Monday's action as well. David Moyes might be inclined to be even more cautious than usual due to the poor conditions of the pitch at Hong Kong Stadium -- an open training session has already been cancelled due to torrential rainfall. Jonny Evans isn't expected to feature either according to the manager:
"Jonny has a bit of bone bruising in his foot and just felt it's not really improved that much. We don't want to take any chance with it."
- Moyes
Here's a full listing of the current squad in Hong Kong:
* Goalkeepers: David de Gea, Anders Lindegaard, Ben Amos
* Defenders: Rio Ferdinand, Jonny Evans, Phil Jones, Michael Keane, Rafael, Fabio, Alexander Buttner, Patrice Evra, Chris Smalling
* Midfielders: Michael Carrick, Tom Cleverley, Anderson, Ryan Giggs, Wilfried Zaha, Jesse Lingard, Adnan Januzaj, Ashley Young
* Forwards: Danny Welbeck, Robin van Persie
The heat and humidity in Japan was difficult to deal with for the English club so it's possible that some of the players who prominently featured are given a bit of rest in Hong Kong. For example, 34-year-old Rio Ferdinand went the full 90 minutes in Osaka while 39-year-old Ryan Giggs went 79 minutes -- it's possible the participation of both could be limited. Danny Welbeck, Anders Lindegaard, and Chris Smalling are other players that went the full 90 minutes during Friday's friendly. With Evans out, and with Ferdinand possibly be given a rest, we could get another look at youngster Michael Keane at center-back. The stars of the tour have undoubtedly been youngsters Wilfried Zaha, Adnan Januzaj, and Jesse Lingaard. Each of them are likely to feature in Hong Kong.