Good evening ladies and gentlemen and you're very welcome to Sports Mole's coverage of Manchester United's pre-season friendly with Italian giants AS Roma at Sports Authority Field in the United States tonight.

We're in Denver, to be exact, the land of quite a famous mountain range, but it was anything but rocky for United on Thursday as new manager Louis van Gaal kicked off his governance with a staggering 7-0 win over Los Angeles Galaxy in Pasadena. The challenge of last season's runners-up in Serie A will surely prove a far sterner test, however.

Right, let's get cracking on the team news first and foremost and we can see what's what.

Roma: Skorupski; Calabresi, Benatia, Romagnoli, Emanuelson; Uçan, Keita, Paredes; Iturbe, Destro, Florenzi

Manchester United: Johnstone; Jones, Evans, Blackett; Valencia, Cleverley, Herrera, James, Mata; Welbeck, Rooney

There are some interesting inclusions from Van Gaal, namely those of youngsters Sam Johnstone and Tyler Blackett. Ander Herrera, who dazzled on his debut against Galaxy, retains his place alongside Tom Cleverley in midfield, while Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck spearhead the attack once more.

Rafael is the only one of United's 26-man squad not on the bench tonight, as injury rules the defender out of the club's first of at least three Guinness Cup encounters, with clashes with Real Madrid and Inter Milan to follow this one in the coming days.

For Roma, meanwhile, there's no sign of Premier League veteran Ashley Cole in Rudi Garcia's first XI. There is, however, places for their other high-profile summer signings Juan Iturbe, Urby Emmanuelson and Seydou Keita.

And, how could we forget? It's the first United team sheet in the post-Bebe era! Will they miss him? We're being flippant of course, and we'll be honouring the recently departed a little later with a Vine of his best bits so stay tuned for that. No we're still being flippant.

Much has been made over who will be awarded the captaincy next season, with Robin van Persie favourite for the armband but Wayne Rooney recently said that he would like the responsibility. It'll be Tom Cleverley leading United out tonight and we expect this one to get underway in about 20 minutes!

It will be quite interesting to see how Tom Cleverley does tonight. The 24-year-old midfielder was speaking to the press recently about he is Van Gaal's type of player. He'll want to give a good showing tonight after a relatively mixed last season term.

KICKOFF: And we're off! Roma get us underway in Denver, my friends. United seem to be debuting their brand spanking new white kit. Let's go.

CHANCE!!! Oh my word it probably should be 1-0 to Roma here folks, as Juan Iturbe beats the offside trap to latch on to an over-the-top ball but, with young goalkeeper Sam Johnstone racing toward him, the midfielder attempted to lob the stopper and his effort bounced narrowly over the bar. Van Gaal's 3-5-2 got rave reviews at the World Cup but questions would've been asked had that gone in.

Most, if not all, of you will remember how United ruthlessly thrashed their Italian counterparts 7-1 at Old Trafford in 2007. How could we forget it? But they'll do very well to get half that amount tonight as Roma look far and away the better side thus far.

United starting to develop a foothold here but yet to really test Roma's defence. The Giallorossi, on the other hand, look menacing with each attack! I'm looking forward to this one.

Some worrying moments from 21-year-old goalkeeper Sam Johnstone thus far. The youngster came haring out of his goal for Iturbe's early chance, and very nearly just squared the ball right to the Argentine a moment ago. Still, nerves are inevitable to his credit. He has been on the first-team tour before, but he'll want to make an impression for the new boss, won't he.

Tom Cleverley is a lucky, lucky boy. The midfielder was dispossessed deep in United's half but, with a player advancing on each side of him, Destro is caught in two minds and shoots before Phil Jones gets his body in the way. We talked about wanting to impress Van Gaal, but that's certainly not a way to endear yourself to the new coach.

Fairly even so far. Roma have had the best and only chance of the contest but United have done well to recover from the early scare and have knocked it around nicely when they've had it.

Roma have a free kick deep in United's half and the referee uses a spray to mark out the 10-yard point for the wall to stand. I'm nostalgic now. Hold me.

As if the spray wasn't enough to make us miss the World Cup, the referee has just ordered a drinks break to combat the heat in Colorado. Van Gaal used these intervals to his team's advantage on one occasion in Brazil, and soon scored directly after it. Let's see if the break has the same effect here!

YELLOW CARD: Arturo Calabresi is slightly lucky this is a friendly because the defender arguably just committed a red-card offence, going in late and high on Danny Welbeck. Fortunately, the United forward is okay to continue. NFL outfit Denver Broncos play in this stadium, and if Calabresi plays his cards right he might get a trial!

SAVE!! Good, solid save there from Johnstone, who does well to hold on to Ucan's stinging snap shot. That'll settle the youngster down somewhat.

This is magic from Wayne Rooney. Roma's defence make the fatal error of not closing down the striker, who takes aim from outside the box to give United a slender lead. It's a stunning finish, somewhat against the run of play, too!

IT'S TWO! United score twice in as many minutes and it's Juan Mata this time, who latches on to Rooney's excellent long ball before chipping the ball over Skorupski. Rooney was speaking about getting the captaincy prior to this encounter and he has certainly enhanced his chances tonight!

What a crazy last few minutes in Denver ladies and gents! Rooney makes it THREE before the break, as Urby Emmanuelson was adjudged to have fouled Danny Welbeck in the area, and Rooney slammed home the resulting penalty to bag his second and give United a seemingly unassailable lead. He couldn't endear himself better to Van Gaal if he started speaking Dutch and saving penalties!

Have we caught our breath? Good. United, somehow, lead this one by a three-goal margin, despite the scores being level at 35 minutes! The reason? Wayne Rooney. The striker has really come to the fore tonight, opening the scoring with a superb 25-yard hit, before producing an excellent assist for Juan Mata moments later. If that wasn't enough then Rooney soon converted a penalty on the stroke of half time to cap a wild 10-minute spell in Denver.

If we're keeping count, that's 10 goals in 135 minutes of play in the Van Gaal era so far, my friends. Penny for the thoughts of Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger and Manuel Pellegrini at this time.

There's no fewer than nine changes coming up for United in this half, folks. Stay tuned and I'll have these for you very soon. I can, however, tell you that Tyler Blackett and Tom Cleverley are the only ones to have survived from the first half.

SECOND HALF: We're back underway in Denver ladies and gents. Is it a case of holding on to what you've got, or do you continue attacking to give us maximum value? We'll soon find out.

Good start to this second half by Roma, as Destro fires into Ben Amos's side-netting after forcing his way through on goal. Ashley Cole, by the way, has come on for the Italians. He'll be charged with the task of keeping Nani in check throughout the remaining 40 minutes or so.

United's second half XI, as promised: Amos; M Keane, Smalling, Blackett; Young, Cleverley (c), Kagawa, Shaw; Nani, Lingard, W Keane

CHANCE! United start this second half in similar peril as they began the first, as Florenzi volleys narrowly wide of the post following Ljajic's clever cut-back pass. There's a little more margin for error for the Red Devils, however!

BOOKING: Ashley Young goes into the referees book for a pour challenge on Benatia.

There's a couple of quite large sandy areas on the side of this field. It's unclear why, but the United players could spend the last 10 minutes using it as a make-shift beach if the scores remain the same. Aside from Florenzi's effort, Roma don't look like reducing this deficit as of yet. Plenty of time though!

Javier Hernandez looks poised to come on here. The prospective switch has gone down well with some fans, who repeatedly chant "Chicharito" after catching a glimpse of the Mexican striker warming up.

SUBSTITUTION: Few subs to tell you about now as Tom Cleverley is replaced by Hernandez, while Francesco Totti is one of FIVE changes made by Roma boss Rudi Garcia, with Pjanic, Balasa, Sanabria, Borriello also replacing Benatia, Florenzi, Destro, Keita, Uçan.

Some 18 minutes remaining and United looking very, very comfortable.

Miralem Pjanic has taken a leaf out of David Beckham's and Wayne Rooney's book of incredible goals and scored from inside his own half! The Serbian caught Ben Amos off his line and launched an outrageous effort which glided into the back of the net from all of 60 yards. If Denver Broncos need a field-goal kicker next season they knew whose door to knock on.

CHANCE! The game opens up a bit as Nani spurns a good chance to restore United's three-goal lead, evading a number of challenges but fires straight into the keeper's arms after having a good sight at goal. Roma have failed to build on that wonder goal from Pjanic and now only have some 10 minutes left in which to score twice.

SAVE! Amos, whose positioning may have been a little suspect for the Pjanic goal, makes amends and thensome now by superbly tipping Boriello's goal-bound overhead against the post. Excellent save. It certainly would have made the last seven or eight minutes interesting had they scored.

Balasa denied United an almost certain goal, as the defender produces an excellent last-ditch tackle to deny Will Keane a simple tap-in following Ashley Cole's superb bending cross. Three minutes remaining.

Francesco Totti steps up and confident slams a penalty beyond Ben Amos after Will Keane was adjudged to have handled the ball in the area. Game on!

THREE MINUTES ADDED ON: We're going to penalties if Roma find an equaliser, my friends!

That's all she wrote, folks. United survive a spirited comeback from Roma to kick-start their pre-season Guinness Cup campaign with a win.

A Wayne Rooney masterclass in a frenetic 10-minute spell at the end of the first half helped United into a three-goal lead at the break. Miralem Pjanic reduced the deficit with a 60-yard cracker from his own half, before a Francesco Totti penalty gave Roma a glimmer of hope. It wasn't to be, however, as the Red Devils held on for their second win stateside following Thursday's demolition of LA Galaxy.

As ever, thank you for tuning into Sports Mole's live coverage of the clash. But if that pre-season cracker has only served to peak your hunger then join my colleague Alex Meyers for the second half of Arsenal's trip to New York Red Bulls. For now, it's bye for me. Cheers.