Kagawa scores as Untied clinch narrow win over Shanghai

 SHANGHAI, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Japan star Shinji Kagawa bagged his first goal for Manchester United here on Wednesday, inspiring the Red Devils to beat Shanghai Shenhua 1-0 at the Shanghai Stadium .

Kagawa,who has joined from German champions Borussia Dortmund, breaking the deadlock¹ on 68 minutes when he collected Bebe's brilliant cross to find the net despite a dodgy first-touch.

"Kagawa was man of the match and I thought he deserved that. He has settled in really well and is going to be a really good player for us. I was really impressed with him tonight," said United manager Alex Ferguson.

This was the only pre-season match for United in Asia this summer, which drew a crowd of 42,725 local fans.

Without former Chelsea stars Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka, Shanghai was trying to take advantage on the counter-attack. Joel Griffith had a great look at the goal in the 42nd minute, but United goalkeeper Lindegaard thwarted² the ball with his right elbow.

Asked about the reason for Drogba's absence, team manager Sergio Batista said:"Drogba is suffering from a back injury, and We need to save the energy for an very important match this weekend."

Shanghai just won four of their eighteen matches to lie 12th in the Chinese Super League. They will encounter league leaders Guangzhou on Saturday.

Although keeping possession for lengthy³ periods in first half's majority of time, the Red Devils just found one golden chance, made by Davide Petrucci on 23 minute.

The 20-year-old Italy attacker chipped a lovely ball over the Shanghai defence, but the new signing Nick Powell scuffed⁴ his left-footed effort wide of the far post.

Ferguson rang the changes at the beginning of the second half, bringing on Bebe to provide more offensive punch. The Portuguese⁵ forward split the Shenhua defence on 68 minutes and crossed from the left to assist Kagawa to seal the victory.

1 deadlock   

n.僵局，僵持

参考例句：

• The negotiations reached a deadlock after two hours.两小时后，谈判陷入了僵局。
• The employers and strikers are at a deadlock over the wage.雇主和罢工者在工资问题上相持不下。

2 thwarted   

阻挠( thwart的过去式和过去分词 )； 使受挫折； 挫败； 横过

参考例句：

• The guards thwarted his attempt to escape from prison. 警卫阻扰了他越狱的企图。
• Our plans for a picnic were thwarted by the rain. 我们的野餐计划因雨受挫。

3 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

4 scuffed   

v.使磨损( scuff的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚走

参考例句：

• I scuffed the heel of my shoe on the stonework. 我的鞋跟儿给铺好的石头磨坏了。
• Polly dropped her head and scuffed her feet. 波莉低下头拖着脚走开了。 来自辞典例句

5 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。