Manchester United's post-season tour of Asia moves on to Hong Kong as they take on the national team in their latest Far East glamour friendly.
The last thing players want at the end of a demanding season is to jump on a long-haul flight then drag their weary bodies through another couple of games.
It's all about pressing the flesh and putting in PR work for Ruben Amorim and his troops but the reason why fans buy tickets is they want to see their heroes in action.
The Red Devils kicked off their tour on a sour note as they lost 1-0 against the ASEAN All Stars on Wednesday in Malaysia and there's a quick turnaround with this clash in Hong Kong coming just two days later.
Hong Kong will represent a different challenge to United than the ASEAN All-Stars, a representative team made up of players from several different countries.
This is an outfit who regularly play together in international tournaments so they'll be determined to claim the scalp of the Red Devils and heap more embarrassment on Amorim's embattled squad.
How the bookies view it: Toiling United still hot favourites
Any punters who had a nibble on the All Stars before kick-off at 17/1 in midweek will still be celebrating. United's poor display in that game has shortened Hong Kong's odds for this one but they're still outsiders at 8/1 with Bet365. The Red Devils are 1/6 favourites and the draw pays 6/1.
Head to head: United back for more
These teams faced off back in 2005 when Manchester United claimed a 2-0 win over a Hong Kong XI thanks to goals from Giuseppe Rossi and Dong Fangzhuo. The Red Devils last visited in 2013 and beat club side Kitchee 5-2 just weeks after David Moyes was unveiled as Alex Ferguson's successor.
Players to watch: Obi's the one
With the close turnaround in games, I'd imagine the United boss will make lots of changes. Youngster Chido Obi could start in attack and could be worth a punt if an anytime scorer market is priced up.
Hong Kong should go quite strong and French-born Raphael Merkies could be a threat. The 23-year-old winger plays for Chinese top-tier side Shandong Taishan and scored in the recent friendly win over Macau.
Predicted line-ups
It was telling that Amorim started Bruno Fernandes and Alejandro Garnacho on the bench in midweek, with both players being linked with moves away from Old Trafford. It's understood both will feature at some point in this one but Harry Maguire, Andre Onana and Diogo Dalot will sit it out.
Hong Kong: Wing, Gerbig, Jones, Sun, Orr, Dudu, Camargo, Fernando, Benavides, Juninho, Merkies.
Manchester United: Bayindir, Evans, Amass, Fredricson, Collyer, Fernandes, T Fletcher, Lacey, Amad, Garnacho, Obi.
Anything else catch the eye?
We only saw two goals when these sides last faced off two decades ago and betting against a lot of action could pay off again here too. It should be played a pretty pedestrian pace in the heat but there's not many goal markets to bet on. Bet365 only have prices for over and under 2.5 goals, with the under bet paying 3/1.
Strangely, they do have a different goal range in their bet builder and combining a United win with under four goals looks decent at 15/8.
It's hard finding bets with so few markets available and only Bet365 having prices right now. Playing about with the bet builder is the best option and combining United to win the first half with either and odd or even number of match goals pays 15/8. I'm going to go with odd.
Adding correct scores in a bet builder also gives you decent prices and backing United to win 2-0 pays 9/1 while 3-0 is a little shorter at 17/2.
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