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Manchester City kicked off their pre-season tour of North America with a comfortable victory over Mexican side Club America.

Ryan McGivern and Shaun Wright-Phillips were on target in the first half for Roberto Mancini’s team in front of 11,250 fans at AT&T Park.

Summer signings Stefan Savic and Gael Clichy were handed debuts along with Swiss youngster Freddie Veseli in an unfamiliar starting line-up.

Northern Ireland defender McGivern opened the scoring after 17 minutes, pouncing on the loose ball and curling home a neat finish after Edin Dzeko’s effort had been cleared.

Ten minutes later, City had their second. Wright-Phillips, who had set up Dzeko in the build-up to the first goal, picked up possession outside the box and lashed a low drive into the bottom-right corner.

Of the team that played in the first half, only Vladimir Weiss remained on the pitch after the interval as Mancini made 10 changes to give the rest of his squad a run-out.

John Guidetti struck the post in the final minute but there was to be no third goal.

City continue their preparations for the new campaign with a game against Vancouver Whitecaps on Monday.

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Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has confirmed that he will begin looking elsewhere if Tottenham maintain their stance on want-away midfielder Luka Modric.

The Blues are reportedly set to place a £30 million bid for Modric after their £27 million offer was dismissed out of hand last week. Tottenham have repeatedly stated they do not wish to sell the Croatian playmaker, with manager Harry Redknapp apparently rejecting Modric’s written transfer request late last week.

Villas-Boas also confirmed the club are hunting West Ham’s Scott Parker.

“You know what the situation is, it is public,” he told reporters after Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Portsmouth. “You can understand the position that the club has taken.

“At the moment we are scanning the market for everything and not just those two players. [Modric plays in] one of the positions we are looking to strengthen. But here you saw we adapted Yossi [Benayoun]‘s position in the middle and also against Wycombe he was marvellous in the position.

“It is just a question of finding the solution. If it happens it happens, if it doesn’t happen it doesn’t happen.

“It does not depend on us. Spurs have a right to defend their player and property. We just have to wait,” he added. “We respect whatever position Tottenham takes and the prices we are talking about is an incredible amount of money.”

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West Brom have confirmed they intend to meet with Owen Hargreaves as early as next week as they continue their interest in the former England international.

The Baggies have already been in contact with Hargreaves, who was released by Manchester United after playing only 27 games in the past four years due to chronic knee problems.

Albion’s sporting and technical director Dan Ashworth insists West Brom contacted Hargreaves well before the player released his YouTube clips in an attempt to dispel doubts about his fitness.

Ashworth said on his club’s official website: “We have been in talks with Owen. He’s based over in the United States at the moment so we might try to get to meet him in the next week or so and see if he would consider coming to us.

“If Owen is fit to play Premier League football, it is a no-brainer. Make no mistake, Owen Hargreaves is a fantastic player. He’s shown he’s a top, top player from his England, Manchester United and Bayern Munich days.

“Obviously, Owen has had a few medical issues over the last few years. But we would be absolutely delighted to get a fit Owen Hargreaves. That would be a wonderful signing for us.”

Ashworth added: “The three things we’ve got going for us are: one, we’re in the Premier League, which is attractive in itself; the second thing is we’ve got a fantastic medical team. We had an unbelievable hit-rate last season in terms of player availability.

“I think that’s attractive to Owen, that we’ve got a proven track record in the last couple of years of maintaining players and keeping them out on the pitch, which is the most important thing.

“Thirdly, we were the first club to contact him. He’s told me that, and he appreciates that. I’d like to think we’ve got a chance – but Owen has plenty of other options as well.”

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Real Madrid began their pre-season tour of the United States with a comfortable 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night.

David Beckham wore the captain’s armband for the Major League Soccer side but was unable to prevent his former team running out convincing winners in front of a crowd of 56,211 at the LA Coliseum.

Jose Callejon opened the scoring for Jose Mourinho’s side on the half-hour mark and Joselu doubled their advantage six minutes before the break.

Half-time substitute Cristiano Ronaldo then added his name to the scoresheet in the 52nd minute with a fine individual effort before France international Karim Benzema made it 4-0 five minutes later.

However, Adam Cristman was on hand to head home a consolation goal for the Galaxy late on to cut the deficit to three.

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The Seattle Sounders kept up the pressure on the Western Conference-leading Los Angeles Galaxy with a 4-3 Major League Soccer win over the Colorado Rapids.

The Rapids were twice ahead in the match, through Wells Thompson and then Jeff Larentowitcz, but first Alvaro Fernandez and then Roger Levesque got the Sounders back on level terms before Freddy Montero and Mauro Rosales put them in the driving seat in the final 10 minutes.

Caleb Folan grabbed a late consolation for Colorado but they could not force a leveller as Seattle moved within a point of the Galaxy, albeit having played a game more as Los Angelese took part in a friendly match against Real Madrid.

Elsewhere, Jack Jewsbury’s 25th-minute penalty earned the Portland Timbers a 1-0 triumph at the Chicago Fire, the hosts’ cause not helped by the 63rd-minute dismissal of Yamith Cuesta.

The Eastern Conference-leading New York Red Bulls were held to a 0-0 draw at Chivas USA.

The Columbus Crew‘s clash with the San Jose Earthquakes and FC Dallas‘ home game against DC United also ended in goalless stalemates.

Aurelien Collin’s last-minute equaliser, meanwhile, earned Sporting Kansas City a 1-1 draw against nine-man Houston Dynamo. The hosts, who opened the scoring through Brad Davis, had Colin Clark and Brian Ching sent off in the second-half.

The Vancouver Whitecaps‘ game against Real Salt Lake was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

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