United rout Sounders

Wayne Rooney scored a hat-trick in the space of 21 minutes in the second half late Wednesday as Manchester United routed the Seattle Sounders 7-0 in a friendly.

Michael Owen set the tone in the 15th minute, beating former Premier League foe Kasey Keller with a header to open the scoring.

The score remained 1-0 at half-time largely thanks to a superb save by Sounders keeper Keller on Owen late in the half.

After the interval, however, the English Premier League champions took charge with the addition of second-half subs including Rooney, Park Ji-Sung and Mame Biram Diouf.

Diouf scored just four minutes after half-time. Rooney scored in the 51st, 69th and 72nd minutes. Park squeezed in a goal in the 71st and Gabriel Obertan completed the scoring in the 88th.

The match was the second stop on United’s pre-season tour of North America.

They head to Chicago for a match against Seattle’s Major League Soccer rivals, Chicago Fire, tomorrow and will take on the MLS All-Stars at Red Bull Arena in New York next Wednesday.

United will wrap up their tour with a Champions League final re-match against Barcelona on July 30 in Washington.

Seattle, who are on a nine-game unbeaten streak in MLS matches, kept it close for a time, missing several scoring opportunities.

Rooney, roaming the pitch, found himself unmarked early in the second half when he took a pass from Nani and lofted a shot over back-up Sounders keeper Terry Boss.

He was alone again when he received a pass from Park, turned and beat Boss with a left-foot shot.

Rooney capped his night by slotting home the ball in a scramble in front of the goal.