Australian option dismissed by Man Utd

Manchester United have decided against a trip to Australia to replace their cancelled visit to Indonesia.

United were due in Jakarta immediately after their encounter with a Malaysia XI in Kuala Lumpur but those plans were scrapped following the ***** attacks, one of which was in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel where they were due to be staying.

The Football Federation of Australia moved quickly to see whether United would have been interested in tackling either Sydney FC or Melbourne Victory instead.

However, the extra travel - it would have meant a nine-hour flight to Sydney and then 11 hours up to Seoul, where United are set to play on Friday - made it a non-starter given they are heading back to Europe straight after a game on the Sunday in China.

"We were planning to pull out all the stops to make it happen," admitted FFA director of communications Bonita Mersiades.

"However, their commitments meant the game could only be played on Monday, which we were willing to organise, but there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing on their side, so unfortunately it wasn't possible."