Ethan had given New Manchester United its identity.
From the moment the club was founded, he had treated it almost like a child, protecting it through its earliest years, guiding it as it grew and refusing to let success change the principles on which it had been built.
That mattered more than ever now.
The club's commercial growth had become extraordinary.
Its new sponsorship agreements had broken records.
Its American tour had created enormous attention.
Goal! had become a worldwide box-office phenomenon.
Commercial analysts were beginning to describe New Manchester United as the new standard for football business, placing the club alongside, and in some areas ahead of, Manchester United and Real Madrid.
None of that meant New Manchester United had surrendered itself to commercial interests.
Ethan had always imposed one fundamental restriction on Mark Davey's department.
The commercial side could maximise everything surrounding the football.
It could negotiate sponsorships.
Build international partnerships.
Develop retail businesses.
Create media projects.
Organise tours.
But once a decision affected the team at Newton Heath, Mourinho and the football staff had the final word.
That separation had existed almost from the beginning.
The club was now vastly larger.
There were far more employees.
The players were worth hundreds of millions collectively.
The commercial department handled deals Ethan could barely have imagined seven years earlier.
The principle had not changed.
Football decisions belonged to football people.
Ethan had seen too many clubs lose sight of that balance.
The man sitting beside him at Giants Stadium understood the danger better than most, even if Ethan sometimes wondered whether he recognised it quickly enough.
Florentino Pérez.
Real Madrid remained one of the most powerful institutions in world football.
They had also experienced another turbulent summer.
Vicente del Bosque had gone.
Luís Figo and Santiago Solari had moved on.
Júlio Baptista had arrived.
Vanderlei Luxemburgo had been appointed to reshape the team.
Once again, Madrid had dominated transfer speculation.
Once again, the club's name filled newspapers across Europe.
But transfer windows were one thing.
Matches were another.
Against New Manchester United, the difference was immediately obvious.
Mourinho had no interest in treating the Audi Cup as a competition that had to be won at all costs.
He wanted minutes in the players' legs and information about their condition.
The squad was therefore split almost into two groups, with many players scheduled to play only one half.
Even so, New Manchester United led 2-0 by the interval.
Ribéry scored the first.
It was a magnificent strike from outside the penalty area.
Drogba added the second.
Ethan had not expected Real Madrid to look quite so vulnerable.
Even allowing for the fact that Luxemburgo's team had only recently begun pre-season, their problems appeared deeper than fitness.
Zidane looked short of sharpness.
Ronaldo Nazário was struggling to influence the game.
Juninho Paulista and Makélélé worked relentlessly in midfield, but too much responsibility fell on them.
At the back, Walter Samuel often seemed to be defending against waves of attacks almost by himself.
Real Madrid possessed extraordinary individual talent.
They did not look like a coherent side.
Florentino's attention, however, had already shifted elsewhere.
He was watching Ribéry.
"He's exceptional," the Real Madrid president said.
The Frenchman had just scored from distance, and Florentino's reaction did not surprise Ethan at all.
Florentino loved brilliance.
Spectacular footballers fascinated him.
He wanted players capable of making a stadium rise from its seats.
That instinct had built the Galácticos.
It had also contributed to some of Real Madrid's problems.
"He is," Ethan replied.
"He'll be an important player for us this season."
Florentino smiled immediately.
He understood the answer.
Ribéry was not for sale.
There was no reason to make the conversation uncomfortable.
Florentino had negotiated enough major deals to recognise a polite refusal.
"He still lacks consistency," Ethan added. "That's the next step for him."
That was Mourinho's view as well.
Ribéry could be devastating.
On his best days, his acceleration, aggression and unpredictability made him almost impossible to contain.
On other days, his decision-making disappeared and entire attacks broke down at his feet.
At twenty-two, he was still learning how to influence matches when everything was not going his way.
That was part of developing young players.
Talent was rarely the problem.
Consistency was.
Patience mattered.
Florentino had never been particularly famous for patience.
He expected excellence.
When something appeared imperfect, his instinct was often to replace it.
That was one reason Ethan had advised him repeatedly not to make decisions too quickly.
"Silva and Mata are progressing well," Florentino said after a while. "Your recommendations were useful."
Ethan smiled.
"They're talented players. The important thing is giving them enough time."
"Luxemburgo is capable too. If you've chosen him, you need to support him."
Florentino nodded, although Ethan was not certain the message had truly registered.
That was the difficulty of advising a man like Florentino Pérez.
He listened.
He considered.
Then he did what he believed was right anyway.
Their relationship had always contained both friendship and competition.
That balance had become even more obvious during the American tour.
Florentino had seen New Manchester United's influence in the United States at close range.
The Apple partnership.
The Adidas technology project.
The agreement with AEG.
The football academies.
The Hollywood film.
The commercial response to Goal!
Even Real Madrid, with all their history and global recognition, had reason to study what New Manchester United were doing.
Florentino did not enjoy being overtaken in any area.
Ethan knew that.
Florentino knew Ethan knew it.
Neither needed to say anything.
Real Madrid's own commercial transformation had been extraordinary.
Florentino's original project had worked.
He had brought some of football's biggest names to Madrid.
Revenue had soared.
The club's debts had become manageable.
Its global profile had grown even larger.
The sporting success had been substantial too.
Across the closing years of Lorenzo Sanz's presidency and the opening years of Florentino's, Real Madrid had won the Champions League repeatedly and established themselves as Europe's defining club of the era.
But even the greatest players aged.
Figo had aged.
Zidane was ageing.
Ronaldo was no longer physically the same striker he had once been.
A team built around superstars eventually needed a new generation.
That transition had not been handled smoothly.
David Silva and Juan Mata possessed enormous potential, but neither was ready to carry Real Madrid yet.
Some established targets could not be signed.
Others arrived without solving the underlying problems.
The result was a squad trapped between generations.
New Manchester United had followed a different path.
The club replaced players gradually.
Young footballers entered the squad before older ones declined completely.
Recruitment was based on roles rather than fame.
Players were often bought cheaply, developed and either retained as first-team stars or sold for enormous profits.
The squad changed every year without ever feeling rebuilt from scratch.
That continuity was now obvious on the pitch.
Real Madrid had the famous names.
New Manchester United had the control.
Mourinho's side pressed more coherently.
Their movements were better coordinated.
They regained possession more quickly.
Madrid's stars were repeatedly forced backwards.
For long periods, the difference between the two teams looked much larger than the individual quality on paper suggested.
The second half was better for Madrid.
Luxemburgo made several substitutions and introduced younger players, including Portillo, Pavón and Juanfran.
The energy level improved immediately.
Portillo in particular attacked the penalty area aggressively and eventually scored.
By then, however, Villa had already added New Manchester United's third.
The final score was 3-1.
Nearly sixty thousand spectators celebrated as the European champions completed a convincing win.
Mourinho remained unmoved.
He knew the result required context.
New Manchester United were further into pre-season.
Their Premier League campaign would begin on August 13.
The Community Shield came even earlier.
Real Madrid did not begin La Liga until August 28.
The two clubs were at completely different stages of preparation.
New Manchester United should have looked fitter.
They should have looked sharper.
That was precisely why Mourinho cared more about individual performances and physical data than the scoreline.
Still, this was the strongest opponent New Manchester United had faced during pre-season, and the performance had been encouraging.
The following day brought the other Audi Cup match.
AC Milan faced the United States.
Kasey Keller temporarily left New Manchester United's camp to join the national team and played the full ninety minutes.
He performed well.
Neither of Milan's two goals could reasonably be blamed on him.
The Italians were simply the stronger side.
Palacio still looked some distance from full sharpness.
Thiago Silva, by contrast, completed the match and impressed throughout.
Milan supporters had already heard plenty about the Brazilian defender.
Now they saw why the club had spent €15 million to sign him.
Gilardino made an even more immediate impression.
Starting for Milan for the first time, he played the friendly with the intensity of a competitive fixture.
He scored twice.
One came with his head.
The other came from close range after intelligent movement inside the penalty area.
Milan won 2-0.
The Audi Cup schedule then allowed two days for recovery.
Mourinho used them aggressively.
Video sessions focused on the problems revealed against Real Madrid.
Training corrected details in the press.
Defensive distances were reviewed.
Attacking movements were repeated.
Yet there was no major tactical reconstruction.
There did not need to be.
The system had already been established.
The squad had barely changed.
The primary objective remained physical.
Get the players fit.
Restore match rhythm.
Bring the late-returning internationals back carefully.
Avoid unnecessary injuries.
Real Madrid travelled to Chicago for the third-place match against the United States.
They won 2-0.
Juninho Paulista scored directly from a free kick.
Raúl added the second after reacting quickest to a rebound inside the penalty area.
A day later, New Manchester United returned to Giants Stadium for the final.
AC Milan were waiting.
It was a rematch of Istanbul, although neither Mourinho nor Mauro Tassotti treated it as anything close to a Champions League final.
For both managers, it remained pre-season.
That did not mean the teams were weak.
Both selected strong starting line-ups.
Mourinho had one player he particularly wanted to examine.
Robben.
The Dutchman started on the right.
For seventy minutes, he struggled.
Maldini gave him almost nothing.
Whenever Robben tried to accelerate, the veteran defender read the movement early.
Whenever he attempted to cut inside, Milan's midfield support narrowed the space.
Robben worked hard.
He never stopped asking for the ball.
But his timing remained a fraction too slow.
At his best, that fraction did not exist.
Before the injury, he attacked almost entirely on instinct.
Now there was still a brief hesitation before some of his movements.
Against an ordinary defender, he might have escaped anyway.
Against Maldini, he was punished every time.
Eventually Mourinho replaced him.
Messi came on.
The difference was immediate.
The Argentine attacked from the right but rarely stayed there.
He moved inside.
Dropped towards midfield.
Combined with Kaká.
Then drifted wide again.
Maicon responded intelligently from behind him.
When Messi moved centrally, the Brazilian overlapped.
When Maicon advanced, Messi covered the passing lane inside.
Milan's defence suddenly had a different problem to solve.
The goal came from that relationship.
Messi received on the right and drew a defender towards him.
Maicon surged outside.
Messi laid the ball into his path.
From roughly forty-five degrees to goal, Maicon delivered a powerful cross into the penalty area.
Drogba positioned himself between Nesta and the ball.
He held his ground.
Rose.
Headed down and across goal.
1-2.
New Manchester United were back in the match.
Milan had already scored twice.
Gilardino continued his excellent pre-season with another goal.
Palacio added the second against his former club.
After Drogba pulled one back, New Manchester United began pressing harder.
For a few minutes, the match threatened to turn into something far more competitive than either manager had intended.
Mourinho ended that possibility himself.
Kaká came off.
Agüero replaced him.
Beckham was withdrawn.
Fàbregas entered.
The priority was still preparation.
Not a summer trophy.
Milan's defensive organisation held.
Nesta and Kaladze protected the centre.
Maldini managed the left side brilliantly.
Gattuso and Pirlo helped control the closing stages.
New Manchester United could not find the equaliser.
The match ended 2-1.
AC Milan won the Audi Cup.
New Manchester United finished second.
Mourinho was not disappointed.
The matches against Real Madrid and Milan had provided exactly what he wanted.
High-level opposition had exposed weaknesses that MLS friendlies could not.
Robben's current condition was clearer.
Messi looked sharp after the World Youth Championship.
Dani Alves had shown his attacking value.
The younger midfielders had received meaningful minutes.
The defensive unit had been tested by elite forwards.
Those things mattered far more than lifting another trophy in July.
Milan were considerably happier about the commercial side.
Attendance had been strong throughout the tournament.
Broadcasting revenue was healthy.
Sponsorship income exceeded expectations.
As champions, Milan were expected to leave the United States with at least $3 million in direct profit from the tour.
Once merchandise, promotional effects and longer-term commercial benefits were included, the value could eventually exceed $10 million.
Galliani was delighted.
He told journalists more than once that the United States would eventually become one of world football's most important consumer markets.
Ethan agreed.
That was precisely why New Manchester United had invested so much effort in building a permanent presence rather than treating the tour as a short summer visit.
But the commercial department's work in America was finished for now.
So was Mourinho's.
The morning after the Audi Cup final, New Manchester United packed their equipment and headed for the airport.
The United States had given them publicity, commercial success, useful matches and plenty of information.
Now they were going home.
The Community Shield was approaching.
Then came Manchester City.
Pre-season was nearly over.
The real football was about to begin.
(To be continued.)