On tour with Manchester United: The heat is on new boys De Gea and Jones in Chicago

Well, Manchester United came here to face the Fire and found themselves in the middle of a 'furnace', in the words of Sir Alex Ferguson. 

Rarely will they have played in heat quite like that expected in Chicago on Saturday, but they might as well get used to it. A weather advisory has been in place for some time now from here to the baking east coast, where Ferguson's side head next for their final two games against the Major League Soccer All-Stars in New Jersey and Barcelona in Washington DC.

Stuck in: Nemanja Vidic, Phil Jones and Mame Biram Diouf during a first team training session

The temperature at Chicago airport as they touched down on Thursday topped 100 degrees, which has not happened since 1995 when a severe heatwave was blamed for 750 deaths in the city. 

Combined with the intense humidity, the conditions will be stifling to say the least when United face Chicago Fire at Soldier Field. The English champions will feel it all the more after arriving from Seattle where it was unseasonally cool, and it doesn't help that the game has been brought forward from an evening kick-off to 4pm local time. 'I think I'll just stay in the hotel,' joked Ferguson. 

The United boss has promised to make even more changes than in the first two games in New England and Seattle, where he used a total of 19 players. With the possible exception of new £17.8million goalkeeper David De Gea, who will make his long-awaited debut, it's unlikely anyone will go the full 90 minutes. 

At least he can call on fresh young legs in Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverley, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones, who will also make his first appearance since a £16.5m summer move from Blackburn. 

The England Under-21 internationals have been in camp for a week but it was always Ferguson's intention to hold them back for this game, and perhaps it's just as well in the circumstances.

Warm welcome: Temperature at Chicago Airport topped 100 degrees

There was a respite from the heatwave on Friday morning when massive thunderstorms over Illinois temporarily eased the humidity, although it is expected to have risen again dramatically by kick-off time. 

The United players managed to dodge the downpours before training, which is more than can be said for club ambassador Gary Neville who got a wet welcome to Chicago after joining up with the squad here.  

The tour is picking up pace now after what felt like a long week in Seattle, but United have still made time to fulfil some commercial commitments to their Chicago-based shirt sponsors Aon, which is fair enough considering they pay £20m-a-season for the privilege. And on Friday Ji-Sung Park and Patrice Evra also made an appearance at one of the city's most renowned pizzerias, Original Gino's East of Chicago, to throw some dough for the cameras. 

Now the serious stuff resumes and there is a slight sense of embarrassment within Major League Soccer at the ease with which United have won their first two games, scoring 11 goals and conceding just one (even that was an outrageous deflection from a freekick).

All change: Former United players Andrew Cole (L-R) and Bryan Robson swap shirts with Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts pitcher Carlos Marmol before the game against the Houston Astros at Wrigley Field

Let's not forget, they actually lost to Kansas City over here last year, but both New England Revolution and Seattle Sounders have been steamrollered after rather unwisely making a number of changes at half-time. 

Seattle in particular were spanked 7-0 in front of a full house and Ferguson sympathised with Sounders coach Sigi Schmid, suggesting it was an unfair scoreline, while Michael Owen also attempted to talk it down when he spoke shortly after arriving in Chicago. 

'It was one of those games where we scored with just everything we hit,' said Owen, who was able to laugh when Ferguson pointed out that just about the only chance they didn't convert was Owen's glaring miss before half-time.

'You would expect to score two or three goals from seven or eight chances, but we managed to score just about all of them.' 

Still, MLS and their growing number of supporters will be anxious that Chicago provide sterner resistance before United move on again on Sunday to face the All-Stars in New Jersey where, worryingly, the temperature touched 106 degrees on Friday. It doesn't feel possible, but things are hotting up.