Four of the England squad who flopped at the World Cup — Chelsea's John Terry, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard, and United's Wayne Rooney — were all jeered and booed by opposing fans in the early stages.
Manchester United dominated a stuttering Chelsea to score a deserved 3-1 victory over last season's Premier League and FA Cup double winners in a lively Community Shield season curtain-raiser at Wembley on Sunday.
Goals from Antonio Valencia after 41 minutes and Mexican Javier Hernandez's first for United after 76 gave the Red Devils control in the third Shield match between the two in the last four seasons.
Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov, on as a late substitute, lobbed in United's third in stoppage time after a clever pass from Nani which summed up United's slicker passing and movement with the start of the new Premier League campaign just a week away.
Ivorian Salomon Kalou had pulled one back for Chelsea six minutes from time when Edwin van der Sar, outstanding after a shaky start, could only parry a shot from Daniel Sturridge during a late rally by the champions who have now lost five of their seven pre-season games.
The Community Shield, the traditional curtain-raiser to the English season, is rarely a pointer to the battles to come over the next nine months, but it is always a game the competing managers want to win and Sunday's victory gave United manager Alex Ferguson the 45th trophy of his managerial career — the 35th honour he has brought to United at the start of his 25th season as their manager.
The other success of the day was for the Wembley ground staff, who appeared to have solved the problems associated with the pitch, which had been severely criticised since the stadium re-opened in 2007.
It looked as superb at the end as it did at the start of the afternoon which went United's way for most of the 90 minutes.
Unusually, neither team fielded any new signings at kickoff, with Chelsea's main summer import Yossi Benayoun on their bench and United's Mexican striker Hernandez on theirs.
While the players were all totally familiar to the fans, some were far less popular than others.
Four of the England squad who flopped at the World Cup — Chelsea's John Terry, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard, and United's Wayne Rooney — were all jeered and booed by opposing fans in the early stages.
The booing subsided after a while — apart from the jeers directed at the unpopular Cole — because United's fans began to have something to cheer about as former England international Paul Scholes dominated in midfield and, along with Park Ji-sung, helped United take control of the match.
Scholes should have done better with a skied shot after nine minutes and Rooney went close before setting up their opener after a superb pass from Scholes four minutes before the break.
Valencia took the chance excellently, but there was little joy for Michael Owen, back at Wembley for the first time since he seriously injured his hamstring against Aston Villa in February which ended his slim chances of going to the World Cup.
Ferguson replaced Owen and Rooney at half-time as promised with United fans getting their first glimpse of Hernandez, the 22-year-old Mexican striker tipped as a United star of the future.
He did not disappoint either, doubling the score after 76 minutes, although he was lucky the ball bounced off his face and into the net.
Chelsea rallied in the closing stages after Sturridge and Didier Drogba came on, but the champions, who beat United on penalties to lift the Community Shield last season, failed to impress.
Coach Carlo Ancelotti will want to see them sharpen up next week before they begin the defence of their title against West Bromwich Albion.
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