Not even Brazil lost this badly.

Manchester United 7, LA Galaxy 0 — as reported in The National by our correspondent in Pasadena, Gregg Patton.

Wow.

The Galaxy probably is the marquee franchise of Major League Soccer, with the four MLS Cup championships, and all … but all that was left of them after their meeting with ManU were a few shreds of blue-and-white uniforms here and there on the Rose Bowl grass. United tore them to pieces.

That score is an embarrassment. No question. No serious club should lose 7-0 to anyone, especially when the “anyone” was playing eight time zones away from their base, a few days after a trans-Atlantic flight and one week after their new coach took over the team.

But, we can explain some of this. Not forgive it. But explain it. Some of it.

Afterward, this thing had a bit of an air of inevitability to it.

Consider:

–The Galaxy is in the middle of its season and that is a detriment, not an advantage. Sure, they should be in a rhythm, in terms of playing and practicing, but they also might be a bit nicked up and run down from full exertion in league games. Real games, to them. Not exhibitions. And Manchester United was an exhibition.

–Three Galaxy regulars did not play. That may not have changed much, but if you are hoping to compete semi-evenly with one of the globe’s leading soccer brands, you would prefer to have Landon Donovan, Omar Gonzalez and Robby Rogers out there from the start.

And here are the key “bits”, which are not about the Galaxy.

–Manchester United has a new coach, Louis van Gaal. What happens when a starts a season with a new coach? A guy they just met? Everyone tries to impress the new guy, and Job 1 of that task is working hard. Going all out. Playing like your hair is on fire. So, right off, United is playing harder than the Galaxy because far more is at stake for their players than for the Galaxy players.

–United sprang a surprise on the Galaxy by coming out with a very attack-oriented lineup. (Maybe this could have been anticipated, but it certainly was not a known, for a team that historically has played a 4-4-2). Bruce Arena, the Galaxy coach, suggested it was a 3-5-2 alignment, or maybe a 3-4-3. The Daily Telegraph, which has a correspondent traveling with the team, said it was a 3-4-1-2, with Juan Mata playing behind Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck However it was that Van Gaal drew up the X’s and O’s, he intended for United to come forward. Relentlessly.

–United has some really, really good players. Many of them just played in the World Cup. Most of them could start for any of the elite clubs in the world, aside maybe from Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. If you asked a talent scout how many Galaxy players he would rather have than anyone on this United team … who would be surprised if the answer were “zero”? Maybe one or two guys would name Omar Gonzalez over some guy at the end of the United bench, but that would be about it.

–The crowd of 86,000 appeared to be mostly United fans. Some of the exotic nature of the venue and the match that might normally have slowed down United … turned into another advantage. (And it has been a long time since the Rose Bowl was the Galaxy’s home.)

So. We have an enormous talent disparity. We have an enormous motivation disparity. And we have United embracing a new set of tactics for which the Galaxy almost certainly did not plan.

Normally, in cases of MLS teams playing visiting Euro teams, the MLS team plays harder, trying to impress, while the Euros are whining about the indignities of this enforced trip. (The Galaxy defeated Juventus, the serial Italian champion, last summer.)

Things were different, this time.

Talent, motivation, tactics. United had huge edges across the board.

Seven-zip? No, it should not have been that bad.

But we can see how it happened.

Explanations, remember. Not excuses.