Tired of travel, not rivalry

Diego Milito scored in the fourth and 75th minutes as Inter displayed a more cohesive and determined approach to the match.

Both teams appeared tired, though, in the concluding game of the four-team World Challenge and paced themselves in the muggy climate.

Neither Inter nor Milan had won a game during the tour, which started July 19 in California. The travel and constricted schedule especially affected Milan, which arrived the day before the game after having lost to Chelsea, 2-1, in Baltimore Friday.

“It’s a completely unbalanced tournament,’’ said Milan coach Leonardo, a former Brazilian national team star. “They had five days to prepare, and we had a few days. They played on Tuesday and we were playing games [Wednesday and Friday]. We played three games in five days. It’s impossible.

“The biggest mistake - and it was all ours - was giving up a goal in the fourth minute. That’s a mistake, starting the game giving up a goal and the game is gone. The first half was very difficult for both teams, they were tired, too. But Inter played better.

“In the second half, we had a lot of changes, which we set up in advance, to save our players. We made the changes and we gave up a goal. But, this was a game that was difficult to judge, for us to say who we are.’’

Both teams’ identities were well known to most of the spectators, many of them wearing the blue and black of Inter and Milan’s black and red.

But both are also in transition, Inter having lost Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Barcelona last week and Milan having sold Brazilian forward Kaka to Real Madrid recently.

US national team defender Oguchi Onyewu made his first start for Milan and had a close-up look at the first goal. Inter scored on a counterattack, Esteban Cambiasso launching it with a long ball into the penalty area. Milito took possession, went to his right, then cut back as Onyewu committed. That left Milito a clear shot from 10 yards out, and he powered a left-footer just inside the near post over the right shoulder of goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac.

Milito scored again on another counterattack, this time after a corner was cleared by Inter off Milan forward Alexandre Pato. Dejan Stankovic went forward and squared the ball to Milito, whose one-timer deflected off Kalac’s legs and bounced in.

“In terms of preparation, this is preseason and not too many players have had time off,’’ Onyewu said. “We haven’t really been able to really utilize our training sessions, but I’m anticipating now to get back to Europe and start getting ready for the season.’’

Inter was definitely not in an exhibition mode.

Coach Jose Mourinho had started four teenagers in Inter’s opening match against Chelsea (a 2-0 loss) but this time Mario Balotelli, 19, was the only non-veteran starter. Cambiasso displayed Inter’s intensity in the opening seconds, booting Ronaldinho hard enough for everyone to stop playing to check on his condition.

But the game soon slowed and the players weren’t the only ones who lost concentration - referee Jorge Gonzalez showed a red card to Ronaldinho, then changed the call to a caution, in the 32d minute.

Ronaldinho, taking over the playmaking role from Kaka, showed some of his pyrotechnical skills, and was dangerous on free kicks, but did not get the team into a flow. Meanwhile, Cambiasso kept Inter compact, allowing it to attack with Maicon and Javier Zanetti on the wings.

“You can’t make judgments about the defense, or about individuals,’’ Leonardo said. “Everything that happened in these last few days, it can’t be judged or criticized. The team was tired. You can’t ask a team that is that tired to play fast. Age doesn’t enter into it - Thiago Silva is 24 years old, we have a big roster, and we made a lot of changes.’’

Though both clubs realize they do not need to travel nearly 4,000 miles to play each other - they share the same stadium during the Serie A season, and have met each other outside of Italy only twice in the last 100 years - they are planning to return next summer, according to tournament organizer Charlie Stillitano.

Nor do they have much time before their next games - Milan is playing in a tournament in Munich Wednesday and Thursday and Inter is preparing for the Italian Super Cup against Lazio in Beijing Aug. 8.

The attendance set a Boston-area record for a friendly involving club teams, bettering the 35,136 for Benfica’s 2-1 win over the Revolution June 11, 1998 . . . In the other World Football Challenge finale, Franco DiSanto and Florent Malouda each set up the other for a goal in the span of two minutes in the second half to lead undefeated Chelsea to a 2-0 win over Club America in front of 57,229 at the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.