Robin van Persie reinforced his status as Manchester United's leading striker during Wayne Rooney's absence Sunday by clinching a 2-0 victory over Wigan to open the David Moyes era with a win in the Community Shield.
Van Persie headed the Premier League champions in front after six minutes and netted again with a deflected strike in the 59th against the FA Cup winners in the traditional curtain-raiser to the English season.
"Robin scored two today and that's what we rely on," midfielder Michael Carrick said.
It was United's first visit to Wembley Stadium without Alex Ferguson since 1985. The 71-year-old Scot retired in May after nearly 27 years as manager.
The biggest problem Ferguson left Moyes was the need to resolve the future of Rooney.
Moyes has been steadfast through an offseason of agitating by the unsettled striker that he would not be sold, with two bids from Chelsea rejected.
Rooney was ruled out of all the official preseason fixtures and Sunday's match due to hamstring and shoulder problems, according to United.
But, adding to the mystery, Moyes said that while Rooney is in line to play for England against Scotland on Wednesday, he's unlikely to be fit for United's Premier League opener at Swansea on Saturday.
The reason for Rooney's frustration seems to be Van Persie, with the Netherlands striker moving above him in the pecking order since joining a year ago from Arsenal.
And Van Persie took just six minutes to find the net at a sun-drenched Wembley in north London.
After Van Persie sent the ball to Evra on the left flank, the left back crossed the ball back to the forward in the penalty area to head past goalkeeper Scott Carson.
It was game over, with Wigan rarely posing a threat.
Winning the FA Cup was the high point for Wigan last season, with its first major trophy success followed by relegation from the Premier League.
It was Moyes being hand-picked by Ferguson to replace him at Old Trafford that led to Wigan losing manager Roberto Martinez after the cup triumph. After Martinez headed to Everton, Owen Coyle was hired by Wigan.
The League Championship season is already under way, and returning to the world's richest league is Coyle's priority, even with a Europa League campaign to look forward to starting in September.
The couple of opportunities Wigan had to equalize were squandered against the 20-time English champions.
After James McClean worked his way down the left flank, Grant Holt couldn't get on the end of his cross.
And just before half time, Leon Barnett's header was off-target after Emmerson Boyce nodded on Ben Watson's free kick.
After a lackluster tour of Asia and Australia, which yielded just two wins, this was a trouble-free preparation for the season for United.
"We looked a lot better today," Carrick said. "I don't know about cruising, we were in control of the game."
Although it was a routine victory, the lack of spark highlighted United's failure to reinforce the squad, with moves for Cesc Fabregas and Thiago Alcantara both faltering.
Instead, Van Persie's goals served as a reminder of the success of Ferguson a year ago in prizing a top asset from a fierce rival.
Although quiet after the first goal he sprang into life again to net again just before the hour.
Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck did the hard work in carving out the opportunity, and the low strike from Van Persie was heading on target but landed in the net after taking a deflection off James Perch past Scott Carson.
And, for the first time in United's history, a manager collected a trophy in his first season.
What was missing in the game was a disputed goal.
This would have been the first time in English football history when the referee could defer to goal-line technology with Hawk-Eye's 14 cameras in the ground following FIFA approval.
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