One cliché question, above all others, would reveal me as an Ugly American in the soccer world, a shallow, football-, basketball- and baseball-loving ignoramus unworthy of the honor of interviewing an athlete from the most popular sports franchise in all the world.

So naturally I didn’t hesitate and asked it of Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher, 26 and a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, when granted a five-minute telephone interview with him.

“Would you say Manchester United is like our version of the New York Yankees?” I asked, hating myself a little more for having done so.

He hid his annoyance at the question quite well and answered with grace.

“I understand how you might say that,” Fletcher said by phone from Philadelphia a couple of days before Manchester U defeated Philadelphia Union, 1-0, in a Wednesday night exhibition. “Everywhere in the world you go, you see a New York Yankees cap. But Manchester United is even bigger on a global scale. Manchester United is loved everywhere in the world. Everywhere you go, the Manchester United badge is recognized.”

Still not done with the Yankee angle, the time came to ask Fletcher if he had ever seen a Yankees game.

“Actually, I have,” he said. “I was in New York on holiday. It was a different atmosphere, not quite as intense (as soccer).”

Fletcher and his mates play the Kansas City Wizards on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium. (Wizards public-relations man Dave Borchardt reports that tickets remain available at ticketmaster.com or by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000. He added that VIP opportunities are also available by calling the Wizards at 888-4KC-GOAL. Tickets are priced as low as $20.)

The tour of the United States is designed to get Manchester U ready for the start of the English Premier League.

Fletcher has been with the club since 2000. The team went on a similar tour in 2003 and 2004.

“I enjoyed the fantastic crowds everywhere,” Fletcher said. “All the fans came out and showed their support for Manchester United. We’re very excited about coming to Kansas City. We haven’t been there before.”

It’s expected the crowd will mostly back Manchester, the heavy favorite to win the game, but it’s still a win-win for the Wizards because of all the new sets of eyeballs that will be on the Major League Soccer team. For now, the Wizards play their MLS home games at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, just west of The Legends at Village West in KCK. A new stadium, built for soccer and to accommodate concerts, is set to open in the summer of 2011 and will have a soccer capacity of 18,000.

The best shot the Wizards have of upsetting Manchester United lies in the visitors treating it the way major-league baseball teams treat spring training games. (There goes the default to a more comfortable sport. Lame.)

“It’s an exciting challenge,” Fletcher said. “We’re all professionals, and every time we want to win every match.”