After deciding not to replace David de Gea as the shootout that decided this International Champions Cup game approached, Louis van Gaal saw Darren Fletcher clinch victory for Manchester United after Marco Andreolli missed Internazionale's fourth penalty.
Van Gaal famously took off Holland's Jasper Cillessen for Tim Krul and then watched as the latter proved the hero of the shootout against Costa Rica to take his side through to the World Cup semi-finals earlier this month.
Van Gaal’s golden touch was again evident here. The manager had his squad practising penalties at the close of training on Monday and this meticulous preparation bore fruit to edge United closer to the competition’s final on 4 August in Miami.
While Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid may have something significant to say about that – United play them in Detroit on Saturday – in truth this match only flared into any kind of spectacle towards the closing stages.
Instead, the intrigue here came in the curious case of Luke Shaw. The £27m, £100,000 a-week teenager had been described as "not fit" enough by Van Gaal and United's website did not even report the player as a reserve before kick-off.
Yet after he was seen taking part in the warm-up – and at half-time – it became clear that information had been wrong as Shaw lined up for the second half to play left wingback with Ashley Young switching to the right to replace Chris Smalling.
Shaw, who according to the host broadcaster had been at FedExField earlier on Monday for extra training with fitness coach Tony Strudwick, immediately offered a threat, racing down the left – as he had been asked to do alone in training by his manager – to whip in a ball that won a corner.
This amounted to nothing, as did a header moments later from Jonny Evans, one of three survivors from the XI named by Van Gaal who took the field following the break, alongside Young and Darren Fletcher.
One of the changes was Wilfried Zaha whose first action of the tour was to show his pace by racing at goal but in refusing to use his left foot – despite Van Gaal employing training exercises for players to practise with both – he allowed Nemanja Vidic to clear.
But the signs as the break approached that United were awakening, following a disjointed start, were enhanced when quick interplay between Shinji Kagawa and Nani led to the latter’s snapshot.
As the final quarter of the match approached Nani and Kagawa again threatened before Zaha showing muscle – as well as pace – burst into the area and might have won a penalty. But Edwin Jurisevic, the referee, turned away as Zaha tumbled to the floor.
Tom Cleverley appeared to have a better case when Andreolli clashed with the midfielder but, again, Jurisevic shook his head.
At least now there was a passage of constant action. Next up, Fredy Guarín aimed a 25-yard free-kick that forced De Gea into a fine save.
The sight of Young being asked to play left wingback for surely the first time in his career had been yet another experiment, in a tour that has seen Manchester United try out a 3-4-1-2 formation.
As might be expected Young appeared tentative when asked to face goal and defend during an opening stanza in which United failed to establish the fluid pass-and-move patterns Van Gaal is keen to install.
Mauro Icardi, the lone striker in Walter Mazzarri's team, was the first to have a sight of goal as Anders Lindegaard dawdled and Phil Jones had to hoof clear, with the latter to come closest for United in the first 45 minutes. A Juan Mata corner swung in from the right found Jones and his diving header appeared to be pushed onto the right post by Samir Handanovic, before Internazionale cleared the danger.
Later Antonio Valencia made an error to hand the Italians a corner which Dodo aimed at Vidic, and a 25-yard Wayne Rooney shot cleared the bar, but there was scant further entertainment until the break neared.
While Ander Herrera, who is supposed to run midfield, failed to show for a consecutive half on this tour, it was Rooney, United's eternal prompter, who split Inter open on 38 minutes with a pass to Mata, but the No10 could not convert. Mata then came close to beating Handanovic to his left from 20 yards but the effort was marginally wide.
To complement the website’s error regarding Shaw’s status, MUTV showed a graphic of Van Gaal’s starting XI that was an error-fest: De Gea’s picture was actually that of Lindegaard, Smalling’s was Rafael da Silva, Jones had become Evans, Evans was Jones, Valencia was represented by Shaw, Fletcher by Herrera, while the latter was Will Keane. While Young and Danny Welbeck were two who were granted their actual photographs, Mata was given Rooney’s and vice versa.
It had been that kind of night.
Manchester United (3-4-1-2): Lindegaard (De Gea, ht); Smalling (Keane M, ht), Jones (Blackett, ht), Evans; Valencia (Shaw, ht); Fletcher, Herrera (Cleverley, ht), Young Mata (Kagawa, ht); Rooney (Zaha, ht), Welbeck (Nani, ht (Hernandez, 77)). Subs not used: Lingard, James, Johnstone
Internazionale (3-4-1-2): Handanovic (Carrizo, 64); Ranocchia, Vidic (Andreolli, 72), Jesus; D’Ambrosio, Jonathan, Kuzmanovic (Nagatomo, 64), Krhin (M’Vila, ht), Dodo (Laxalt, 64); Botta (Taider, 64); Icardi. Subs not used: Schelotto, Kovacic, Guarín
