Barber: Manchester United, Real Madrid pay the penalty at Levi's Stadium

SANTA CLARA - Late in regulation time at Levi's Stadium on Sunday afternoon, an announcement went out over the public address system. Should Manchester United and Real Madrid remain locked in a 1-1 tie, the game would be decided on penalty kicks.

A cheer erupted from the crowd. A groan emanated from a lot of soccer purists.

Penalty kicks are the joker in the pack of soccer cards, and they would swing this preseason match, part of the International Champions Cup series currently under way across the United States.

First, a little about the game. In the firmament of international soccer, this was not a particularly meaningful event. Manchester United coach Jose Mourinho started several young players who probably won't see much daylight when the Premier League starts play in mid-August. Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane kept it closer to the real script, though he switched out every single player at halftime.

“It was a good training session,” Mourinho said after his Red Devils had won. “A very good first half against a top Real side. In the second half we lost motivation, intensity and appetite to play against their youngsters.”

Maybe the heat played a role. The temperature approached 90 degrees during the game. The unofficial heat index on the notorious east side of the Levi's stands was “summer in Death Valley.”

And yet the crowd seemed to be having a ball. It was fairly evenly split between red-wearing Man United fans and white-clad Real Madrid partisans. There must have been close to 50,000 people in the stands. Pretty good for a preseason game in America, but nothing like the hoopla either of these teams would attract in Europe.

Asked about the empty seats, Mourinho said: “I don't know. Sunday is the best day for a family holiday in July. I don't know the price of the tickets. I don't know… (Cristiano) Ronaldo not here (for Real Madrid). I don't know. I don't know what to say.”

The consensus among those fans seemed to favor the penalty kicks.

Overtime formats vary across the planet, and across levels of competition. During the Major League Soccer regular season, there is no overtime. Games tied after 90 minutes are logged as draws. (Of course, that must change in the playoffs.) The UEFA Champions League, which lumps together the top European clubs, features a pair of 15-minute extra-time periods, much as we're used to seeing in the World Cup. Only when overtime has been exhausted, and a game remains knotted, does it resort to penalty kicks.

Touring clubs would have little appetite for 30 additional minutes of potential injury, and fans paying good money for a glorified exhibition game wouldn't be thrilled with a tie. So the International Champions Cup goes straight to the penalty kicks.

Make no mistake, there were opportunities for either team to win outright Sunday. Man United broke a scoreless tie during first-half stoppage time, thanks to some brilliant footwork by Anthony Martial, the Reds' 21-year-old striker. He dribbled through three Real Madrid defenders, splitting the last two, Dani Carvajal and Luka Modric, like a Phil Dawson field goal through the uprights before delivering a perfect pass to Jesse Lingard for the goal.

It took Real Madrid 22 minutes of the second half to equalize. The Blancos' Theo Hernandez and Manchester United's Victor Lindelof raced for a ball in front of the Real Madrid goal and Lindelof took him out, setting up a penalty shot. Casemiro (one name, in the Brazilian style) converted for a 1-1 tie.

Man United had a great chance to win in the 83rd minute when Scott McTominay found Marouane Fellaini alone in front of the goal, but Fellaini biffed the shot and sent it skyward over the net.

And so we went to PKs.

There is little in other sports to compare to penalty kicks. With everything on the line, the game is suddenly sliced open and reduced to its barest component parts.

It would be like an NFL game being settled by a single wide receiver from each team running routes against a single cornerback in the red zone, or by one of those practice drills where the running back has to carry the ball between two pads and past a waiting linebacker. It would be like an NBA game determined by a 3-point shooting contest, or an MLB game giving way to a home-run derby, or a golf tournament being decided by a long-drive contest.

Only NHL hockey, which goes to a shootout after an abbreviated overtime, mimics the soccer system.

Penalty kicks are a bastardization of the game. They reward a single narrow skill, negating the elegant flow of ball movement that gives soccer its nickname, “the beautiful game.”

But here's the thing. They're pretty damn exciting. The entire crowd stood as one for every penalty kick Sunday. As each kicker lined up his shot and the goalkeeper bounced on the balls of his feet, gears grinding in his head, the stadium fell quiet. Time hung in the balance before foot met ball.

Yes, the PKs were exciting. They just weren't very beautiful. Manchester United and Real Madrid combined for 10 penalty kicks, and made just three. Some great goalkeeping by Man United's David de Gea and Real's Kiko Casilla certainly were part of the equation. But so were some dreadful shots.

Martial got Casilla going the wrong way on the first attempt, but sent his kick into orbit, drawing laughter in the press box. Real Madrid's Hernandez later did the same thing to de Gea, but his kick ricocheted off the right post. Two players, Man United's Victor Lindelof and Real's Casemiro, each sent their balls too straight, making things easy for the keepers.

On the BBC's running game feed, someone commented: “I'd have seen a better penalty shootout if my Gran was playing against my four-year old niece.”

The last miss, by Casemiro, decided the game after Manchester United's Daley Blind had given his team the lead.

It was a thrilling moment, and a peculiar way to end an international soccer match.

“The penalty shootout is something very American,” Mourinho said afterward. “They like this kind of decision.”

Sure, Jose, blame it on us.

You can reach columnist Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Skinny_Post.