So Liverpool will start the season as Welsh indoor champions and whatever else his team may win Gerard Houllier will not hold a bigger trophy than the unwieldy FA Charity Shield.
The retractable roof at the Millennium Stadium was employed yesterday to keep out the Cardiff weather and give football in Britain its first taste of playing under cover, but at the final whistle Liverpool supporters would have been as happy celebrating in the car-park; nothing was going to rain on their parade.
That yesterday's win was achieved without the Steven Gerrard, who has an ankle injury, added to the worth of the win. Gerrard is out of England's friendly against Holland on Wednesday.
United did not deserve to lose in quite the way they did. Having gone 2-0 down in the opening quarter-hour Alex Ferguson's players steadily reasserted their inherent qualities of passing and movement to warrant a shoot-out at the very least.
Liverpool, so dominant at the outset, were glad to hear Andy D'Urso blow the final whistle. United would have been happier to hear him blow it for penalties when Stephane Henchoz handled in each half, and at the finish Roy Keane had to pull an outraged Fabien Barthez away from the official.
Owen's decisive contribution apart, the most salient features of an enjoyable contest were the excellence of Dietmar Hamann and Gary McAllister for Liverpool before half-time, the promise of their new left-back, Norway's John Arne Riise, and the way Roy Keane led United's resurgence thereafter.
At the start Liverpool were a team that knew their lines backwards while United struggled to make sense of a new script. But by the finish United had reorganised so successfully that their potential looked as awesome as ever.
For Ferguson the principal value of the exercise may be a purging of the idea that Ryan Giggs should share with Paul Scholes the job of supporting Ruud van Nistelrooy.
With Argentine midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron on World Cup duty, a busy Nicky Butt took the opportunity to remind United of his enduring value. United's early problems lay not so much with Keane and Butt as an attack whose inability to penetrate or keep possession exposed their midfield to Liverpool's quick counter-thrusts.
In the first half, after only 45 seconds, Owen, released by Danny Murphy, turned Denis Irwin like a man passing through a revolving door. As Murphy gathered Owen's return pass he was brought down by Keane and McAllister's penalty sent Barthez the wrong way. After 16 minutes Emile Heskey beat Mickael Silvestre in the air and as Jaap Stam slipped Owen sidestepped Neville before driving in the second.
Until half-time Keane alone kept United alive with a header tipped over the bar and a 30-yard drive which rebounded from it. For the second half Ferguson moved Giggs out of the middle, restoring crucial width, before bringing on Dwight Yorke to work up front with Van Nistelrooy.
Twice nervous finishing let the Dutchman down at the start of the second half. But within five minutes a superb piece of first-time football involving Beckham, Keane and Giggs set up Van Nistelrooy to draw Sander Westerveld before slipping the ball into the net.
In the end a combination of Henchoz's luck and D'Urso's myopia denied United another goal. Earlier, a shot from Van Nistelrooy had found the Swiss defender's hand off his thigh. Now, with three minutes remaining, Henchoz dived, goalkeeper-fashion, to block another with an arm. Again no penalty. This was charity gone mad.
MAN UTD: Barthez, Irwin, Silvestre, Gary Neville, Stam, Beckham, Butt (Yorke 66), Keane, Giggs, Scholes, van Nistelrooy. Subs Not Used: Carroll, Solskjaer, Johnsen, Phil Neville, Chadwick, Brown. Booked: Scholes. Goals: van Nistelrooy 51.
LIVERPOOL: Westerveld, Babbel, Henchoz, Hyypia, Murphy (Berger 72), Riise (Carragher 83), Barmby (Biscan 72), Hamann, McAllister, Heskey, Owen. Subs Not Used: Redknapp, Arphexad, Traore, Litmanen. Booked: Murphy, Hamann. Goals: McAllister 2 pen, Owen 16.
Referee: A D'Urso (Billericay).
