Liverpool arrived at Singapore in the second and last leg of their Asian Tour. With the boost of news that talismanic captain, Steven Gerrard was cleared of his bar brawl, Liverpool turned on the style against a sorry Singapore team.Prior to the match, Singapore striker, Mohd Noh Alam Shah expressed to reporters that anything could happen against Liverpool. Boy! Was he right...Singapore was no match for a Liverpool motivated by news of their captain's successful courtroom battle.
Seeking to end their Asia tour on a high, Liverpool looked much better tonight than they did against Thailand. Granted, a lot of the younger fringe players played but Liverpool on this tour had looked as if the players were still on summer vacation. Preseason have not sparked life into this Liverpool team yet. No wins going into this match against Singapore testifies to that.
But tonight, Liverpool looked the business and it was literally a five-star winning performance. Particularly pleasing for me was Krisztian Nemeth scoring twice and looking every bit like a potential Liverpool Kop favourite.
Torres and Daniel Bennett in action - Image from Reuters
Dirk Kuyt celebrates with Torres - Image from ReutersLiverpool now go back to Merseyside and will continue their preseason friendlies with a match against Espanyol scheduled at Barcelona on the 2nd August 2009. After that, Liverpool will play two further friendlies (against FC Lyn and Atletico Madrid) before the opening EPL match against Tottenham Hotspurs on 16th August 2009.
Channel News Asia has the better and more comprehensive report on the Liverpool-Singapore friendly.
SINGAPORE: Liverpool crushed Singapore 5-0 on Sunday for their first win in four pre-season games with Fernando Torres and Andriy Voronin among the scorers.
Albert Riera and promising young Hungarian striker Krisztian Nemeth also found the back of the net in the morale-boosting win.
The Reds needed a victory to ramp up their preparations for the new season where they will start as one of the favourites to clinch their first title in 20 years after a credible second behind Manchester United in the last campaign.
To the disappointment of fans here, Steven Gerrard missed the match after remaining in England following his acquittal over an alleged assault but Torres played 30 minutes in a return from his summer break.
And in a potentially significant move, Real Madrid target Xabi Alonso came on with 13 minutes remaining.
The unsettled 27-year-old didn't play any part in their 1-1 draw with Thailand last week but held talks with Rafael Benitez on Friday to discuss his future and his appearance was an encouraging sign for Liverpool fans.
The Reds arrived here after a sluggish performance against Thailand which followed a 0-0 draw with St Gallen of Switzerland and a 1-0 loss to Rapid Vienna.
Despite this Benitez had insisted their pre-season plans were progressing well but he will be relieved to finally get a victory.
Ryan Babel had an early chance when he rose to meet a cross from Daniel Agger only to direct his header straight at goalkeeper Hassan Sunny.
Agger was in the thick of the action and fired a 30 yard drive just over the bar soon after as Liverpool pressed their advantage.
They had most of the possession but badly missed Gerrard's penetrating runs and were fortunate to take the lead on the stroke of half-time when Voronin unleashed a 20-yard strike that beat the diving Hassan.
They doubled their lead 10 minutes into the second half when Riera chested down a Javier Mascherano cross and tucked the ball into the net from six yards.
Nemeth, one of the most talked about players in the Liverpool reserves, got his first goal for the senior side when he coolly planted his shot beyond the goalkeeper after Dirk Kuyt put him clear.
Singapore were flagging and crowd favourite Alonso was instrumental in the next, starting a move that Torres finished with an easy tap in before Nemeth completed the demolition with seven minutes left.
Liverpool fly back to England later Sunday with a friendly against Espanyol on August 2 their next action, a game that is expected to see the return of Gerrard.
Report from AFP/yt
Also, my buddies at SoccerUpdated have posted some brilliant video highlights of the Singapore leg of Liverpool's Asia tour. Go over to SoccerUpdated for more news.
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