LFC-News welcomes our newest team member Stephan Chua. Stephan is from Malaysia and is currently working in Singapore and has sent us this match report from the stadium.
5-star Liverpool triumph in Singapore
Liverpool have secured their first pre-season victory with a comfortable 5-0 drubbing of Singapore. Andriy Voronin opened the scoring at the stroke of half-time before Albert Riera,
Krisztian Nemeth with a brace, and Fernando Torres completed the rout in the second half. Rafael Benitez decided to start with a team comprising of both familiar and unfamiliar faces – Daniel Agger started at left back with Mikel San Jose partnering skipper Jamie Carragher in the heart of defence and Philipp Degen at right back.
Liverpool, sporting the new black away kit, started strongly, dominating possession, albeit without troubling Singapore keeper Hassan Sunny. However, the breakthrough came in first-half stoppage time, with Voronin firing in a low shot that took a deflection before sneaking into the bottom corner.
The second period began with three changes to the starting eleven – Gulacsi, Insua and Riera in for Cavalieri, San Jose and Babel. Just ten minutes in, Albert Riera received a cross from Mascherano, controlled it with his chest and drilled a shot beneath Hassan. At the hour mark, Benitez decided to bring on Fernando Torres – to the delight of the local fans (who only expected to see El Nino in action for about 15 minutes). Shortly after, it was
three-nil with Hungarian prospect Krisztian Nemeth, who finished clinically from 12 yards following a Dirk Kuyt cross.
Fans then began cheering for Alonso to come on and Benitez gave in with just 15 minutes to go, at the expense of Daniel Agger. Minutes later, Alonso released Kuyt, who in turn crossed low for Torres to tap home. The Reds scored the final goal on 83 minutes with yet another assist from our Duracell
bunny, crossing for Nemeth who guided a header into the top-hand corner of the net.
All in all, it was an impressive performance by the five-time European champions, leaving fans in this region wanting more.
