Hong Kong 0-6 Liverpool
Liverpool's pre-season trip to the Far East was completed in style, with a convincing win in the Hong Kong stadium.
Jerzy Dudek was back in goal for the Reds after sitting out of the match against Thailand, with Chris Kirkland being rested for this game And the Liverpool keeper was almost called into action very early in the game with the opening opportunity of the game falling to Chung Siho. The Hong Kong forward fired across Dudek's goal though and he was unable to trouble the Polish international.
Moments later, there was a chance for Liverpool which fell to Sinama Pongolle. The young Frenchman picked up the ball 30 yards out with his back to goal, turned brilliantly past a Hong Kong defender before firing towards goal but, as with the earlier Hong Kong chance, Pongolle failed to test the goalkeeper as he sent the ball a couple of feet over the bar.
It was to take Liverpool just 15 minutes to get themselves in front, and once again it was Vladimir Smicer with the goal. A ball into the box by Diouf on the left side of the area found the feet of Pongolle, and he cut the ball back across goal to pick out Smicer, who was left with an easy finish.
El Hadji Diouf was looking Liverpool's most lively player in the opening stages and he could have doubled the Reds' lead on 20 minutes. The Senegalese attacker controlled the ball well from Gerrard's 40 yard ball before turning Yau Kinwal inside out and striking a powerful shot at goal from the tightest of angles which went just over the bar.
Smicer and Babbel each had chances to add to Liverpool's lead but it was Hong Kong who came closest to scoring before the break, when Wong Chunu recieved the ball 10 yards out with only Dudek to beat. The Hong Kong substitute was unable to direct the ball into the net though, instead having to settle for seeing his shot hit the post and Gregory Vignal was on hand to clear the danger.
Carragher, Heskey, Baros, Riise, Cheyrou, Traore and Henchoz were brought on at the break along with Hamann who almost made his mark on the game within a minute with a powerful free kick which needed a deflection to take it away from goal.
Another sub, Emile Heskey, was unlucky with a chance which came his way minutes later when he powered his way into the area but was jus off balance when he unleashed his shot, which went just wide.
However, it wasn't long before Heskey did get on the scoresheet and he did so with a very well taken goal, finishing from a tight angle after rounding the Hong Kong 'keeper.
Liverpool started to take the Hong Kong team apart as the game entered the final 20 minutes and a couple of quick goals half an hour into the half saw Liverpool open up a big lead on the Asian opponents.
First up was a goal from Anthony Le Tallec who struck a low first time shot across the 'keeper and into the far corner of the goal after Baros had done extremely well to get in a cross under pressure from a couple of Hong Kong defenders.
And before two minutes had passed on the clock since the third Liverpool goal, the Reds found themselves 4-0, thanks to Milan Baros, who fired a shot low into the same corner as that which Le Tallec had put the ball into moments earlier, after the Czech had caused problems for the Hong Kong defence with his pace.
Bruno Cheyrou was twice unlucky not to score himself and produced an excellent performance for the 45 minutes in which he was on the pitch, with his best effort coming from a shot from 30 yards out which flew just wide of the Hong Kong goalkeeper's left post.
Two late goals contributed to a scoreline which the Hong Kong players didn't deserve to be on the end of, but both were superb strikes which the fans certainly enjoyed seeing.
The first of the two came with 4 minutes on the clock and was scored by Milan Baros, with credit also going to Neil Mellor for setting up the chance. Baros still had work to do once he recieved the ball just inside the area, but he made it look easy as he stepped past a couple of challenges in the box before sticking a shot in the top corner of the net.
And an even better goal was to follow in the final minute, which was scored by Heskey after he himself had done the work in order to get in a shot in the first place. With his back to goal and with a Hong Kong defender close behind him, Heskey turned quickly and took a couple of touches before curling a brilliant effort inside the far post from 20 yards out to complete the scoring.
It was an outstanding second half performance by the Reds, but much more important than the result was the hunger and determination shown by every player, some of whom know that they will not be first choice members of the team when the Premiership kicks off. But on the evidence of Liverpool's pre season games so far, there isn't a single player who seems to accepting that they'll only be used as backup players and Gerard Houllier could be faced with a difficult task selecting the eleven to play Chelsea on August 17 if the whole squad continue performing as they have done recently.
Liverpool's next games are in the Amsterdam Tournament, beginning with a match against the hosts, Ajax, on Friday evening.
