Bangkok, July 25: Liverpool beat Thailand 3-1 in a friendly soccer match played in Bangkok on Thursday (July 24). In front of a rain-soaked crowd at Bangkok's Rajamangala Stadium, Liverpool coach Gerard Houllier used the match to give most of his squad a chance to play before the Premier League season gets underway next month. One of his close-season acquisitions, young French midfielder Anthony Le Tallec, came close to scoring after 12 minutes when his curling effort was tipped onto the bar by Thai goalkeeper Kittisak Rawangpa. Thailand came close themselves three minutes later when Stephane Henchoz was dispossessed on the edge of the penalty area, but Kiatsuk Senamuang saw his effort blocked by goalkeeper Chris Kirkland. Emile Heskey gave Liverpool the lead after 31 minutes, when he turned past a defender, raced into the penalty area and struck an angled shot past the goalkeeper.


Thailand put themselves level two minutes into first-half injury time when Somjet Satabud took advantage of a slip by Djimi Traore before striding forward and brilliantly lifting the ball over Kirkland into the top corner of the net.


Houllier repeated his pre-season experiment of fielding different teams in each half of the game and was rewarded within 30 seconds of the restart when Milan Barros crossed to Vladimir Smicer who scored from 15 metres.


Liverpool dominated the rest of the match but could only manage one further goal with 19 minutes remaining. John Arne Riise crossed from the left to Smicer who forced the ball into the net from eight metres.


Bureau Report