2007 Premier League Asia Trophy
The 2007 Premier League Asia Trophy (Traditional chinese: 巴克萊亞洲錦標賽) was the third edition of the Premier League Asia Trophy, a four-team association football tournament held every two years. The tournament was held in Hong Kong. The 2007 edition was competed by South China AA, the winner of Hong Kong's FA Cup, Liverpool, Portsmouth and Fulham at the 40,000-capacity Hong Kong Stadium. The semi-finals took place on 24 July and the final and third-place play-off were on 27 July 2007.
Tournament details | |
---|---|
City | Hong Kong |
Teams | 4 (from 2 confederations) |
Venue(s) | 1 (in 1 host city) |
Final positions | |
Champions | Portsmouth (1st title) |
Runners-up | Liverpool |
Third place | Fulham |
Fourth place | South China |
Tournament statistics | |
Matches played | 4 |
Goals scored | 10 (2.5 per match) |
Top scorer(s) | Ten players (1 goal each) |
Best player(s) | David James |
Portsmouth won the first semi-final 1–0 against Fulham after a goal by Benjani in the 45th minute. Liverpool beat South China in the second semi-final thanks to a John Arne Riise free-kick and a Xabi Alonso penalty. South China pulled a goal back with a Li Haiqiang free-kick, but Daniel Agger scored to make it 3–1. Fulham beat South China 4–1 in the third place play-off, while Portsmouth beat Liverpool 4–2 on penalties to win the Premier League Asia Trophy after a goalless draw in normal time.
Competition format
The competition used a knock-out format. South China played Liverpool, while Fulham played Portsmouth, both matches taking place on 24 July. The winners competed in the final on 27 July, while the losers played in the third place play-off on the same day.
Prizes
Hong Kong FA Cup winner South China received HK$500,000 from the organizers as appearance fee in the tournament. The winner of the tournament received a trophy as well as £100,000 prize money.
Official match programme
An A5 sized, 60-page bilingual (English/Chinese) official match programme was published for sale during the match days within the stadium. It retailed at HK$20 (~£1.30).
Results
Semi-finals | Final | |||||
24 July 2007 – Hong Kong (Hong Kong Stadium) | ||||||
South China | 1 | |||||
27 July 2007 – Hong Kong (Hong Kong Stadium) | ||||||
Liverpool | 3 | |||||
Portsmouth | 0 (4) | |||||
24 July 2007 - Hong Kong (Hong Kong Stadium) | ||||||
Liverpool | 0 (2) | |||||
Portsmouth | 1 | |||||
Fulham | 0 | |||||
Third place | ||||||
27 July 2007 – Hong Kong (Hong Kong Stadium) | ||||||
Fulham | 4 | |||||
South China | 1 |
Semi-finals
Fulham | 0 – 1 | Portsmouth |
---|---|---|
Report | Benjani 45' |
South China AA | 1 – 3 | Liverpool |
---|---|---|
Li Haiqiang 35' | (Report) | Riise 10' Alonso 28' (pen.) Agger 74' |
Third place play-off
South China AA | 1 – 4 | Fulham |
---|---|---|
Barros 57' | Report | Bouba Diop 20' Bocanegra 47' Healy 74' McBride 84' |
Goalscorers
The goal scorers from the Premier League Asia Trophy 2007 are as follows:
# | Name | Team | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Daniel Agger | Liverpool | 1 |
Xabi Alonso | Liverpool | 1 | |
Li Haiqiang | South China | 1 | |
John Arne Riise | Liverpool | 1 | |
Benjani Mwaruwari | Portsmouth | 1 | |
Papa Bouba Diop | Fulham | 1 | |
Carlos Bocanegra | Fulham | 1 | |
Flavio Barros | South China | 1 | |
David Healy | Fulham | 1 | |
Brian McBride | Fulham | 1 | |
Player of the Tournament
The Player of the Tournament award was awarded to David James of Portsmouth. James kept 2 clean sheets, and saved penalties from Yossi Benayoun and Fernando Torres.