United's high tempo too good
Singapore 1 Manchester United 8
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Your support makes all the difference.The score was 1-1 at one stage and, towards the end, the goalkeeper Fabien Barthez even made a cameo appearance as a centre-forward, but ultimately there was no let-up from Manchester United as they took their goal tally on their tour of South-east Asia to 14 in two matches in front of a large, enthusiastic crowd here in Singapore yesterday.
Although the home side surprised the Premiership champions by scoring seven minutes before half-time, briefly cancelling out Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's opener, United cruised to victory with another goal from Solskjaer and others from Dwight Yorke (2), Ruud van Nistelrooy, Phil Neville, David Beckham and Ryan Giggs.
United, who beat a Malaysian Select XI 6-0 on Sunday, found life so easy against Singapore that Barthez, to the delight of the crowd, was granted his wish of playing up front in the final stages. "No disrespect to Singapore, but I thought he [Barthez] was very capable up front," Alex Ferguson, the United manager, said.
Solskjaer started the rout after half an hour, heading home from close range after a Beckham free-kick. Indra Sadhan, a former police cadet, then found space behind the visitors' defence after 38 minutes to equalise as he calmly beat United's reserve goalkeeper, Raimond van der Gouw. But Neville restored United's lead with a rare goal before Solskjaer's shot on the stroke of half-time was adjudged to have crossed the goal line, leaving United with a 3-1 advantage.
The second half was the signal for the floodgates to open as Singapore, who had limited Liverpool to a 2-0 win in a similar friendly a week ago, crumbled in front a 50,000 crowd.
Beckham's deflected free-kick found the target after 50 minutes before Yorke scored twice in four minutes. Van Nistelrooy, the £19m new signing, made it 7-1 after 70 minutes, before Giggs completed the scoring three minutes from time after neat work from Quinton Fortune.
Jan Poulsen, the Singapore team coach, said he was disappointed with his team's performance in the second half. "We kept our shape in the first half, but lost it in the second. Our players are just not used to this type of fast game." Asked for his reaction after playing Liverpool and Manchester United in the space of a week, Poulsen said: "It's like going up against Evander Holyfield one day and then Mike Tyson the next."
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