Portsmouth triumphed in the 2007 Barclays Asia Trophy after a 4-2 penalty shoot-out win over Liverpool in the final.
The four-team tournament began with Pompey seeing off fellow Barclays Premier League side Fulham at the 40,000-capacity Hong Kong Stadium. Benjani Mwaruwari struck the only goal of the match just before half-time when the ball fell into his path after Gary O'Neil's shot hit Fulham defender Zat Knight.
Liverpool set up a meeting with Harry Redknapp's side after a 3-1 victory over South China. John Arne Riise opened the scoring with a fierce free-kick from the edge of the area after nine minutes. The Reds made it 2-0 when Andriy Voronin was fouled in the area after running onto a Xabi Alonso through-ball.
The Spaniard stepped up to convert the resulting spot-kick. Li Haiqiang halved the deficit for South China when he curled in an excellent free-kick after Mohammed Sissoko had been penalised for a foul on the right touchline. Daniel Agger made sure of the win after 72 minutes. He started the move by finding Riise, who picked out Dirk Kuyt. The Dutchman then teed up Agger who fired home from inside the box.
Friday's final between Portsmouth and Liverpool was a lively affair, but ultimately ended goal-less. New Liverpool signings Ryan Babel and Fernando Torres made their debuts in the Barclays Asia Trophy, with the latter seeing his penalty saved by the impressive David James in the shoot-out. James had made several fine stops in the match and also saved from Yossi Benayoun, before Nico Krancjar converted the winning penalty.
Pompey manager Redknapp praised the contribution of James. He said: "To get to penalties and nick it on penalties was great. The keeper (James) was great and the two centre-halves were magnificent. I thought (Sylvain) Distin was superb and Sol Campbell is absolutely top class but all the back four worked hard. It was a good team effort, they all grafted."
Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez was positive despite seeing his side squander a number of chances.
"It was a good game," he said. "We dominated the game. We had more possession, more chances, and in football you need to take your chances, and then they have a very good goalkeeper for the penalties. We need to improve but I think that we are in a good moment.
"You can see the team today, we played very well, we created chances, we had plenty of possession and also good ideas, and we are a team that also knows that we will need to be fitter. I would be worried if you were to say to me the team was fantastic now as we are still in pre-season."
In the 3rd place play-off, Fulham eased past South China 4-1. Headers from Papa Bouba Diop and Carlos Bocanegra put the Cottagers in the ascendancy, but South China pulled one back on 56 minutes when Flavio Barros Souza volleyed home. David Healy headed in Simon Davies' cross for 3-1 and Brian McBride tapped home a fourth.
Fulham manager Lawrie Sanchez said the Barclays Asia Trophy had benefited his side.
"Without doubt it's been useful," he said. "The games have been of good quality. They have been good workouts. All the arrangements around it have been first class and the people of Hong Kong have been exceptional, especially for us. I think everybody's enjoyed it, certainly I have, the players have and I think it's been a good workout as well."
