HSV's tour of China has been as much an education for Rafael van der Vaart (r.) and Co. as it has been for the locals
HSV's tour of China has been as much an education for Rafael van der Vaart (r.) and Co. as it has been for the locals

An education for Hamburg in China

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Guangzhou - Saying that Hamburger SV's tour of China has been an education would be nothing short of the truth, in more ways than one.

An education

After losing 6-2 to Guangzhou Evergrande in their opening friendly, the Red Shorts showed they had learnt their lesson in a 3-2 win against Guangzhou FC on Wednesday.

That is not the only educational aspect of HSV's trip to the Far East, however. On Monday, the Bundesliga outfit paid an international school in Forshan a visit, and they were afforded an unforgettable reception with school children decked out with HSV flags to welcome their heroes.

The Bundesliga club distributed gifts to the schoolchildren while the players signed autographs and posed for photos for around an hour. After returning from the school visit, it was back to the drawing board for Mirko Slomka's men with classes of their own, and Wednesday's examination, which they passed.

Adler's return


Rene Adler made his return to action in a 3-2 win over a Guangzhou side coached by former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson, and he was only beaten once, moments before being replaced at the interval. The northern Germany side were already leading 2-0 at that point thanks to goals from Gojko Kacar and Kerem Demirbay.

In the second half, a much-changed HSV side added a third through Tolcay Cigerci late on, after the hosts had pulled level. "Overall, this was a marked improvement on our first game," said Slomka on hsv.de. "We wanted to be more compact and we managed that for the majority of the time. We were lucky to make it 3-2 late on, but we deserved it overall."

Hamburg return to Germany on Friday to continue their preparations for the 2014/15 campaign.