Even though I still don't have much faith in Mixu, I'd be surprised if Hong Kong does not come back with a result against Cambodia.
Here is the starting XI of the Hong Kong National Football Team against Cambodia: Huang Yang will remain as captain of the national team. Kitchee's Law Tsz-Chun is set to win his first international cap whilst in-form KC Southern striker James Ha who was last capped against North Korea last year will start alongside Tai Po's Sandro.
UPDATE: Apparently Chung Wai-Keung was in the starting eleven ahead of Law Tsz-Chun for some odd reason. Full Time: Cambodia Vs Hong Kong - 1:1 Hong Kong only managed to secure a disappointing draw against Cambodia. Tan Chun-Lok gave Hong Kong the early lead until Cambodia levelled the scoring in the first half. Overall, I felt Cambodia were the much better side in the second half despite the amount of shot attempts on goal in which one of them came off the post and I felt that Hong Kong is going backwards rather than forwards ever since Gary White's departure.
That was not a good performance. I fear we are looking at a huge defeat next Tuesday at home against Iran.
I blame a complete lack of football for the A team... 6 matches in 2018, 1 match in the first 8 months of 2019. Essentially 7 matches in more than 1.5 years... how can we expect any progress or momentum? I am glad we have so many matches coming up. We weren't going to qualify from this group anyways, but now we will be in full match fitness for the EAFF cup, which will be a good barometer of our progress.
There's also two factors to consider: 1) the pitch was dreadful which made for a sloppy game and 2) playing in front of a large partisan crowd clearly had a negative effect on us. The lack of chemistry was apparent as Suburbia mentioned. Cambodia played with a fearlessness about them. They completed many one-two's, flick on's, etc. all of which are products of familiarity. I hesitate to hang this result on Paatelainen's tactics as that implies we underachieved based on the talent at his disposal. I don't think this was an underachievement based on the reasons I mentioned but also because, let's face it, this isn't a very talented group. Where are the creative playmakers? Where are the difference makers? We had maybe one potential difference maker on the pitch last night - Sandro. He ran around and pressed the backline when out of possession but other than that, he was a non factor. There was no one in midfield who could get him on the ball.
How long are they going to keep trying with Ju Yingzhi? He maybe good for his clubs but has never repeated those performances for the national team. I'd much rather we have Lam Kar-Wai than him.
Not sure if there will be a translated version of this link here, but its got something to do with James Ha.
If everybody were fit, Wong Wai would be starting ahead of him. The problem, of course, is that he isn't. TL;DR: It's an interview with him where he makes a list of reasons why we didn't win on Thursday. It ranges from him being played out of position, to fitness, to the hardness of the pitch.
Like Gareth Bale in the Champions League final, HKFC's Shunsuke Nakamura pulls off a brilliant bicycle kick goal off an under hit cross.
Also, what's up with Tsui Wang Kit's fitness? A 22 year old lad playing for a CLO club, he should be one of the mainstays in the NT side. But every time I have seen him play he has gone off injured...
Tonight's the big game against Iran. I am not expecting any miracles. I just hope we put up a better performance. I am still confused why Giovane Alves da Silva is not included in the squad...
I think we should use Huang Yang and Philip Chan as our 2 defensive mids and ask Tan Chun Lok to push up in the Ju Yingzhi role. Tan already is a better offensive player than Ju; he's the only guy that can get our front guys the ball right now. No idea why we included Cheng Siu Kwan, or Fung Hing Wa, when we could've included say Giovanni or Chan Kwong Ho or heck even Yuto Nakamura.
Trying something wild - my potential lineup for tonight: Yapp Tsui - Russell - Helio - Dani Roberto Huang - Chan Tan Sandro - Akande
Hong Kong 0-2 Iran Mixu played with 4-5-1 tonight. He was understandably very conservative. 0-2 is a reasonable result. Hopefully we have seen our last home defeat in the qualifiers. A reasonably big crowd came to the stadium which was a good thing and I think the players were encouraged by that.
It is a reasonable scoreline considering it could've been worse. I'm hopeful that with more training we will be able to grab two wins out of the remaining three home matches but we will need to find another level. We are struggling to recognize where the space in the opponents' defence, run into it and then play the right pass. The ball is not being moved around fast enough. We continue to play at an HKPL tempo at the international level.
On a side note, this was Yapp Hung Fai's 71st cap, making him the all time caps leader. It is likely he will becoming our first centurion (100 caps) eventually.
It was a valiant effort by Hong Kong despite losing to Iran. However, they will really need to up their game as they currently sit bottom of the group (due to goal difference with Cambodia) within their challenging group table. I just hope that now with the Hong Kong Premier League back in action, the players will be able to find their form in preparation for their next match against Iraq next month
Which is exactly why we need attacking players like Giovane, Jordi or Sandro who are more experienced and worldly if we are to pose bigger threats to opponents. James Ha and Tan Chun Lok, while both are good players, are rather lightweight and inexperienced.
Also, our decision making on offense is quite slow, but that is what happens when much of the offense is being driven by defensive-minded players (Law, Roberto, Tsui, even Tan) - our lineup was almost too defensive. While I am a big fan of Tan, he is more of a deep lying midfielder, although I know he is trying hard to improve his offensive game. We sorely lacked an in-form Wong Wai.