Hong Kong Football Thread II (R)

Hong Kong will play its B team against Macau national team on 2 Sep at Sham Shui Po Sports Ground at 3pm. The A team will be in Singapore for a friendly on 31 August, then they will travel to Malacca to play Malaysia on 5 September.

 

Man Utd U16 beat HK All Stars U17 by 7:0.

It was 1:0 for most of the first 30 min but in the second 30 min the local lads wanted to level the score and got caught on the break, they were also tired and were thrashed.

 

KC Southern District showed off its new shirts yesterday, drawing comparisons with the demoted South China's shirts. James Ha said KC Southern District were already superior to South China last season. They now aim to win the league and he wants to score 20 goals or more and become the HKPL top scorer.

 

R&F Guangzhou will be spending HK$18 million this season. They are allowed 3 foreigners and have signed a number of naturalized Hong Kong players like Itaparica and Roberto. They aim to finish in the top 5 of the league. They said they will not represent Hong Kong in Asian competitions until they have a strong base of local players in the future.



R&F Guangzhou coach Marek Zając.




R&F Guangzhou's home ground can accommodate 2000. Wen Wei Po reporter went to the stadium and found the facilities to be poor. The ground is uneven, flood lights are insufficient for night matches, facilities are old and broken, the only "grandstand" is uncovered and there are insufficient changing rooms for teams and referees. R&F said they will carry out some work to get it up to HKFA standard.

200 tickets will be available to all away teams at RMB 50 each. But the transport costs will add up to over HK$300.

 

Yuen Long FC receives sponsorship from Sun Bus Holdings Ltd, which will replace KMB. The club will spend about HK$9 million this season. The club will be known as Sun Yuen Long this season.

 

South China Morning Post



Make Hong Kong trips two or three times a year, says Manchester United academy chief Nicky Butt

Former South China man applauds Hong Kong Football Association under-17 side after friendly with touring Man Utd youth squad

Manchester United Class of ’92 legend Nicky Butt would be the first to admit his move to South China back in 2010 was a step into the unknown.

But his seven-month stint in the city – the Mancunian’s curtain call to an illustrious playing career – allowed him to identify Hong Kong football fatal flaws.

“During my time, there were a lot of technically talented players, but not so professional,” said Butt, 42, after watching his Manchester United Academy under-16s edge out a 3-2 friendly win against the Hong Kong Football Association under-17s on Saturday.

“They had enough technical skills, but it’s more about getting on the pitch as much as possible. As many hours on the grass as you can.

At the moment, our [academy] boys get 14 to 15 hours a week of training. You don’t get that here; probably three or four hours,” said Butt, who was appointed United’s head of academy last year in an attempt to catch up with rivals Manchester City’s blossoming youth set-up.

Having spent the better part of last week watching his academy players train throughout the Hong Kong Jockey Club Youth Football Academy Summit, Butt couldn’t ignore Hong Kong’s torturously humid conditions.

“It’s massive. You can’t play the way we tell our boys to play at home,” he said, explaining that the Hong Kong heat forces a slower approach off the ball.

“In England, we tell our boys to press and hunt the ball down for the full ninety minutes. Over here, you can’t always play the way you want. You have to adapt to playing a different pace.”
Butt spent several months playing for South China FC in Hong Kong at the end of his playing career.

Seven years on from his short spell, Butt returned last week with an army of hungry youngsters itching to make their mark abroad.

A comfortable 7-0 win against the Hong Kong District All-Stars last Wednesday only highlighted the chasm between European and Asian football, but that assumption quickly shifted after their final friendly over the weekend.

Manchester United thrashing can be the making of us, says Hong Kong academy coach

United faced the older and tighter-knit HKFA under-17s, and initially struggled to find their footing against the possession-playing home team. Butt watched on with interest as their opposition held their own and fired up the local crowd with two fine goals.

Tired marking from a set piece eventually allowed a young United forward to head in the winner, but Butt insisted HKFA’s display is very encouraging for Hong Kong football.

“The level of professionalism has become a lot higher, and it’s good to see that the [HKFA] boys are getting to work on both individual technique as well as team work,” said Butt, who watched both teams in a joint training session before the match.

“They look like a really good team. They train a lot more and you can see it’s paying off.”
After years of what appeared to be a plateauing local football scene, Butt is excited by Hong Kong’s development and wants his academy to return sooner rather than later.

“We consider ourselves a very good academy, and they stuck with us for ninety minutes. Hopefully they can lift their game up like this all season.”

“The more of these trips for our young boys, the better. We have to fit it in with our calendar back home, but I think if we do two or three of these a year for each age group, it would be great.”

 

It is so good to see Nicky Butt back in Hong Kong again. He seems to have formed a link with the city after playing for half a year with South China. It was his second visit to Hong Kong this year.

The Hong Kong U17 were using the match against Man Utd U16 as a warm up against Australia U17.

 

Good to see Itaparica, Alex Akande and Chan Siu-Ki back in the squad.

It will be tough to play away to Malaysia, so it is good to viist Singapore and get accustomed first.

Malaysia will play Macau this Friday in Macau so I wonder whether Kim Pan-Gon will go over to see that or watch the Kitchee vs Eastern match at home.

 

http://ilovehkpl.on.cc/

Oriental Daily will once again be the host broadcaster for the 2017-18 HKPL. The above link is their new 24 hours online HKPL channel.

 

Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground was flooded by sea water during typhoon Hato yesterday... fortunately it is not one of the HKPL sports grounds, which kicks off tomorrow evening.

 

South China Morning Post

No South China, no problem: Officials upbeat about Hong Kong Premier League
FA chief believes the average attendance will improve despite the former giants withdrawal from the top tier with big-spending R&F looking particularly strong

Chan Kin-wa

Senior soccer officials were upbeat that Premier League attendances will not suffer despite the absence of South China, the best supported club in Hong Kong.

The new season kicks off with champions Kitchee taking on runners-up Eastern at Mong Kok Stadium on Friday and Football Association chairman Brian Leung Hung-tak is confident fans would still come even though South China are playing in the second-tier after their sensational withdrawal from the Premier League in June.

“South China were very popular in Hong Kong but other clubs are coming up quickly and they can pull in the fans if they can continue to play attractive soccer,” said Leung.

“The league opener between Kitchee and Eastern will definitely be a good game with both sides aiming [for glory] at the 2018 AFC Champions League. I would expect an attendance of more than 3,000 spectators.

“Other teams such as R&F, Southern, Tai Po, Pegasus and Warriors have also strengthen their squads and the Premier League will be very competitive. The average attendance for last season was not ideal at around 1,000 spectators, but we won’t expect a big decrease because Football Club have been relegated while R&F have put up a strong side for the new season. We should be able to maintain a similar number and then build up a foundation for future development.”

The chief was impressed by R&F, who have doubled their budget from last season after finishing second from the bottom of the table.

“They boast a Brazilian striker [Bruninho] whose transfer fee cost the club close to HK$40 million and I am sure fans will be eager to see a player of his class,” said Leung. “They have also secured some naturalised Hong Kong internationals and some quality foreign players who have played here before. They will be the team to watch.”

Former China international Wu Weian, player/coach of R&F, said Bruninho, who played in the Chinese Super League side in 2016 as well as for Danish Superliga side FC Nordsjælland, would add excitement to the Hong Kong league.

“He is a classy player but our ultimate target is to get him back to the Chinese Super League after he restores his confidence by playing in Hong Kong,” he said. “We are putting up a strong side and we hope the fans will come to support us.”

Unlike last season, R&F would use their training base in Guangzhou as their home ground for the new season and expect a minimum of 1,000 fans watching their home games.

 

KC Southern District vs Hong Kong Pegasus, originally scheduled tomorrow afternoon, maybe delayed due to damage to Aberdeen sports ground during typhoon hato.

 

Kitchee won without the likes of Fernando, Lam Kar-Wai, Lo Kwan Yee... etc. Last season's top scorer Sandro only came on as a second half substitute. I did not see anything that impressed me from Eastern Long Lions.

 

HKPL results:
KC Southern District 0:1 Hong Kong Pegasus
Dreams FC 1:1 Wofoo Tai Po
Biu Chun Rangers vs Lee Man postponed due to poor weather
Sun Yuen Long vs R&F Guangzhou postponed due to poor weather

 

Hong Kong national team have arrived in Singapore for the friendly with the hosts tomorrow (31st) evening.



Hong Kong "B" team is training hard and has recalled James Ha for the Interport match against Macau on 2 Sept.

B team coach Kwok Ka-Lok said Hong Kong B team lacks a centre forward, so he has to rely on Lam Hok-Hei. He will support him by having speedy players around him.

Has Hong Kong FA tried talking to Antonie Viterale about playing for Hong Kong at all? Head coach Kim Pan-Gon is in Singapore now, they can and should meet.

 

The performance doesn't bode well for the match against Malaysia. Coach Kim does not seem to be able to make this group of players perform.