South China Morning Post Hong Kong FA hopes for ‘common sense’ after AFC warns of ‘more severe punishment’ over booing of national anthem Chief executive Mark Sutcliffe hopes a minority of fans do not spoil it for the others when Hong Kong face Lebanon on November 14 UPDATED : Tuesday, 31 October, 2017, 11:18pm The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on Tuesday warned the HKFA after some fans booed March of the Volunteers before Hong Kong’s 2-0 victory over Malaysia in an Asian Cup qualifier on October 10 at Hong Kong Stadium. It was not the first time Hong Kong fans booed the anthem and HKFA chief executive Mark Sutcliffe said the body was doing its best to encourage fans to keep politics out of the stadium. The next test is on November 9 when Hong Kong play Bahrain at Mong Kok Stadium. Five days later, second-placed Hong Kong face pool B leaders Lebanon at So Kon Po in a crucial qualifier. “If you read the AFC disciplinary code for this type of offence, there is no formal punishment so it will have to be at the discretion of the committee, and we have to interpret what they mean by ‘more severe punishment’,” said Sutcliffe. “My understanding is that the next step would be a fine, and I would imagine the AFC would follow Fifa regulations, so this would be followed by a larger fine and eventually lead to playing behind closed doors. Or if it carries on, the punishment could become more drastic and points could be deducted and failing this sanction, they could kick us out of the competition. “That would be the normal ratcheting up of sanctions. I’m sure the AFC would take a common sense approach and realise there is not a lot the FA can do. Obviously, we try to do what we can to stop it.” Football matches have increasingly become venues for the voicing of discontent from those in Hong Kong who are unhappy with China’s role in running the former British colony. The HKFA has previously been fined by Fifa and in September, China passed a law stating that disrespecting the anthem could result in 15 days’ imprisonment. The law has come into force in China but has yet to be extended to Hong Kong. Lebanon lead the table on 10 points from four matches with Hong Kong second on five points with two games left. North Korea are third on two points with the top two advancing to the 2019 Asian Cup finals in the UAE. The FA on Tuesday condemned those fans who disrespected the anthem and urged them to resist in the future. The body is also planning to post notices on Facebook, its website and other social media avenues to encourage fans to behave during the anthem. Sutcliffe said the FA had meetings with stadium management and police to implement high levels of security for the Lebanon game, including checking bags to ensure no political banners are taken into the venue. “It’s a shame if a minority of people spoil it for fans who just want to watch a football match,” he said. “Ultimately, if the AFC wants us to play behind closed doors, it would come to a very sad stage.” Meanwhile, Malaysia’s football body was fined US$30,000 on Tuesday after the national team’s fans chanted “dogs” at supporters from Singapore and Brunei during matches at the Southeast Asian Games. Malaysian supporters chanted “Brunei dogs should just be killed” during their side’s 2-1 victory over the neighbouring country on August 14 at the Kuala Lumpur-hosted tournament, the AFC said. Two days later the fans also chanted that Singaporeans were “dogs” as Malaysia beat the city-state 2-1. The AFC’s disciplinary committee fined the Football Association of Malaysia US$15,000 for each of the offences.
Here is the final 23 players named for the Bahrain and Lebanon matches: Goalkeepers: YAPP Hung-Fai - Eastern Long Lions WANG Zhenpang - Kitchee SC TSE Ka-Wing* - Dreams FC Defenders: ROBERTO Affonso Junior - R&F HK TSUI Wang-Kit - BC Rangers LI Ngai-Hoi - HK Pegasus Andrew James RUSSELL - Wofoo Tai Po FC HELIO Goncalves - Kitchee SC Fernando Comi RECIO - Kitchee SC Daniel Rodrigues CANCELA - Kitchee SC Midfielders: LAM Ka-Wai - Kitchee SC HUANG Yang - Kitchee SC XU Deshuai - Eastern Long Lions JU Yingzhi - Eastern Long Lions WONG Wai - Wofoo Tai Po FC TAN Chun-Lok - Wofoo Tai Po FC CHENG Chin-Lung - Dreams FC Forwards: Jaimes Anthony McKEE - Eastern Long Lions LO Kong-Wai - Eastern Long Lions Alessandro Ferreira Leonardo (SANDRO) - Kitchee SC Alex Tayo AKANDE - Kitchee SC Jordi Paramo TARRES - Lee Man FC James Stephen Gee HA - KC Southern Interesting that he included Dream FC's TSE Ka-Wing and CHENG Chin-Lung into the squad and they are the only two players who are uncapped. I'm not entirely sure if they will feature within either of the two matches though.
I am not even sure if Kim has finished watching the weekend's matches before deciding on the squad list. The midfield looks very light weight and it is worrying.
HKPL: Kitchee 4:1 Lee Man KC Southern District 0:1 Wofoo Tai Po HK Pegasus 1:3 Biu Chun Rangers R&F 2:1 Dreams FC Sun Yuen Long 0:3 Eastern Longlions. Kitchee extends its lead while Eastern are off the bottom of the table.
Hong Kong national team is back in training in preparation for the friendly against Bahrain on Thursday as well as the crucial Asian Cup qualifier against Lebanon.
South China Morning Post Hong Kong coach Kim Pan-gon hits back after criticism over local players Korean says Dreams FC teenagers Tse Ka-wing and Cheng Chin-lung deserve their shot as he looks to transition from old guard Chan Kin-wa Hong Kong head coach Kim Pan-gon has knocked back suggestions he is under pressure to select more local players in his squad as he prepares for the crucial Asian Cup qualifier against Lebanon next week. Just 10 of the 23-man squad – who will also play host to Bahrain on Thursday as preparation – are local players, including two young newcomers, goalkeeper Tse Ka-wing and forward Cheng Chin-lung, both of Dreams FC. The Korean has been under fire for recruiting too many naturalised players since he was appointed to the job in 2012. Just last month, three Spanish-born players – Jorge Tarres, Fernando Recio and Daniel Cancela – were all drafted into the team immediately after they obtained Hong Kong passports. All three players keep their place in the squad. “My position is always under pressure, I know that clearly as I have been in Hong Kong for 17 years,” said Kim after leading his side’s first practice session at Tseung Kwan O Sports Ground on Monday. “But this is not the reason I picked more local players. From time to time, I have to recruit up-and-coming players into the squad as we need a smooth transition from some of our older players. “Also, these young guns are performing well in the league and they deserve the opportunity. I know the two coming games are important but I always try to give chances to young players if possible.” Kim was especially impressed by 19-year-old Cheng, the diminutive forward having played a key role in attack for his club despite his age, while Tse, 18, had a brief training stint with English League One side Bury in 2016 before returning home. Other young players include Li Ngai-hoi of Pegasus, Tsui Wang-kit of Rangers and Tan Chun-lok of Wofoo Tai Po while veteran Lam Ka-wai is back into the squad after missing the last two international games. The coach also defended his decision to keep most of the practice sessions behind closed doors as he wants the players to keep focused. “We need concentration at this stage as we want to protect our players from some outside political influence,” he said. Captain Yapp Hung-fai was also not worried the arrival of new young players would weaken the squad as they prepare for the two important games. “They are not selected because they are young but because they have proved themselves on the field,” said the goalkeeper. “Their arrival will certainly bring more stamina and energy into the squad. They may even have chances to play if they can convince the coach they are good enough with their form.”
Hong Kong Starting XI: GK: YAPP Hung-Fai DF: Fernando Comi RECIO DF: Daniel Rodriguez CANCELA DF: HELIO Goncalves DF: Andrew James RUSSELL MF: TAN Chun-Lok MF: XU Deshuai MF: WONG Wai MF: HUANG Yang FW: Jaimes Anthony McKEE FW: Jorge Paramo TARRES https://www.facebook.com/hkleague/p...506791559607/1733162813360659/?type=3&theater It is now half time and score remains 0-0 at the moment.
Full Time score: Hong Kong Vs Bahrain - 0-2 The team conceded two late goals in the 80th and 87th minute.
The performance did not look good. The midfield looks light weight and the defense was slow. Nobody seemed to be in charge on the field. We made very few chances. The new local youngsters did not have enough time to get into the game and made a few poor decisions. http://www.tnp.sg/sports/singapore-football/lions-winless-run-continues-lebanon-defeat Singapore lost 0-1 to Lebanon and Singapore coach Sundram claims Lebanon is much stronger than Bahrain. ("If you compare Bahrain to Lebanon, I think Lebanon are much stronger. And if we can limit a team like Lebanon to just one goal, I think we can be positive about the Bahrain game," said Sundram) I think Hong Kong will find it very hard to get a result against Lebanon.
Some Hong Kong football fans still continue to jeer the national anthem despite the passing of the tougher restrictions: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/...r-fans-jeer-national-anthem-despite-tough-new Other than that, Hong Kong will surely face a really tough test against Lebanon within a few days.
Hong Kong in final preparation for the match against Lebanon tonight. Our newly naturalized Spanish trio Dani Cancela, Recio and Jordi Tarres will be very important to us. Kim Pan-Gon is likely to start with all there. Given the importance of the match we might see a 10,000 plus crowd. But actually, regardless of what happens tonight, if Hong Kong beats North Korea on 27 March, then Hong Kong will qualify. Even if we win tonight we still need a 2-2 draw or higher score to qualify. I think that is down right impossible...
Well, Hong Kong lost their match by a single goal courtesy of a 1st half penalty by Lebanon's Hassan Maatouk. Their chances for qualifying does look pretty slim now and the only way Hong Kong can qualify is if they can beat North Korea and get a better goal difference. Realistically, it is going to get tough since they are playing away. What do you guys think of Tan Chun-Lok's red card?
It was an ugly kick by Tan Chun Lok. Tan was really playing very hard before the incident, I thought he was too hyped up. He simply wasn't aware that an opponent was nearby, but that cannot be a valid excuse for kicking someone. Penalty is just. A red card is severe but hard to argue against. I guess HKFA might appeal the red card but I am not sure AFC will change their minds. Now we somehow have even less points than Malaysia in the AFC rankings. We will lose our AFC Champions league group stage slot in 2019-2020. Just how did we lose those points when Malaysia got thrashed 4-1 (twice!!!) by North Korea while we lost only by 1 goal to Lebanon I have no idea. Anyway our clubs are not good enough for ACL so it doesn't matter.
Tan deserved to be sent off for stupidity, regardless of whether he intended to kick the Lebanese player or not. In fact, the entire team made stupid decisions with the ball all night. When we should've pushed the ball forward, we turned back with it and when there was nobody forward, we would send aimless crosses into the box. On that team yesterday, only McKee had a decent game and that's saying something as he didn't do anything special. Kim will be blamed but he wasn't completely culpable for yesterday's loss. The blame should be spread out to the players who quite simply were not and are not good enough to qualify for a 16 team or a 24 team Asian Cup. The thing that should scare everyone isn't the Asian rankings. It's the fact that we had to use so many players over the age of 30 just to get to this stage. When the likes of Jordi, Huang and Dani, and possibly Helio, Lam and Xu are gone in the next cycle, who is there to step up? The answer is that likely we will have to rely on a lot of players in their early 20's to mature quickly in order to be competitive, much less win.
Even if we had won qualification to the 2019 Asian Cup, I am sure a good number of the current players will not be playing in the tournament. So actually I am very grateful for their service over this qualifying campaign. I do honestly think we need a new coach though. Kim Pan-Gon seemed to have no response after Tan was sent off. Everyone could see all the tired legs out there but he put in two players (Sandro and Lam Ka-Wai) that were no help at all. He clearly had not planned for this, which is very unprofessional.
So do you guys think Kim Pan-Gon should remain coach until the last Asian Cup qualifying match against North Korea in March and which players would you call up?
Well there is only one official match left which is the North Korea game. Even if you fired Kim today I don't think anyone will want to pick up the loose end. Kim should stay but we should get someone new when his contract is over.
Will there be a friendly match before the North Korea game? Can we get rid of Tan's suspension and have him play against NK? Might as well give it everything we have. I think after the North Korea game, it's time to give some younger players game time, like Jordan Lam, Wu Chun Ming, the Leung brothers, Lau Hok Ming, James Ha, etc etc. The list goes on; get them ready for the EAFF qualifiers, which should be our next competitive matchup. We need to qualify so they have tournament experience. And we will have new naturalized players coming in such as Sean Tse and Matt Lam, plus Tsun Dai may be called up by 2019.
Tan's suspension applies to competitive matches only. There will likely be a friendly before the North Korea game but Tan won't even be called into the squad. Of the players you mentioned, most of them are midfielders. If you look at the defenders who were called into the latest squad, only two of them will be under 30 next year when EAFF qualifying begins. Attack wise, Sandro, McKee and Alex have one more World Cup cycle left in them but they cannot be relied upon to be starters anymore. They don't score regularly enough as it is and they will be 35, 35 and 33 in 2022. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that there are promising players coming up. It's just unfortunate that all of them seem to be not just midfielders, but central midfielders.
That's true - though I think Leung Nok Hang, Sean Tse, Lau Hok Ming, Tsui Wang Kit and Li Ngai Hoi can be decent defenders. I don't see a great full back however, none of the above seem to have enough pace to be an international full back. Wong Tze Ho is the only one that comes to mind, but no idea what happened to him. I think Ha and Lam can double as wingers? But speaking of Sandro, I don't want to see him in a HK football shirt ever again. I have yet to find a single reason to justify why he should be put in at all. It was great effort from our boys against Lebanon - for everyone except Sandro.
Fong Pak Lun could be a good full back. He actually used to play as a striker and is quite speedy. We will probably find out more in the Asian Games U23 football tournament.
https://marksutcliffe.blogspot.hk/2...howComment=1510891860558#c1109429397993235886 Here is HKFA CEO Mark Sutcliffe's views of Hong Kong's defeat by Lebanon on Tuesday.
I think what got us in trouble in the past was when Kim would use players out of position. I'd rather not take the chance on seeing either of them try a position that they haven't played before at the club level. Sandro is one of those players who can never transfer his club form to the international level. He gets called up because he scores for Kitchee but of course, who doesn't score for Kitchee? Other than him, there aren't a lot of strikers who can argue are in form when they get called.