The 5/19 match will always be one of Hong Kong's memorable moments. It will still be difficult to replicate this as you said especially missing key members. Anyways, Hong Kong will need a win to advance but its going to be a tough task.
I think I will start with McKee instead of Jordi. McKee is fit and his work rate and speed is always a plus. He also scored against North Korea before. Jordi is not quite match fit (he only played about 30 minutes since his return to Kitchee) and should start on the bench. Should Alex Akande gets injured (which is rather probable unfortunately) then Jordi can come on and take Alex's place.
I went with Alex and Jordi because they are familiar with each other's movements. While McKee has pace, his hold up play and his ability to lead the line are poor. For the first half 45-60 minutes, we need to quiet the North Korean fans by keeping possession. McKee is best, IMO, when he can run straight down the pitch. I'd rather bring him on as a sub when the North Korean defenders start to tire and/or if we need to switch to a 4-3-3 in order to chase the game.
SCMP How can I keep up with Hong Kong’s vital Asian Cup qualifier in North Korea? Well, there’s good news and bad news ... Find out how you can follow the action when Hong Kong take on North Korea in Pyongyang next week with a place at the 2019 Asian Cup at stake Jonathan White Hong Kong caretaker manager Liu Chun-fai has urged his players to make claim their own piece of history against North Korea. The brief for Tuesday is simple: beat the North Koreans in their capital and they qualify for the AFC Asian Cup in United Arab Emirates next year. Anything less than victory for Hong Kong and it will be the hosts that join the Lebanon side in making their way the to the UAE next January. Is it on TV? The match will not be shown on television after Now TV decided against pursuing the broadcast rights from the North Korean Football Association. A spokesperson told the Post: “Now TV has considered live broadcast the forthcoming North Korea vs Hong Kong match, but will not cover it now due to area restriction and technical difficulty.” [sic] How has this situation come about? “The rights for AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers Final round belong to the relevant Member Associations - including the broadcast rights,” explains Colin Gibson, director of communications at the AFC. If a Hong Kong broadcaster wishes to show the DPR Korea v Hong Kong match in the territory then they are free to approach the DPR Korea FA for the rights.” Hong Kong caretaker manager Liu Chun-fai has urged his players to claim their place in history. Photo: Chan Kin-wa So how else can you keep up? The AFC have said that they will run a live update in their matchcentre on their website. This will tell you the scores and other stats from the game as they happen. You can also follow along via their social media channels, which will be updated immediately. The AFC site is also the place to check for a match report just after the final whistle. Another option is Goal.com, whose own match centre has been offering live updates on the North Korean sides in the AFC Cup. Will we ever see the game? There is still a chance you may get to see highlights at some point – maybe. It remains unclear whether footage from the game – which will be filmed, as match highlights are shown domestically in North Korea – will make its way to Hong Kong, according to the Hong Kong Football Association. They may end up on the AFC’s Youtube channel at some point in the future, as other games from North Korea have in the past but this has not been confirmed and will not be anytime soon. Also, the DPRK Sports Youtube account often shows the highlights packages broadcast in North Korea and full games, as does Koryo Media. In the meantime, cross your fingers and hope that Hong Kong can go one better than when the sides drew 1-1 when they met at Hong Kong Stadium back in June last year.
So for North Korea vs Hong Kong there is no live broadcast or maybe even any broadcast whatsoever... Maybe AFC should make a rule which mandates that all qualifiers must be filmed and live broadcast rights must be made available to the away team's broadcasters.
Hong Kong team are training in Beijing. They will travel to Pyongyang on Saturday. Stand-in coach Liu Chun-Fai said he is not organizing any friendlies because the players are in season and are match fit. They actually need more rest than play. Judging by Kitchee's win over Kashiwa Reysol, when Kitchee did not play over the weekend while Kashiwa played a league match. I'd agree that the players are better off resting than playing at this stage of the season. North Korea are not playing any friendlies either.
From that same article... Can't really blame Now TV. I wouldn't give $1 million to the North Korean regime knowing that there's no way of enforcing the contract.
Eastern have suddenly parted company with defender Lee Chi-Ho. Maybe Lee will join former defensive partner Chan Wai-Ho at Dreams FC?
I really do wish the Hong Kong National Football team all the best for tomorrow and hopefully the results will go their way even though it will be a tough task.
The Standard Pyongyang crunch to decide HK quest for Asian Cup place Sports | 27 Mar 2018 Hong Kong take on North Korea in Pyongyang today needing a victory to qualify for the Asian Cup for the first time in 50 years. Sandro and Tan Chun-lok are unavailable but striker Jordi Tarres is expected to feature in the do-or-die clash at Kim Il Sung Stadium after shaking off an injury. Group B leaders Lebanon, on 13 points, have clinched the first Asian Cup berth from the group, leaving Hong Kong and North Korea to fight it out for the remaining slot. North Korea are second on eight points, three ahead of Hong Kong. North Korea coach Jorn Andersen is not underestimating the visitors after the two sides drew 1-1 the at Hong Kong Stadium in June. That followed a narrow win for North Korea over Hong Kong in the qualifying rounds for the East Asian Championship in 2016. "The teams know each other well," Andersen said. "We know that Hong Kong have a good team with many foreign players, who are physically very strong. "Also, we know the situation for us is very good. If we don't lose the game we will qualify for UAE 2019." Hong Kong have not reached the Asian Cup finals since 1968. "We need to avoid conceding a goal early in the game and try to keep a clean sheet and then be patient," Tarres said. "I'm sure we will have several chances and we need to take these chances and come back happy to Hong Kong."
Sadly the results did not go their way as they lost to North Korea by two goals. http://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong...n-cup-dream-crashes-back-earth-2-0-loss-north The loss meant that Hong Kong failed to advance to the Asian Cup 2019.
I guess that's it for a lot of the Hong Kong players, especially the naturalized ones as they are rather old now. We will have a new coach and he will look to the future, i.e. 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup qualification. Hopefully with the TKO football training centre nearing completion, the HKFA will be able to do some real youth training and some will come through the system. But right now I am not too hopeful. I just hope we get luckier next time with the draw. Why do we keep getting North Korea in every competition? Actually we play them again later this year in the EAFF Cup. It is like a recurring nightmare.
Nothing to be ashamed of as far as I'm concerned. We got a easy draw in the 2018 WCQ which allowed us to finish third in the group and advance to the Third Round of Asian Cup qualifying. We were fortunate to be here in some sense and in the end, we weren't good enough. At this point, the immediate goal should be to increase our ranking as much as possible before the next draw. Qualifying for the EAFF E1 tournament would be nice but not a must. In order to increase our ranking, I would still call up some of the naturalized players like Cancela, Helio, and Sandro until we have better options at their respective positions.
http://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong...n-cup-dream-crashes-back-earth-2-0-loss-north Match report by SCMP.
I agree, especially with the bolded. Anyways, there is a lot to ponder within the national team's future such as finding a new coach which can take the team to the next level, naturalised players etc. With the Asian Cup 2019 qualication done and dusted, I hope the team will prepare themselves for the EAFF qualification tournament.
Wow, first goal definitely looks like Yapp's fault... no way he should have let that in. He seems to be in poor form recently, but at 28 should be entering his peak... they should call on Tse Ka Wing to give him some competition.
Well there are some goalkeepers in the Hong Kong Premier League who could yet challenge YAPP Hung-Fai, even though he does seem to have quite a mixed season with Eastern Long Lions so far. I'm curious to see who they would find as the new head coach of the Hong Kong National Team.
TKO Football Training Centre will finally open in July, after years of planning, debating and construction. It will have six football pitches and will open from 7am to 11pm.
Kitchee also announced that it will expand its Shek Mun Football Training Centre. There will be co-operation with Chinese University's Medicine Department. They hope to improve players physical fitness and recovery.
Finally Chuck Yiu-Kwok has found a club! He has signed with Swiss club FC Chiasso. He cannot play for them yet though as the transfer window in Swiss league is closed. He will play in friendlies and train with the club.
I am not convinced that Yapp is the no. 1 goalkeeper in Hong Kong anymore. I would have played Wang Zhen-Peng as he is more familiar with the defenders like Helio, Tang Kin-Man, Dani etc. I thought coach Liu Chun-Fai would be a bit more adventurous but he went for the "safe" option.
Although for a do-or-die game, I would have still gone with Yapp, given we know his ability to force a clean sheet if need be is there (e.g. against China). However, going forward, I would start alternating between him and Tse Ka Wing - forget Wang, who will be 34 this year. Might as well start giving the young Tse some playing time, like Italy with Buffon and their new young keeper.