Chung, James Ha, Yuen Chun Sing then youngsters like Chan Kwong Ho (who is in great form this season) should be developed. Alex Akande should be the only veteran kept. All others should be dropped - sorry. McKee may be kept as a utility, off the bench reserve, but that's it. Also, I would still start Tan despite his form. Wong Wai was in sensational form heading into the EAFF but it hasn't shown. Tan still has the physicalty, skill, and grit (3 things Sandro doesn't have)...
Due to the stupid fixture list (we play Mongolia before North Korea plays Chinese Taipei), we have no choice but to go all out attack against Mongolia. If we score 12 goals like we did against Guam in 2009, then we will qualify. I don't see North Korea scoring 8 goals against Chinese Taipei.
It is possible Chinese Taipei holds them to a draw, or only concede 1-2 goals. I think we need a 5-0 win minimum to get through.
Full Time - Mongolia Vs Hong Kong - 1:5 Two goals from SANDRO and goals from Jaimes Anthony McKEE, Festus BAISE and Dani CANCELA gave Hong Kong the win against Mongolia who pulled one back during the second half. Its all going down to the wire now and depending on the North Korea Vs Chinese Taipei result.
Only just... we qualified by more goals scored. Dani Cancela's goal proved to be vital. It was not pretty but Gary White did it. Thank you Chinese Taipei for playing hard till the end. I really hope now Gary White can beat this team into shape for the finals next winter. The EAFF finals will most probably be held in November after the regular league seasons of China, Japan and Korea are over.
Gary White said all the players are MVPs. He said he has a plan for the national team in 2019 and he will now carry out that plan. The full national team will not play again until March next year. Gary White's next target is the Olympics qualifying tournament with the U23s.
There were some bad refereeing decisions today that didn't go our way - Sandro's goal in the 50th minute should've counted and North Korea's second goal shouldn't have. The fact we were able to qualify, in spite of that, based on goals scored is incredible. I was concerned that the players would not play with enough urgency today based on the tactics that Kim Pan-gon drilled into them for five years. They proved me wrong in the end and that's a credit I suppose to Gary White. The most important consequence of qualifying IMO is that now we have a stronger case to make to the government to continue funding the program beyond March 2020. I hope that the people who are in charge of this at the HKFA will have a plan in place to put before the government because we have to continue the momentum.
HF Yapp finally seems to be rounding back into the form we were used to in 2010-2016... perhaps removing the captains armband from him was the right decision. Also, Sandro's technical ability has really shown me why he keeps being included in the HK team. I do feel bad for doubting him before.
https://hk.on.cc/hk/bkn/cnt/sport/20181117/bkn-20181117164120167-1117_00882_001.html The team arrived home this afternoon at around 2:30 pm. White revealed that we will play a home friendly vs India in March. He said that the HKFA has been in contact with teams outside of the AFC for friendlies and they are exploring the possibility of playing in Europe next year. However, this will depend on the World Cup qualifying schedule.
Gary White: "Everybody thought I was crazy when I said Hong Kong could qualify." Gary White will have plenty of time to make preparations for next year's finals which I believe is held on December 2019 if I heard correctly.
Yeah we should play non-Asian opponents more often. Even Macau managed to arrange friendlies with Mauritius and Solomon Islands this year. I am not saying we should play Mauritius or Solomon Islands but we should be playing non-Asian countries more often and expose our players to various playing styles.
December 2019 in Korea will be freezing cold. I hope they arrange the games to be played as far south in the country as possible. Jeju Island will be better, but not by much. Just because the time gap from now till December 2019 is long, that does not mean the HKPL clubs will release their players to him for any long(ish) periods of time for pre-tournament training. Canny Leung was supposed to come out and explain herself about Mark Sutcliffe and we have heard / read nothing. So does HKFA have a united front now and ready to submit a new plan to HK govt? We have no idea.
What would your strategy be for the EAFF Championship Finals - put your best players forward, even if they are 40 years old such as Festus Baise? Or put in the most promising youngsters and give them this valuable experience and exposure. A chance ot play 3 games against China, Korea, and Japan is extremely valuable and rare...
For full national team, I always play with my best available players. The young players will get their chance in Olympic qualifiers, Asian Games, National Games, East Asian Games, Guangdong-HK Cup, HK Macau Interport etc.
Is it this video in question (since I don't understand much Cantonese): Personally I would call on players who are playing in good form for the finals.
Despite a goal from Lucas, Kitchee SC suffered their first loss of their HKPL campaign after being defeated by R&F (HK) with goals coming from a LEUNG Nok-Hang double and Manoel dos Santos (goal.)
Bear in mind that I think Japan and maybe Korea will not play with their best players. I am pretty sure Son Heung-Min will NOT play. I think most Japanese players who play overseas will not play either. So it this a rare opportunity? I am not sure. But actually Hong Kong players may get better opportunities in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. Last time we were drawn with China, this time we may get Korea or Japan?
Yes that's the one. I'll translate it for everyone as she does make some interesting points. She says that a panel was set up on Aug. 26 to interview and select a head coach but not too long after the panel, Sutcliffe went ahead and offered White a contract. When she asked him why he did that, Sutcliffe claimed that White was approved as a candidate and that he had to move quickly to get him. Her concerns are that 1) she was not notified by either of the other two panel members (Wilson Wong and Brian Leung) about White's approval 2) that Sutcliffe offered him a contract (which would've made White the second highest paid employee in the HKFA) without giving the panel time to consider his candidacy 3) that Sutcliffe only notified the board until afterwards 4) that urgency should not have been a reason to veer away from the process when the search should've began right after Kim resigned in Dec. 2017 5) and that Sutcliffe offered White a draft of a contract instead of allowing the board to write up a formal offer. In addition, she says that HKFA had agreed to split Kim's former duties of head coach and technical director into two jobs. The deadline for submissions was to be in June, however, she accuses the HKFA of moving the goalposts as the deadline for TD was moved to Sep. 30. She wonders why the organization wouldn't hire both at the same time as both as they need to work hand in hand. Paul Woodland, the current Football Development Manager, is now the acting CEO. She claims that the CEO position has to go out to a public tender, and wonders how someone could be appointed to that position even on an interim basis. She says that because the acting CEO's role is not defined, it is not clear what would happen to Woodland after a CEO is hired or whether Woodland would be allowed to submit an application for the position?
Before yesterday's match, I thought it was early for anyone to hit the panic button about Kitchee but now, I think they're in trouble. They've now dropped as many points this year as they did in their 2016-17 campaign - and they played 20 league matches that year. For all of their slick ball movement, they've been incompetent in dealing with set pieces. I have to give a lot of credit to R&F though. They were lazy defensively against Tai Po but last night they really stepped up. R&F defended with their lives last night and it's encapsulated but Lo Kwan Yee's goal line clearance near the end. This is the first statement win in their club's history.
Not really - even in WC qualifying you get drawn with say the Maldives. Here we have guaranteed high quality matches - even against their B team, it is still considerably higher level than what HK is used to. Bear in mind performing well against their B team may also mean that clubs in China, Korea, and Japan are looking at them and may potentially make an offer. It will be the first time in a while Korea / Japan get a good look at HK players.
In a very strange situation, Wofoo Tai Po is now set to play in qualifiers for the AFC Cup, their opponent is either a Mongolian or North Korean club. But should Kitchee progress to the ACL group stage, Hong Kong Pegasus will take Kitchee's AFC Cup group stage place instead while Wofoo Tai Po will still play the qualifiers, even though Wofoo Tai Po finished higher up in the HKPL than Hong Kong Pegasus. AFC said it is for match scheduling purposes. Hong Kong FA is going to file a protest/appeal to AFC about this. And for some unknown reason Benfica Macau has not entered the competition... I think the current AFC Cup format is very uninteresting. I have very little interest in watching North Korean, Mongolian and Taiwanese clubs play. I sincerely hope Kitchee makes it to the ACL group stage.
I think that's rather unlikely. There was a rumour that a Japanese club people went to see a Kitchee player after Kitchee beat Kashiwa Reysol in the ACL match. But nothing became of it. For a local player to make the grade in the top leagues of Korea, Japan or China is hugely difficult nowadays.
Although this interview is 3 months old, I thought it might be interesting to share what former Hong Kong international striker and current Kitchee SC Youth Coach Timothy Ashton Bredbury stated at around the 06:50 mark to 07:41. What are your thoughts on his statement?
Nothing special or ground breaking. I always believe all who have a HKSAR or even BNO passport should be treated equally and only playing ability should matter. People who discriminate against non-Chinese players should support the Chinese national team, I am sure there are no mixed race or foreign origin players in that team, not even minorities. Even Macau and Chinese Taipei have naturalized players today. Naturalized players taking local players places in the national team is a ridiculous claim. The national team NEEDS TO BE hard to break into. The naturalized players ensure that the playing standard in the national team is higher than your average club. Local players must reach a high standard to get into the national team. That's how it should be. Nobody should be handed a national team place on a plate. It needs to be EARNED. One thing I am more interested in that interview is Bredbury's claim that the club owners tend to side with the players rather than the coach, most probably due to contractual reasons. The players are on longer annual contract while the coach is on a monthly contract, meaning it is much cheaper to fire the coach. So the small clubs tend to fire the coach when things don't go well. The situation is that the club are heavily reliant on the owner's financial support, so the owner call all the shots. In a healthier environment, the supporters have a lot more say because they buy tickets or pay to watch on TV, therefore the clubs are more reliant on the fans and are listen to the fans more. (Obviously you still have your Abramovichs but that is more the exception rather than the norm.) This is something that is also being debated among some HK football fans who talks about how Kitchee is charging their fans money to watch them play on hk.on.cc