Hong Kong Football Thread (R)

Last night's result:

Tai Chung 1:0 Tai Po FC. The 3 points take Tai Chung past Sunhei into 8th place. Last night only 106 souls turned up at Siu Sai Wan, among them only 45 people actually bought a ticket...

 

Today is the big top of the table clash between South China and Kitchee at 17:00 at Hong Kong Stadium. Kitchee needs to win to get back on the top of the table. A win for South China may mean the league title will be theirs for the fifth season running. Last season 6,000 attended this game, I can expect a similar sized crowd today.

 

Latest result:
Citizen 1:1 Fourway Rangers

South China 0:2 Kitchee!!! The champions are trailing to an early goal by Kitchee captain Lam Kar-Wai. Jorge added a second goal at 14min. The game is on!

South China still has its big guns Leandro Carrijo and Chan Siu-Ki on the bench.

It is now 0:3! Lam Kar-Wai scored his second goal of the day.

 

South China 3:4 Kitchee

Chan Siu-Ki came on in the second half and scored, but Jorge scored again to make it 1:4. Then Tales Schutz and Chan Siu-Ki again scored to make it 3:4 final result. Xu De-Shuai of South China was red carded for two bookable offences.

Kitchee is back on top of the league table.

Shocking news after the game, Kim Pan-Gon announced that due to health problems, he will resign as South China coach for the time being and return to South Korea to recuperate.

 

Many people's choice for Man of the Match today, Kitchee captain Lam Kar-Wai, who scored two goals.

 

Steven Lo insisted Kim Pan-Gon's health problems are genuine and nothing to do with the loss today. He is unhappy with defender Alves and Carrijo, both will be fired. Former Tai Po defender Joel will join South China in January.

http://www.africasoccerdevelopments.com/index.php?cape-united-scholar- follows-nicky-butt-to-south-china-fc,374

Emmet Wan, 18, a South African/Hong Kong mixed player whose father is Hong Kong Chinese, will be having a trial with South China from Cape United.

 

Latest results:
Tuen Mun SA 1:0 HKFC
TSW Pegasus 0:4 Sunhei (A rare win this season for Sunhei. Probably fortunate it is played at Siu Sai Wan not Yuen Long Stadium due to poor grass conditions there.)

 

Lots of other pitches are going through their winter phase, ie dying from over-use. Siu Sai Wan is remote and rarely used, so it is still okay.

Well, not everyone in the 2nd division are really keen to move up, because they simply can't afford to become a pro team. The simple solution is to take things easy at the end of the season...

Eastern actually won division 3 last season already. But they decided to stay there. All this promotion/relegation thing HKFA has is just a joke. Nobody cares anymore.

IMHO HK 1st Division should be separate from the rest with no promotion/relegation to other HKFA leagues. All 1st Division teams should be franchises. Anyone who want to join must buy a team from an existing franchise holder.

 

Half season gate receipts by clubs:

1. South China (7 matches)　HK$968,464 (Gate receipts for Citizen game, HK$183,472donated to charity.)(Two games played in Siu Sai Wan.)
2. Tuen Mun SA (4 matches） $204,240
3. Tai Po FC (6 matches) $128,680
4. TSW Pegasus (5 matches) $97,098 (One game played in Siu Sai Wan.)
5. Fourway Athletics (4 matches) $60,150
6. Tai Chung FC (5 matches) $54,570
7. Kitchee (3 matches) $52,460
8. Sunhei (3 matches) $28,030
9. Citizen AA (6 matches) $26,770
10. HKFC (2 matches) $5,500

South China is clearly a lot more popular than the rest. Nicky Butt's debut game alone earned the club over $350,000. But they only have two home games left.

League leaders Kitchee has still six home games to play so they have a lot of room to catch up.

 

Just wondering Angsa, in terms of advertising/marketing for league game, what exactly have HKFA done in promoting the league? For instance has there been any advertisement on tv, radio or newspapers?

 

If you are talking about HKFA, nothing. Newspapers will do some match previews, but basically all promotion is done by the clubs themselves.

 

will Tuen Mun play friendly match with Macau in Feb?
& Leung Sui Wing is coach of both sides?

 

Last weekend's results:

HKFC 2:4 Fourway Rangers
Sunhei 1:3 South China
Tuen Mun 1:0 Tai Chung
Citizen 1:1 Kitchee
TSW Pegasus 0:1 Tai Po

South China is back on top of the league.

Next weekend no league games but there are the semi-finals of the Silver Shield. Both semi-finals are at Hong Kong Stadium.

 

Merry Christmas everybody.

Senior Silver Shield semi-finals results:
Tai Po FC 0:3 South China
Citizen AA 2:0 Fourway Rangers

South China will play Fourway Rangers on 16 Jan 2011.

Kim Pan-Gon announced that he will return to Pusan in Korea to rehabilitate. He will be assistant coach there for a K League club, focusing on strategy and planning. He will remain fitness consultant for South China. Chan Ho-Yin will continue as South China's chief coach.

Giovanni, former of Sunhei and played in China's Jia League last year, will join South China's strike force.

Chan Wai-Ho is rumoured to be on his way back to South China from Fourway Rangers. But Fourway Rangers management is upset about yesterday's poor performance and will not allow any players to leave the club.

 

South China is organizing the 2011 Chinese New Year Cup. Steven Lo said the tournament will be renamed "Asian Super Club Challenge Cup" and will feature South China complete with Nicky Butt, Guangzhou Evergrande FC, one K-League club and one J-League club.

The matches will be held at Hong Kong Stadium on 3rd and 6th February, the first and fourth days of Chinese New Year. Full details will be announced on 18th January.

 

Guangdong - Hong Kong 3-1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Guangdong–Hong_Kong_Cup

 

Poor result. Return leg is on Tuesday night at Hong Kong Stadium. TVB's J2 channel will broadcast it live.

 

2011 Lunar New Year Cup
3 Feb: Tianjin Teda vs Ulsan Hyundai FC; South China FC vs Guangzhou Evergrande FC
6 Feb: Losers vs losers; Winners vs winners.

 

News about the Singapore friendlies in February ?

 

No news. HKFA is working on it. They are not a talkative bunch.

 

I wonder how many punters they expect to bring in with those matchups. A bit underwhelming, to be honest.

 

Second leg played last night:

Hong Kong 1:1 Guangdong

Guangdong retains Guangdong-HK Cup.

 

Steven Lo said he had wanted a J-League team instead of two CSL teams. But all J-League teams requested training facilities for 10 days in Hong Kong which he simply cannot provide. As a result they wanted more money which was not an option for him.

I also think this line-up is not great. I would have preferred a Thai or Singapore club instead of Tianjin Teda.