Hong Kong Football Thread II (R)

After Central & Western and Kowloon City declined promotion, Golik North District FC will be making an attempt to promote to the next season of the Hong Kong Premier League having finished 3rd in this season's Hong Kong First Division.

Although there are obstacles the club will face and should the HKFA accept Golik North District's promotion bid, we could see 11 clubs competing in the 2023/23 Hong Kong Premier League.

 

In addition to Kitchee announcing their departures, RCFC, Rangers and Eastern had also revealed who had departed:

It’s 31/5, and it’s time for some news of players departing their club and being ready for new challenges:

Eastern: Kaan Gul, Emilio Estevez, Alex Jojo
RCFC: Felipe Sa, Ricardo Sendra, Robert Odu, Pablo Gallego
Rangers: Juninho, Jesse Yu#HKPL #hkfootball pic.twitter.com/AdQCthjCzW

— HK Kickers🇭🇰 (@hk_kickers) May 31, 2023

 

I wasn't entirely too surprised with Damjanovic's decision to leave the club considering that the bridges had already been burnt between the two.

The bolded was the only time Akande made an impact. But since then, he still struggled to get first team opportunities and with Juninho's arrival, this will put him further down the list in which it is better off if he finds a new club.

It is a shame that Akande just wasn't able to regain his goalscoring form that he once had.

I felt like these two signings just weren't able to stand out in contrast to the other Kitchee players especially for Maddox Kong who wasn't utilised that much during his time with the club.

 

Lau Hok Ming is considering retirement. He feels that he has already peaked as a player (he's 28), his chances of making the Asian Cup squad are not high and the football industry is unstable, so he may not sign with another club next season. Hok Ming says that he has offers from two clubs on the table - judging from his tone, the proposed salary will be less than what he was making at Southern.

Only thing that is certain is that he will leave Southern.

I appreciate the brutal honesty of Hong Kong footballers but I must say, it's sad when someone who is 28 thinks that they have already peaked, regardless of what you may think of his abilities.

 

Good to see Michael Udebuluzor and Antoine Viterale participate within the HK senior men's training session. Even though Viterale has not decided on whether to apply for a HKSAR passport at this time, at least the training session does offer something for him to consider where to go next.

I would had thought that they would also give an invitation to Lee Man's Everton Camargo considering that like Michael, he is applying for a HKSAR passport.

But I do hope that Jorn Andersen can continue to unearth and exploit players (of Hong Kong origin/background) overseas and to provide them with an invitation to participate in a training session to let them decide whether they want to apply for a HKSAR passport and represent the national team.

Other than that, the national team may have been plagued with several players ruled out with injuries and absences. Fung Hing Wa, Leon Jones and Oliver Gerbig are ruled out with injuries whilst Andy Russell was absent due to family reasons. Shinichi Chan who suffered an injury a few months ago also too participated in the training session. Paulo Cesar seemed to had sustained a calf injury and Wong Wai had a minor knock.

 

Check Everton's IG. Looks like he and Jonny Acosta decided a while ago that they wanted to take their families on holiday together to Thailand.

 

Southern unveiled Yeung Ching Kwong as their new head coach succeeding Ricky Cheng Siu Chung.

In addition, Tse Tak Him who has already announced his retirement, Lau Hok Ming, Jean Moser, Dudu, Jahangir Khan, Hardikpreet Singh and Lo Kam Wang have all departed from the club whilst Ho Chun Ting and Seb Buddle returned to Kitchee after their loan ended.


As the second day of training continues with the Hong Kong national football team continues, Tsang Yi Hang who was named in the Under-23s squad was drafted to train with the senior team to cope with the shortage of defenders as Shinichi Chan, Andy Russell and Paulo Cesar were absent.

Fair enough, I guess it will probably have to wait for the next international friendly fixtures in September and hopefully Everton should obtain his HKSAR passport by then.

Hopefully this could draw in other local-born (of Hong Kong background/origin) players within overseas to try out a training session and potentially represent the national team if they are interested.

 

That's a lot of defenders who are out! Sad that we won't get to see Jones or Gerbig potentially make their debuts.

Good thing is that there is no doubt Nunez-Leung is the best CB pairing we have in the back, so the rest are just fighting to be on the bench.

Russell was seen in England, he took a photo with Sean Tse.

Really hope to see Shinichi come back and wonder if he'll play left back, the LB position has been atrocious without him.

 

Also no better time to join than now. If he's half decent he should be included, we have no good strikers / center forwards right now. Having him and Michael U will be a huge boost, along with an in-form Matt Orr.

 

Extraordinary news as @Boske9 reveals that Ken Ng had not paid the title bonuses to the Montenegrin striker, one of the top scorers of this #HKPL season, as promised.

Will Kitchee make any comment on Dejan’s claim?#hkfootball pic.twitter.com/BF0gKtmVIl

— HK Kickers🇭🇰 (@hk_kickers) June 8, 2023

I wonder if Ken Ng and Kitchee will make a statement on Dejan's claims?

I saw the photo on Sean Tse's instagram which appeared to had been taken over a week ago. So I guess that means he is likely to be out of contention for the national team?

I don't think Shinichi has fully recovered from his injury even though he did participated during the Monday training session and therefore I don't expect him to be named for the final squad.

 

The Hong Kong men's senior national football team played their first training match against the Hong Kong Under-23s team in preparation for their upcoming friendly fixtures against Vietnam and Thailand this month. The senior side won the match by seven goals in which Udebuluzor scored twice and Viterale also featured in which he provided an assist.

It was also revealed that Orr, Nunez, Leung and Yue will be joining the team on Monday whilst Wong Ho Chun and Jesse Yu Joy Yin are likely to join the Under-23s for their friendly fixtures against Tajikistan.

I really do hope that Udebuluzor will recieve his passport soon and Viterale may consider applying for a HKSAR passport.

Transfer news:

• Jesse Yu Joy Yin joins Eastern Long Lions.
• After securing Yeung Ching Kwong as the new head coach, Southern signed Lai Kak Yi from Sham Shui Po and Raphael Merkies from Hong Kong Football Club.

 

And here is the final squad named for the upcoming friendlies against Vietnam and Thailand:


Chang Hei Yin is the only uncapped player named in the squad whilst Ngan Cheuk Pan and Lam Hin Ting both missed out.

One small correction from my previous post, Udebuluzor scored three of the goals:

https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kon...ores-hat-trick-then-leaves-town-international

 

I'm interested to see how Tan Chun Lok is reintegrated into the team. How do you think he plays in the team under Jorn?

 

I think Jorn will be very cautious with Tan and I probably do not expect him to be within the starting eleven, but could see him coming off as a substitute.

It is a shame that Udebuluzor could not obtain his passport in time for the HK national team's June friendly fixtures, but hopefully he will obtain it before the September fixtures. As for Viterale, if he truly wants to apply for a HKSAR passport, he should do it now rather than later.

I do wonder whether Jorn Andersen will continue to pursue more players (of Hong Kong origin/background) overseas and invite them to another training session with the national team if there is one?

In other news, KC Southern really has been very busy within the transfer window as they signed former Happy Valley and RCFC striker Robert Odu:

Nigerian striker Robert Odu @robert_odu9 joins Southern, becoming the club’s third signing this summer, after Lai Kak-yi and Merkies.#HKPL #hkfootball pic.twitter.com/1GcXvaViHJ

— HK Kickers🇭🇰 (@hk_kickers) June 11, 2023

 

He better apply soon - as we have seen recently with Michael U (and many others throughout history), the process takes a while. And he is a 27 year old winger / CF not playing professional football right now.

Has anyone seen footage of him in action recently? Jorn says he does have things current players don't have, wonder how good his level is at the moment and how he compares to our current attackers.

 

Whilst it is great to see that the time he spent with the training squad certainly reignited his career and interest with football even though he isn't playing professionally at the moment.

Curious but how long does it usually take for the application for HKSAR passports to be processed?

I wonder if Jorn Andersen and the HKFA should consider planning and organising a Summer training camp for both the Under-23 side (who will have to contest with the 2024 AFC U23 qualifiers and the Asian Games football event) and for the senior men's team in July and August?

 

As revealed by Coach Andersen in the pre-match press conference, two CSL players Vas Nunez and Yue Tsz-nam will not be available for tomorrow’s match against Vietnam due to injuries. (HK01)#hkfootball

— HK Kickers🇭🇰 (@hk_kickers) June 14, 2023

Bad news as Vas Nunez and Yue Tsz Nam are out of contention for tomorrow's game against Vietnam as stated by Jorn Andersen during today's press conference. Not sure if that means the two will be ruled out during the national team's home fixture against Thailand.