Kitchee chairman Ken Ng acknowledged the club's poor season. Whilst no decision has been made in regards to interim head coach Kim Dong Jin's future pending on the result of the FA Cup campaign, but they did state that they are considering alternative option should they want to replace Kim. In addition, the club are currently assessing which players they will retain for the next season and have hinted that some of their senior players could be departing from the club. I think the club should focus on rebuilding their squad and perhaps bring in fresh players (and integrate more youth in their squad) that can contribute within the long term. Curious to see which players will be retained and which ones will depart.
Kitchee does have some young players like Poon Pui-Hin, Shinichi Chan, Cheng Chin-Long, Sohgo Ichikawa, Chen Ngo Hin... etc. But it is true that the backbone of the team are old and not easy to replace overnight. It is neither easy nor cheap to develop a young player into a proper matured player. If you bring in too many players from outside it takes sometime to form a team. Part of Kitchee's problem is that it has got good resources and can look further and wider. But it also means they sometimes get fooled into buying players they don't know enough about.
Hong Kong FA Cup - Lee Man Vs Sham Shui Po SA - 1:2 League leaders Lee Man were stunned by Sham Shui Po as goals from Nicholas Benavides and Ismael Dunga gave them a shock win. The two sides will meet once again in a few weeks in which Lee Man can still secure their first HKPL title if they beat Sham Shui Po. The second semi-final will see Kitchee and Eastern take on each other tomorrow after the two sides previously faced each other during the Hong Kong Premier League where Eastern got the win which dented Kitchee's chances of retaining the HKPL title.
Hong Kong FA Cup - Kitchee Vs Eastern - 1:2 The same story was told once again as Eastern trounced Kitchee for the second time after they won against them a few weeks ago in the Hong Kong Premier League. It was Noah Baffoe who scored the winner a few weeks ago, scored twice to secure Eastern's place in the FA Cup final where they will face off against Sham Shui Po SA as the two will compete for the play off slot for the AFC Champions League 2. As for Kitchee, it was another bad day in the office as the cracks continued to show with woeful performances especially from its defensive display and also for Paulo Cesar who was given a straight red card for his challenge on Noah Baffoe. Should Lee Man obtain a win against Sham Shui Po in their next HKPL fixture, Kitchee are more than likely to miss out a place for the AFC competitions since 2011.
The Hong Kong Football Association confirmed that the national team will travel and play in an international friendly fixture against the Liechtenstein national football team which is is to be held in October.
This is actually quite incredible, regardless of Liechtenstein's ranking, the fact that the HK team gets to play in an official match in Europe is amazing!
I believe this is also the first time the men's national team gets to travel to Europe which is certainly going to be a big step for the players to achieve experience.
We absolutely should not be fooled by Liechetenstein's ranking - they play in Europe and hence it is very rare for them to pick up a win, but I believe their team is still extremely physical (much more physical than what HK team will be used to) and technical. For example, they lost all their matches in 2023 (all Euro qualifiers) but had to go up against teams like Portugal, Bosnia, Iceland, etc. They only lost by 2 against Portugal in a competitive match. This doesn't earn them ranking points but its clear their level is above ours.
JC Sapling Cup Final - Kitchee Vs Rangers - 0:1 In a match that hosted the final appearances for both Lam Ka Wai and Lo Kwan Yee who are retiring at the end of the season, their club Rangers sealed the win in the JC Sapling Cup final courtesy of Nassam Ibrahim who scored the only goal to secure their first silverware in 29 years. For Kitchee, it was once again another bad day in the office which comes after a string of poor past results failed to make gain any momentum throughout the match. Safe to say that it is unlikely that Kim Dong Jin will not be given the permanent head coach position and they will have to rebuild their squad.
Kitchee look like they've collectively quit. No real inspiration out there on the pitch. But good for Rangers and Philip Lee, who might be succeeded as president by Mr. Mok's son.
Small correction from my previous post, what I meant to say that it is safe to say that the chances of Kim Dong Jin getting to the permanent head coach basis are all but dashed.
Kitchee managed to gain a key important win against Southern to keep their slim chances of keeping themselves in the race for the Hong Kong Premier League title. Kitchee director hinted that there will be changes within the club once the season comes to an end. But all attention will be upon tomorrow's fixture as Lee Man take on Sham Shui Po SA. Should Lee Man either acquire a draw or a win, they will secure their first Hong Kong Premier League title and qualify straight to the group stages of the Asian Champions League 2 tournament.
Goals from Henri Anier, Gil Martins, Jonathan Acosta, Cheng Siu Kwan and Li Ngai Hoi were enough to seal all three points against which confirmed that they are the 2023/24 Hong Kong Premier League champions. This also meant that as champions, they qualify to the group stages of the AFC Champions League 2. Although there was a small consolation for Sham Shui Po SA as substitute Chen Hao scored a superb goal for the home team. Despite the loss, the club will face against Eastern early next month for the FA Cup final as the two sides are vying to book the play-off spot within the next edition of the AFC Champions League 2 tournament.
According to chairman Norman Lee, it is expected that Tsang Chiu Tat is to remain as head coach and take charge of the club's run within the upcoming AFC Champions League 2. He also hinted they are going to strengthen their squad by looking at the Summer transfer window for new recruits (a centre back and midfielders) and hinted that some of their local players could be heading to play for Chinese clubs for the next season. The club is also holding talks with its foreign players especially with Henri Anier for contract extensions. There had also been some rumours that Kitchee's Mikael is looking to depart to join a club in China or Thailand.
There's an interesting rumour going around, confirmed by Sochick, that SSP and RCFC will join forces next season. He also said that other clubs are have made overtures to Song Ju-ho, Bobby Singh and Nick Benevides.
Here is the 36-man preliminary squad named: Interesting to see that there are several notable absentees which include Tse Ka Wing, Paulo Cesar, Tsui Wang Kit, Dudu, Wong Wai, Li Ngai Hoi, Everton Camargo, Fernando and Mahama Awal . Lee Man's Chan Ka Ho and RCFC's Pong Cheuk Hei have been added.
After three consecutive seasons, the HK U23 club is set to play their final game as it will be disbanded once the season concludes. This comes as the HKFA announced a U22 league for the next season. Kitchee's Huang Yang is set to retire at the end of the season. Stefan Pereira announced that he is leaving KC Southern, although it is not known which club he will join at this time. Gil Martins is set to depart Lee Man after his contract was not renewed by the club.
According to an article by Mingpao, 18 year old Newcastle United youngster Alfie Harrison (whose mother was born in Hong Kong) who recently featured during the Soccer 7s tournament stated that he was approached by the Hong Kong national football team and had begun his process to apply for a HKSAR passport in hopes of representing the national team in the future.
After seeing the struggles of players like Sean Tse and Jay Haddow to represent HK, I have some serious doubts about if Harrison could get his passport... as others have mentioned on Twitter, by FIFA rules Harrison should be eligible, but it is the cumbersome HK rules that make it so hard to get a passport.
SCMP is reporting that Tsui Wang-kit is expected to go back to China. Tsui says he still has a year left on his deal with Lee Man.
This is bad news if this turns out to be true. According to offside.hk's Twitter, it seems that Jorn Andersen had apparently departed his role as head coach and will not take charge of the national team's final two fixtures next month. Eric Fok who was present during Lee Man's celebration banquet said that "there is no news about this at this moment."
Jorn Andersen was not present during today's training session with the Hong Kong national team that only fuels further on the speculated rumours about his departure. His assistant Wolfgang Luisser took charge in his place. 18 year old Anthony Pinto of the Bolton Wanderers youth team was also present within the training session.