Lee Man Vs Bali United - 5:1 A very dominant performance as the home team thrashed Indonesian club Bali United to advance to the next stage of the AFC Champions League qualifying stages with goals from debutant Mitchel Paulissen, Gil Martins, Everton Camargo and Jose Angel. They will have a major obstacle as they will play Japanese side Urawa Red Diamonds which is due to be played next Tuesday.
Lee Man's performance is much more like it compared with Rangers. If you consider yourself ACL worthy and you are playing at home, then you should be taking the game to your opponent and not sit back and let the visitors enjoy possession.\ It's just a shame that Lee Man will have to visit Urawa Red Diamonds in the next round. Unless something stupendous happens, I don't see Lee Man going through.
The new season of the Hong Kong Premier League kicked off today with two matches being played: Kitchee Vs Tai Po: RCFC Vs Crowncity North District:
A 33-man preliminary squad had been named in preparation for the upcoming friendly internationals next month, Li Ngai Hoi who recently joined BC Rangers earned a recall to the squad.
Nakamura Yuto visited Lee Man at their hotel. He was a Urawa Red Diamonds youth training product and his father used to work as general manager at the club. He and his wife met all the coaches and players and bought gifts. Lee Man coach Tsang Siu-Tat gave him the new season shirt with his former number (44) and name printed on it. Nakamura said it is hard for him to pick a winner between Lee Man and Urawa Red Diamonds as both are close to his heart. It is such a shame he retired just a few months before the two clubs will meet in tonight's ACL preliminary match.
Seems like Lee Man's Everton Camargo is due to collect his HKSAR passport some time this week after he inquired to the immigration department regarding to the status of the approval which could mean that he will be able to join up with Jorn Andersen and the Hong Kong national football team as a late call-up. On the other hand, Michael Udebuluzor who had also applied for a HKSAR passport had his application recently approved although he will have to travel back to Hong Kong to renounce his original citizenship. If all goes smoothly, he may be able to represent the national team soon.
Great news, and from the last paragraph actually it sounds like Michael U is also hopeful of getting his passport in time for the September friendlies.
Getting Everton and Udebuluzor will certainly be welcome additions for Jorn Andersen and the national team. It does make me wonder whether Andersen will continue to unearth further Hong Kong-born or of origin players from overseas and invite them to a training session (similar to how Udebuluzor and Viterale were invited) in hopes of convincing them to represent the national team? If I were Andersen, I would also maybe hand out invitations to those who are potentially and are in the process of applying for naturalisation and HKSAR passport such as Kitchee's Juninho and Lee Man's Dudu to join a training session just to get them immersed in to the national team set up. Speaking of which, apparently Clement Benhaddouche had already obtained his HKSAR passport prior to his transfer to Heilongjiang Ice City FC and hopes he can one day represent the national team. The Benavides Medeiros brothers Nicholas and Oscar of Sham Shui Po SA had also acquired a HKSAR passport recently (even though their chances on making the national team is slim.)
Seeing how Everton Carmago performed last night against Urawa Red Diamonds, I am not so sure he will be a great addition. He looked so unfit and tired and was missing in action when Lee Man was attacking sometimes. Anyway Lee Man had a strange match plan last night. I can understand saving two players like Anier and Wong Wai for second half, but playing 3 centre backs and sending on 3 substitutes in the 85 minute made little sense to me. 3 centre backs guarantee failure, as witnessed with 2 goals for Urawa in the first 6 minutes. After that Urawa slowed down the game. Urawa could have scored many more if they had wanted. There is a belief in Hong Kong football circle that more defensive players means a better defense. But I have never seen a Hong Kong team (either club or country) wins with 5 defenders against foreign opposition, always and only result are big defeats. Why they keep doing it is beyond me. 3 substitutes in the 85 minutes... the tired legs were already too tired and the subs had little time to make a real difference. You might as well not make the change.
I didn't catch the match but I won't disagree with you... however, I think Everton is worth the risk because at this point we might as well try. If you look at the preliminary squad, it's the same attackers: Sun, Orr, Law, Awal... they all got many, many chances and produced essentially 0 goals in the past year. Might as well throw Everton in there and see if anything happens!
2023-24 ACL group stage Group F: Jeonbuck Hyundai Motors FC, Bangkok United, Lion City Sailors FC and Kitchee. Good to draw with Lion City Sailors FC. (I guess the Singaporeans think so too) It is potentially possible for Kitchee to get 6 points if they do well.
There's only one group that I would've considered a bad draw - Group I. Avoiding that group is already a success. As for points, I think Kitchee can do a nick a point off Jeonbuk or Bangkok (or both) at home. Besides, no HK team will be back in the rebranded ACL Elite for a while. Why not just put results aside and just enjoy these six matches?
Giovane Alves da Silva, originally from Brazil, formerly of Rangers, South China, Eastern and R&F FC have re-joined Rangers at the age of 41. He is already a naturalized Hong Kong passport holder. Kinda unbelievable that a 41 years old striker can still play in Hong Kong's top flight.
I'm surprised that Giovane decided to make a return to Hong Kong football as I thought he would had decided to retire after he departed R&F HK three years ago. I'm not sure if he will still maintain his once goal scoring form he once had, but it will be interesting if he still has it for Rangers.
Not just that, but a 41 year old who spent the last 3 years not playing professional football? What has he been doing the past 3 years? I'm amazed after that time off he can just walk back onto a HKPL team.
Two massacres over the weekend. It just goes to show Rangers and Kitchee were more match fit than the rest. Rangers 9:0 Sham Shui Po Kitchee 8:0 HKFC
This was atrocious, HKFC didn't even have a back up keeper. The coach partially blamed the schedule since it was released so late and players already made their own plans. Not a good look for HKPL to have 2 massacres!
As expected, SCMP reports that Oleksii Shliakotin, the SSP goalkeeper, will apply for naturalization in November in hopes of making the AFC squad in January. Two quick thoughts: If Oleksii thinks the Immigration Dept will move quickly enough to process his November application by January... he must be living in dreamland, take a look at Michael U and Everton and countless others who have been waiting for months and months. I am not a fan of this player. He is not a good goalkeeper, he showed pretty poor instincts in the weekend massacre by BC Rangers. I rate him the same as Paulo, they've both got really good height but they're old, have slow reactions, and poor instincts. He would not be in my top 3 HK goalkeepers (Yapp, Tse, Ng). Source: https://www.scmp.com/sport/football...lay-hong?module=live&pgtype=homepage#comments
1696841678869717137 is not a valid tweet id Kitchee have signed former Austria international striker Jakob Jantscher to bolster their squad. It is going to be a very difficult route for Oleksii should he obtain his HKSAR passport as he will have to compete against the likes of Yapp Hung Fai, Tse Ka Wing, Ng Wai Him etc and the chances are not very high for him especially after his performance against BC Rangers a few days ago.
... and it's done! Everton finally receives his HKSAR passport. I expect him to be included into Jorn's squad immediately, he instantly brings a new look along with aggression, physicality, speed, experience, and just a different option overall. Yes Yes Yes! After months of waiting, Brazilian-born Everton finally obtained his HK passport, and he will be able to represent HK in the upcoming FIFA friendlies!#HKPL #hkfootball pic.twitter.com/GCwWv26ac2— HK Kickers🇭🇰 (@hk_kickers) August 31, 2023
That's great to hear to see that Everton finally acquired his HKSAR passport. As for Michael Udebuluzor's progress: "Teenage striker Michael Udebuluzor, meanwhile, targeted a role in Hong Kong’s World Cup qualifying play-off with Bhutan in October after issuing an optimistic update on his passport application. Udebuluzor is waiting for the completion of paperwork to formally relinquish his Nigerian citizenship. The 19-year-old, who has eight goals from seven games for Ingolstadt II in Germany’s fifth tier this season, said everything was in place for his subsequent naturalisation after he began that process last December. I am hoping to play the World Cup matches in October,” Udebuluzor told the Post. “I am pretty sure that can happen, but not 100 per cent. The fixtures next month will be too soon. “Giving away my Nigerian passport is a paperwork process and that is happening right now. As soon as I have the paperwork and declare my passport is no longer with me, it will be just a matter of time until I get my Hong Kong passport. The naturalisation process is ready." https://www.scmp.com/sport/football...ld-have-prolific-brazilian-eligible-next-week At least it is promising news for Michael and I do hope that he will be able to obtain his HKSAR passport before the October fixtures.
A further update on Michael Udebuluzor, it looks like he could acquire his HKSAR passport possibly by the end of next week according to the South China Morning Post: "the Post has been told of speedy developments in the final stages of Udebuluzor’s naturalisation. According to a source close to the process, documentation confirming the player has relinquished his Nigerian citizenship is on its way to the Hong Kong authorities. On receipt of that, city officials will be able to issue Udebuluzor’s passport, opening the door for the 19-year-old to fly to Hong Kong from Germany, where he plays for Ingolstadt." https://www.scmp.com/sport/football...michael-udebuluzor-set-follow-everton-camargo Should Udebuluzor obtain his passport by the end of next week, he could be another late addition to the national team and could possibly make his international debut against Brunei. I'm really surprised that it took almost nine months for Udebuluzor to get his passport whilst Everton's process took around four to five months if that is correct.
I wonder if it's because Everton had the full support of Lee Man? The club staff can help with any paperwork and submit things immediately, whereas Michael U is overseas and probably doing so with the help of HKFA staff here in HK. Still, "speedy developments" seem to suggest that Nigeria is getting papers to the HK ImmD quickly, our ImmD is still extremely slow and inefficient! It's hurting the team. I'm excited for Michael U because of his age, for once we don't have to wait for a player until they are in their 30's!