Final 23-man squad named for the upcoming 2026 World Cup/2027 Asian Cup qualifiers against Iran and Turkmenistan: Goalkeepers: Yapp Hung Fai (Eastern), Leung Hing Kit (Rangers), Tse Ka Wing (Tai Po) Defenders: Li Ngai Hoi (Rangers), Oliver Gerbig, Law Tsz Chun, Shinichi Chan (Kitchee), Yu Wai Lim (Lee Man), Vas Nunez (Dalian Pro), Leung Nok Hang (Zhejiang), Yue Tsz Nam (Meizhou Hakka) Midfielders: Lam Hin Ting (Rangers), Wu Chun Ming, Wong Wai (Lee Man), Tan Chun Lok (Kitchee), Chan Siu Kwan (Tai Po), Yu Joy Yin (Eastern), Ju Yingzhi (Southern) Forwards: Poon Pui Hin (Kitchee), Chang Hei Yin (Lee Man), Mahama Awal (Southern), Matt Orr (Guangxi), Michael Udebuluzor (Ingostadt 04 II) A number of players that had featured in last month's fixtures were dropped with the likes of Fernando, Helio, Wong Tsz Ho and Everton Camargo omitted. Rangers' Lam Hin Ting makes the final squad for the very first time.
Wow - these are some big omissions, Everton and Sun Ming Him are key players... My only guess is that Jorn knows we will be overwhelmed - he wants to have a mainly defensive squad with limited offensive players, perhaps just a few who can hit on the counter attack. But in this case, Everton would be quite useful...
From local news: Apparently this 23 man roster is for Iran only, a new roster will be released before the home match.
Kitchee 1:0 Lee Man Kitchee took revenge on Lee Man in the Senior Shield after losing 1:4 to them earlier in the HKPL season.
Key absences explained: Everton: Knee injury Helio: Family reasons Fernando: Wife giving birth Sun: Injury, but possible to be ready for the home match
Update on Sean Tse: Jorn said that he has not spoken to Tse recently, but knows that he is actively playing league football again. He will contact Tse after the November international break, and if he is fit enough, he may join the HKT training in December. Source: https://hk.sports.yahoo.com/news/世盃外-林衍廷獲主帥-溫馨提示-減磅-安達臣承認主場-131520331.html?guccounter=1
I believe Sean recently got transferred over to a new club Radcliffe FC that competes in the Northern Premier Division (Seventh Tier of the English Football League) which currently sits top of their league. In other news and to no-one's surprise, Ogenyi Onazi had joined a fourth tier Italian club which confirmed his departure from Kitchee after a horrid stint.
I have no idea what the standard is in the Northern Premier Division. I saw a recent interview where Sean said that HK fans may not know that the NPD level is surprisingly high / game is surprisingly physical - I wonder how this compares to the HKPL standard? Also interesting to see Jorn is willing to contact him and consider him for the Asian Cup.
Full Time: Hong Kong Vs Iran - 0:4 A tough start for Hong Kong as they kick start their 2026 World Cup/2027 Asian Cup qualifiers with a loss against Iran. It was also rather interesting to see that Andersen made a number of bold decisions in which most of the players that had started comprised of those that had featured during the Asian Games that saw the likes of Tse Ka Wing, Li Ngai Hoi, Poon Pui Hin, Matt Orr, Wu Chun Ming and a first start for Lam Hin Ting in addition to handing the captaincy over to Vas Nunez. The team will fly back to Hong Kong where they will face against Turkmenistan within a few days.
Did Michael U get subbed in last night? I swore I saw him (on the very grainy stream I was using), but all the official records say that he never got subbed in. Very strange. Poor record keeping by the Iran FA?
Some of the naturalized Brazilians are likely concerned about visiting Iran and have Iran stamp on their passports. Xavi of FC Barcelona is still unable to visit USA after visiting Iran when he played in the ACL. Most flights to Brazil from HK stopover USA. Not being able to get a USA visa will be a big problem for Brazilians in HK.
Oh wow, very interesting point, thanks for sharing! It is a bit strange that all of the Brazilians suddenly couldn't make it, despite their reasons seemingly legitimate (though Helio's was more vague). I wonder who will be added to the roster before the home game.
From the same article, it seems unlikely that Kitchee's Juninho is going to obtain his HKSAR passport in time for the Turkmenistan fixture as does Lee Man's Dudu and Southern's Stefan Pereira who are still waiting.
Full-Time: Hong Kong Vs Turkmenistan - 2:2 Both sides settled for a point a piece. Turkmenistan found themselves in the lead after Ruslan Mingazov was left unmarked by the HK defence and scored past Yapp Hung Fai. Hong Kong did manage to equalise courtesy of Wong Wai who converted from Yue Tsz Nam's cross to make it 1-1. Hong Kong found themselves behind once again as Ruslan Mingazov scored from a converted cross giving Turkmenistan the lead before the half time break. Hong Kong did manage to find the equaliser once again as Everton Camargo netted his fourth international goal that levelled the score. Hong Kong could had scored the winning goal if Shinichi Chan had scored.
Hong Kong 2:2 Turkmenistan It seemed to be all the attacking players in the HK team can do is smash the ball against the Turkmenistan goal, as if they could smash the ball through the Turkmenistan defenders and goalkeeper. Also Michael was rather ineffective. He seemed tired especially in the second half. The defense was slow, both Leung Nok-Hang and Vas Nunez lacked speed and were easily exposed in a counter-attack situation. But left back Yue Tze-Nam was outstanding. He was full of energy and never put a foot wrong. His late shot at goal nearly resulted in a third goal if not for the clumsy Shinichi Chan. Yue really was our best player without much doubt.
Kitchee's Juninho is set to acquire his HKSAR passport sometime this week and will link up with the pre-AFC Asian Cup training camp for next month. https://www.scmp.com/sport/football...ninho-joining-naturalised-ranks-afc-asian-cup
In addition to Juninho, Southern's Stefan Pereira is also set to acquire his HKSAR passport as well: https://www.scmp.com/sport/football...ate-ahead-hong-kong-asian-cup-finals-campaign
Inter Miami, along with their captain and superstar Lionel Messi, maybe on their way to Hong Kong for the Lunar New Year Cup, according to Pui Kwan-Key of HKFA.
As expected, Sean Tse makes the preliminary squad! Hope he is in form enough to make the final squad, his presence is needed after witnessing the past few HK matches.
Full Time: Kitchee Vs Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors - 1:2 Kitchee's hopes of advancing to the next stages of the AFC Champions League came to an end after the team suffered a third straight home defeat to Korean side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. Two errors made by Wang Zhenpeng and Andy Russell proved to be very costly that gifted the Korean side the goals. Even though Jeonbuk were a man down and Jakob Jantscher scored one back, it wasn't enough in the end.
Here is the 41-man preliminary squad named for the AFC Asian Cup finals preparation: Goalkeepers: LEUNG Hing Kit (BC Rangers), YAPP Hung Fai (Eastern), DA SILVA ARGOLO Paulo Cesar (Kitchee), NG Wai Him (Kwoon Chung Southern), TSE Ka Wing (Tai Po) Defenders: LI Ngai Hoi (BC Rangers), LILLEY NUNEZ Vasudeva Das (Dalian Professional), Leon JONES, LEUNG Kwun Chung, WONG Tsz Ho (Eastern), Clement Sami Nicolas BENHADDOUCHE (Heilongjiang Ice City), AZEVEDO PEDREIRA Fernando Augusto, CHAN Shinichi, GERBIG Oliver Benjamin, GONCALVES Helio Jose De Souza (Kitchee), TSUI Wang Kit, YU Wai Lim (Lee Man), YUE Tze Nam (Meizhou Hakka), TSE Sean Ka Keung (Radcliffe F.C.), Christian Alexander JOJO (Tai Po), LEUNG Nok Hang (Zhejiang FC) Midfielders: LAM Hin Ting (BC Rangers), YU Jesse Joy Yin (Eastern), HUANG Yang, TAN Chun Lok (Kitchee), JU Yingzhi (Kwoon Chung Southern), CHANG Hei Yin, NGAN Lok Fung, WONG Wai, WU Chun Ming (Lee Man), NGAN Cheuk Pan (Sham Shui Po), CHAN Siu Kwan Philip (Tai Po) Forwards: LAU Chi Lok (BC Rangers), SUN Ming Him, WONG Ho Chun Anson (Eastern), UDEBULUZOR Michael Chibuikem (FC Ingolstadt 04), ORR Matthew Elliot Wing Kai (Guangxi Pingguo Haliao), LAW Tsz Chun, POON Pui Hin (Kitchee), MAHAMA Awal (Kwoon Chung Southern), CAMARGO Everton (Lee Man) Sean Tse who last played for the national team last year earned a recall having joined English side Radcliffe FC. There is a first call up for former Kitchee player Clement Benhaddouche who is currently playing with China League One side Heilongjiang Ice City. Clement had acquired a HKSAR passport a few months ago prior to joining the club. Eastern's Leon Jones also earned a recall having recovered from a long-term injury as does Tai Po's Alex Jojo who was part of the Asian Games squad that finished 4th in the event. Whilst Kitchee's Juninho and Southern's Stefan Pereira have yet to obtain their HKSAR passports, it is likely that they will be included once they obtained their passports soon.
Another ACL group match day, another 1-2 defeat for Kitchee and another goal for Jakob Jantscher. With a 6:00pm early kick-off, Kitchee were lucky 2032 fans showed up. I think quite a number of Jeobuck Hyundai fans flew over for the match. Kitchee should think long and hard about the club's vision and future. They are wasting a lot of money on poor choice of foreign imports and their aging squad needs to be replaced soon.