Ryomyong has beaten Erchim FC 3-0 again and 6-0 on aggregate in the AFC Cup qualifier. That means Wofoo Tai Po will play them away next Wednesday (6 March) and again at home @ Mongkok Stadium on 13 March.
Well, Alex has indeed found a new club with Chinese Super League's Dalian Yifang: TRANSFER NEWS: Just days after #CL1 club Yanbian Funde went bankrupt, HK international Alex Akande has found a new team: Dalian Yifang in the Chinese Super League #CSL #hkfootball pic.twitter.com/qire3QgKRS— Football in Hong Kong (@offsideHK) February 28, 2019
You know who will be returning to Hong Kong? Tommy Chuck. He's signed a three month deal with Yuen Long after failing to impress abroad.
A real shame that Chuck Yiu-Kwok's career in Switzerland didn't go well, but here is hoping that he will revitilise his career with Yuen Long.
Interesting to note his deal with FC Chiasso falls through. Well, UPower reports he could not settle at Chiasso and could not find a club in China due to the closing of the transfer window. That seems odd as the transfer window in China is open right now. I guess he just lost his way a little.
That was quick and it is actually an upgrade for him to move from the Jia League to the Super League. That means two HK players in the CSL this season. Hopefully they get released for the 2022 WC qualifiers that begin this June.
HKPL HK Pegasus 2:2 Eastern Longlions This result more or less removes both clubs from the title race.
HKPL strugglers Lee Man FC shocked and beated Kitchee SC by 3 goals to 2 during the Sapling Cup Group Stages courtesy of LEONG Ka-Hang and Marcos GONDRA.
Wofoo Tai Po are in Pyongyang in preparation for the AFC Cup qualifier 1st leg. Hopefully they can get a draw in the first leg. But I think they should be okay and able to proceed to the group stage.
It finished goaless at the Kim Il Sung Stadium as both Tai Po and Ryomyong had to settle with a draw.
Not a bad result. How they approach Saturday's match against Lee Man will be interesting - do they rest their key players or do they put their best foot forward?
Wofoo Tai Po coach Lee Chi-Kin said his team won't return to HK until tonight, and as they have a league match against Lee Man on Saturday, the players must rest well. So I guess he is telling his main players to rest and will only require the substitutes to train. Hopefully I will get to see Au Yeung Yiu-Chung play a little more during this busy period for the club. He did play full 90 mins and scored a header in the Sapling Cup match last Friday for Wofoo Tai Po.
Kitchee Football Centre at Shek Mun is finally re-open. The centre was suffered severe flooding damage last year when Super Typhoon Mangknut hit Hong Kong. The club hopes now that they are back at their own training facility they can achieve better results.
HKPL results: R&F HK Vs KC Southern - 3:3 Two teams vying for the HKPL title came face to face at the Aberdeen Sports Ground. In the 5th minute, R&F's Thiago de Leonco curled a free-kick which hitted the goalpost and into the net to give the team an early lead. Few minutes, later Giovane da Alves Sliva scored the second goal after finding Itaparica's cross. 22 minutes later, Serbian striker Nikola Komazec added a goal back for KC Southern in which the score remained 2:1 until the half time break. However, after a collision with R&F's Thiago, KC Southern's TSE Tak-Him had to be replaced by young goalkeeper LI Yat-Chun. KC Southern evened the scoring when one of the R&F's players deliberately handballed within the box in which Nikola Komazec scored from the penalty spot. R&F's Roberto then restored the lead by scoring in the 67th minute. As much as R&F continued to hold onto their lead towards the final of the second half to secure the important three points, KC Southern's Lau Hok-Ming equalised in which the score remained even until the final whistle. Kitchee SC Vs Dreams FC - 6:0 Having lost to Lee Man during the Sapling Cup, Kitchee shrugged off the loss with a six goal thrashing against Dreams FC. Goals from Krisztian Vaodocz (scored two goals), Fernando, Lucas da Silva and the returns of Yuto Nakamura and Josip Tadic was enough to give them the all important three points to keep their title contentions alive. Lee Man FC Vs Wofoo Tai Po FC - 0:2 Despite having beaten Kitchee SC during the Sapling Cup, they were not able to replicate their success in which they lost against title contenders Wofoo Tai Po FC with Phillip Chan Siu-Kwan and Igor Sartori scoring the only goals to give Tai Po the win. In other news, Lee Man FC signed Taiwanese defender Chen Ting-Yang who replaces Crescendo van Berkel. Chen is notable for scoring a goal against the Hong Kong National Football Team during their loss in last year's EAFF East Asian Cup 2019 qualifiers. Taiwan international Chen Tingyang, 26, joins Lee Man in the Hong Kong Premier League. He will replace Crescendo van Berkel #hkfootball #HKPL pic.twitter.com/htM686PCGt— Football in Hong Kong (@offsideHK) March 9, 2019
HKPL Best United Yuen Long 2:1 Hoi KIng Hoi KIng are now hot favourites to get the drop, with Happy Valley AA poised to return to the top division.
https://www.scmp.com/sport/football...ague-china-visa-rejection-kitchee-striker-has Angry Kitchee fans have accused title rivals R&F of dirty tricks after striker Josip Tadic was denied a visa to enter China for Saturday’s crucial Hong Kong Premier League clash in Guangzhou. Tadic’s visa for China was handled by an agent recommended by R&F but the Croatian striker was the only Kitchee player that failed to obtain his permit. The former Croatia under-21 international’s application was reportedly rejected because he has entry records in Turkey from his time playing for Turkish Super League side Balikesirspor in 2016. =========================================================== I think in the end R&F FC should be able to get Tadic a visa and calm things down. They should be bigger than this.
Full match: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=300960997237108 Spoiler: Tai Po win on penalties and will join Kitchee in Group I.
I was at the stadium and I was largely impressed by Ryŏmyŏng. If they could afford foreigners than Wofoo Tai Po would have no chance. Tai Po coach Lee Chi-Kin did not seem to have any great ideas on how to break down Ryŏmyŏng's defense, in fact on occasion his own defense was suspect. 0-0 was kind of predictable as we watched on in the second half. The introduction of Harry Sawyer did not have the desired effect, in fact it seemed Tai Po lost the initiative at that point by giving up a defensive midfielder. Chung Wai-Keung then joined the fray but he did not really impress either. (So he is actually better than Au Yeung Yiu-Chung? I really could not see it.) I think nobody expected any goals in extra time. In fact some in the crowd said let's just cut to the penalties and save everyone sometime. Wofoo Tai Po got all of their "foreigners" (including Sandro) to take the penalties and although they all scored, it showed how little faith Lee Chi-Kin has on his local players. By the way, HK U23 will play in Mongolia in the Asian U23 qualifiers. They will face. North Korea U23 and I think many in the Ryŏmyŏng side will be in the squad. I doubt HK U23 has what it takes to beat them, judging by last night's performance.
As expected R&F FC resolved Josip Tadic's visa issue and he is now able to travel to Guangzhou for Kitchee's match vs R&F FC.
A story from earlier this week: https://hk.sports.appledaily.com/sports/realtime/article/20190311/59358046 Earlier this season, it was reported that the HKFA had sent a questionnaire out to HKPL clubs to ask their opinions on allowing one Chinese/Taiwanese or Macanese player per club to be registered as a local. The recommendation will now be discussed by the board. I understand the point of view that it would further limit playing opportunities for Hong Kongers but for me, it is more important to have competition. If you want local players to improve, have them compete against better players in training. If you want young players to develop, don't enact a U23 rule or create competitions like the Sapling Cup. Instead, increase the number of league games so that there are more minutes available over the course of the season in the competition that people care most about.
Kitchee reascheduled two of their Premier League games due to clashes with AFC Cup fixtures: Their Round 16 match vs Yuen Long was moved from April 20 to March 23rd. This is during FIFA break, so YL will be without Taiwanese defender Wang Ruei and coach Kenneth Kwok #hkfootball— Football in Hong Kong (@offsideHK) March 15, 2019 Round 15 match vs Southern was moved from April 6th to April 8th— Football in Hong Kong (@offsideHK) March 15, 2019 The HKFA had better reschedule some of Tai Po's matches too. Otherwise, they can't pretend that they're not playing favourites.
Hong Kong Premier League Full Time Results: R&F HK Vs Kitchee SC - 2:3 R&F HK's title hopes had suffered a setback as they could not maintain the lead of the HKPL after losing to title contenders Kitchee SC. Kitchee's Fernando scored during the 22nd minute to give the team the lead during the first half. 17 minutes into the second half, Ju Yingzhi made it two for Kitchee until R&F's Brazilian-born Hong Kong striker pulled back two goals in the 65th and 68th minute to level the score. Despite holding on as much as they could, R&F HK finally conceded when Kitchee's Lucas scored within the 87th minute in which the score is 2:3 which remained until the final whistle. The win for Kitchee meant that their title hopes remain alive. KC Southern Vs Dreams FC - 1:0 KC Southern's title contentions are still alive despite leaving it very late in the latter half when super-sub Wellingson de Souza scored the only goal to give KC Southern the valuable three points. HK Pegasus Vs Wofoo Tai Po FC - 1:2 Having scraped past Ryomyong FC to advance into the group stages of the AFC Cup, a win for Wofoo Tai Po could see them leap past R&F HK and top the HKPL. They conceded a goal in 52nd when Bulgarian defender Rosen Kolev gave HK Pegasus the lead. However the lead did not last long when Igo Sartori levelled the scored in the 65th minute and 8 minutes later, Lee Ka-Ho scored the second to give Wofoo Tai Po the all important three points which puts them top the the HKPL.
Here is the final list of 23 players named for within the U23 2020 Asian Championships Qualifiers which takes at Ulanbaatar, Mongolia as follows: Goalkeepers: CHOY Tsz-To (KC Southern), Sean KO Chun (Lee Man), LAM Chun-Kit (Resources Capital) Defenders: LAM Hin-Ting (Dreams FC), Matthew CHAN Ching-Him (Eastern Long Lions), LAW Tsz-Chun (Kitchee SC), Paco CHAN Hoi Pak (KC Southern), YU Wai-Lim (Lee Man), TSUI Wang-Kit (Meizhou Hakka FC), Oliver Benjamin GERBIG. Midfielders: YUE Tsz-Nam (CD Cove da Piedade), Remi DUJARDIN (FC Jumilla), WU Chun-Ming (HK Pegasus), Shinichi CHAN (Kitchee SC), CHENG Chin-Lung (Kitchee SC), Christopher CHUNG Jhen-Hoong (KC Southern), LEE Oi Hin (Yuen Long), NGAN Cheuk-Pan. Forwards: Jordan LAM Lok-Kan (Dreams FC), PENG Lin-Lin (Dreams FC), CHENG Siu-Kwan (Lee Man), SUN Ming-Him (Hoi King), Matthew Elliott ORR Wing-Kai.
Tse Ka Wing seems to have dropped off both at the national team level and the club level. Wonder what happened to him, he was such a promising young prospect...