Hong Kong Football Thread II (R)

Discussion in 'Asian Football Confederation' started by Angsa, Oct 4, 2016.

  1. dez112

    dez112 Member

    Manchester United
    Feb 24, 2017
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    About Awal, he's been training with All Black FC prior to being released by HK Pegasus last Summer if I have not heard correctly.

    Either ways Souza is showing very good form for Kitchee whilst it was a shame that Michael Glassock converted the ball into the wrong end. I do hope Matthew Elliott Orr will make his debut for Kitchee soon.
     
  2. adrenaline11

    adrenaline11 Member+

    Jul 29, 2010
    Toronto
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    Heard from a reliable source that Yuen Long will soon announce an attacking player to replace Katê, who was released yesterday. The news could come as early as today.
     
  3. Angsa

    Angsa Member

    Aug 26, 2008
    Hong Kong
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    [​IMG]

    Happy Valley announced the signing of 1.92m tall Serbian striker Marko Rajkovic.
     
  4. adrenaline11

    adrenaline11 Member+

    Jul 29, 2010
    Toronto
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    Revising my earlier information - it is Tai Po who will be signing an attacker. Kim Seung-yong will join the club next week but he will not be registered in time for the Champions League. The coaching staff has decided to go with the four foreigners who have been at the club the longest - Kim Min-ki, Ben van Meurs, Michel Lugo and Dudu.

    Yuen Long might still sign another foreigner though it is unclear whether they have the funds to do so.
     
  5. Angsa

    Angsa Member

    Aug 26, 2008
    Hong Kong
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    There are reports that due to the recent political issues, Iran maybe banned from hosting international football matches by AFC. That means Iran may not host the home match against Hong Kong in March and the match will shift to a neutral venue.

    I think quite likely the match will still be hosted in the middle east, in places like UAE or Qatar.

    Best scenario for Hong Kong is for the match to be hosted in Malaysia, similar to the AFC Cup final last year when April 25 SC was not allowed by AFC to host the match.
     
  6. Angsa

    Angsa Member

    Aug 26, 2008
    Hong Kong
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    [​IMG]

    Wofoo Tai Po flew out to Penang then traveled by bus to Kedah. They have arrived in their hotel and Davor Berber joined the team there. He conducted his first training session at the club and hopes to demonstrate the real face of the club in the ACL preliminary match.

    I doubt Wofoo Tai Po has any chance. I guess they will defend as deep as they possibly can throughout the match and hope to win by penalties.
     
  7. adrenaline11

    adrenaline11 Member+

    Jul 29, 2010
    Toronto
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    Tai Po is facing a crisis at keeper at the moment. Felix Luk is a game time decision according to Fung Hoi Man. If he can't go, the job will fall to either Ho Rui or Alex Chin, both of whom are vastly inexperienced.

    I would expect a heavy defeat for Tai Po if Ho or Chin are in goal.
     
  8. Angsa

    Angsa Member

    Aug 26, 2008
    Hong Kong
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    https://www.nst.com.my/sports/football/2020/01/558257/kedah-ready-afc-champions-league-action

    [​IMG]

    Kedah ready for AFC Champions League action


    ALOR STAR: Kedah will make their AFC Champions League debut when they entertain Hong Kong’s Tai Po FC in a preliminary two match at the Darulaman Stadium here on Tuesday.

    The winner will face FC Seoul in South Korea on Jan 28 for a spot in the group stage of the Champions League.

    Kedah coach Aidil Sharin Sahak expects an intense battle but hopes his side will make it count at home.

    “I hope the fans will pack the stadium and support us. It is an Asian-level match, so we need to be sharp and also avoid mistakes,” said the Singapore-born coach today.

    Aidil confirmed that Singapore-born defender Shakir Hamzah will not see action due to suspension.

    “Shakir is serving a suspension for the red card in the 2018 AFC Cup with S-League’s Home United.

    “However, I am unperturbed as we have tested options during our recent training stint in Cambodia.”

    Meanwhile, striker Kpah Sherman hopes to make a lasting impression on Tuesday.

    “The stint in Cambodia was useful as the players managed to work on their weaknesses and understanding.

    “I am confident we will get a positive result,” said the Liberian, the Golden Boot winner of last year’s Super League with PKNS FC.

    Tai Po coach Davor Berber said they have come prepared and are eager to upset the home team.

    “My players will not be rattled tomorrow (Tuesday). Our target is to try our best and win the game,” said Berber.

    “We have done our homework on Kedah by analysing videos of previous matches. I have come up with a strategy to stop them.”

    ==========================================================

    Wow Davor Berber has actually done homework on Kedah and sounds so confident. I will now reduce the predicted loss from 0-5 to 0-3.
     
  9. Angsa

    Angsa Member

    Aug 26, 2008
    Hong Kong
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    #1559 Angsa, Jan 21, 2020
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2020
    ACL preliminary round

    [​IMG]

    Kedah 5:1 Wofoo Tai Po

    My predicted 3:0 loss was not to be. Well at least Tai Po managed a goal.
     
  10. Suburbia

    Suburbia Member

    Manchester United
    Hong Kong
    Nov 15, 2017
    No excuses as they were already 0-2 down, but MH Sun getting sent off in the first half didn't help things...
     
  11. dez112

    dez112 Member

    Manchester United
    Feb 24, 2017
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Didn't really think that Tai Po would stand much of a chance against Kedah considering their recent form and loss of several key players in the Summer transfer window.

    Sun Ming-Him got sent off for denying a goal scoring opportunity by dragging down the Kedah player and the way goalkeeper Ho Yui conceded the second goal was criminal.
     
  12. Angsa

    Angsa Member

    Aug 26, 2008
    Hong Kong
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    [​IMG]

    Lee Man signed 32 years old Portuguese defender Bruno Pinheiro. He will replace Brazilian Diogo Santos Rangel.
     
  13. dez112

    dez112 Member

    Manchester United
    Feb 24, 2017
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    #1563 dez112, Jan 23, 2020
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2020
    Apparently I've been hearing that the Lunar New Year Cup which is due this Sunday is being cancelled due to the fears of the coronavirus situation.
     
  14. adrenaline11

    adrenaline11 Member+

    Jul 29, 2010
    Toronto
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    Confirmed. Here is the HKFA's statement:

     
  15. Angsa

    Angsa Member

    Aug 26, 2008
    Hong Kong
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    Good riddance except for the women's match.
     
  16. adrenaline11

    adrenaline11 Member+

    Jul 29, 2010
    Toronto
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    Rangers coach Lai Ka Fai released a blog post Thursday outlining his concerns with the format of the Sapling Cup. He says that the change to a double round robin this year is understandable because of the AFC's directive to increase the number of matches played by top flight clubs in a season. But he thinks that having only the group winners advance will lead to half of the matches being inconsequential. He claims that various clubs agree with him on this.

    He proposes that if you want to increase the number of matches and increase the competitiveness of each match, maybe the best way to do it is to change the format of the HKPL to a triple round robin. Or, perhaps after a double round robin, split the top and bottom halves of the table into a championship group and a relegation group.
    ________________________________________________________________

    I could not agree more with all of his points. Personally, I'm in favour of a triple round robin without splitting the table.
     
  17. Angsa

    Angsa Member

    Aug 26, 2008
    Hong Kong
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    Alternatively, change to a franchise system, keep the two round (home and away) format as the regular season, then add a play-off season for the top 8 clubs.

    The play-off season will either be a single group with all eight clubs and the group winner is the league champion, or two groups of 4 with the top 2 of each group going into the semi-finals. Then of course there will be a final.
     
  18. adrenaline11

    adrenaline11 Member+

    Jul 29, 2010
    Toronto
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    Agree with this if means that the Premier League is run separately from the HKFA.

    Agree with playoffs to keep matches competitive if no relegation. 8 teams is too many for me though. Would be ok with 4 or 6.

    So do you want a knockout phase (1v8, 2v7, 3v6, 4v5) or a single round robin between 8 teams? There's a massive difference between the two as the former would take three weeks to complete whereas the latter could take as many as seven, assuming only weekend matches.

    The former seems more feasible as you could end the regular season in the last week of April. Then you could have the playoffs take place over the first three weeks of May followed by the FA Cup Final.

    The problem is that for teams ranked 9th and 10th, they would go three months with no football and four months with no competitive matches.

    This format would require five weeks to complete, once again assuming only weekends. The question is when to end the regular season and when to schedule the FA Cup Final?

    If you end the regular season in the last week of April and schedule the FA Cup Final for the first week of May, you risk diverting attention from the traditional season closer. If you push it until the last weekend of the season, then you risk having teams going into the final with as much as a five week layoff.

    In either case, the season will not end until the second week of June. You start running into problems with the June FIFA break, player safety, fan safety, weather, etc. You would also have the same problem with teams finishing 9th and 10th having a long offseason.

    So assuming the Sapling Cup is scraped, you still need to increase the number of matches played by top flight clubs, as per the AFC's directive. Right now, every club will play a minimum of 28 (18 league + 8 Sapling Cup + 1 Shield + FA Cup).

    Under your system, the minimum number of matches a team will play is 20. So you would either need to add a group stage to the Shield or the FA Cup or make some changes to the league/playoff structure.
     
  19. Angsa

    Angsa Member

    Aug 26, 2008
    Hong Kong
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    First of all now that HK is stuck in AFC Cup, the season is already extended to near the end of June for two of the participating HK clubs.

    If you want the playoff season to involve 6 clubs, then we can also have the bottom 4 enter a playoff season to determine their positions. I guess no one will want to finish last.

    If both top 6 and bottom 4 have playoff seasons then maybe it is easier to just go round robin (home and away) for all of them. This way a top 6 clubs will get 28+10=38 matches; a bottom 4 club will get 28+6=34 matches. That should suffice. The league will extend into the middle of June which isn't too bad.
     
  20. adrenaline11

    adrenaline11 Member+

    Jul 29, 2010
    Toronto
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    There are obvious challenges to dragging the season into June - fan safety, player safety, and the fact that you're going up against the beginning of the rainy season. I can understand not wanting to have to clubs extend their season while others already on break. But there's a reason why even in the HKFA's proposal, they wanted all matches in the summer months to take place at night.

    If you think Hong Kong football is slow, just wait until you see how much slower they can play when there is no relegation and the temperature with the humidex is 40º.

    Did some math on this. Currently, the top flight stretches over 40 weeks and encompasses 100 matches (including the Community Cup).

    The schedule that you're proposing would stretch over 44 weeks (assuming the season starts in late August and ends in late June) and encompass 142 matches. But, you would need some combination of the season starting earlier, more midweek matches and the elimination of the winter/Lunar New Year break in order to accommodate this schedule.

    If we were to amend your proposed and simply kept the season as is with the addition of a six team, single elimination playoff, you would have 105 total matches. This seems more feasible as you could end the regular season in late May and then conduct the playoffs after the June international break. You could even move the FA Cup up to early May so that it doesn't interfere with the final weeks of the regular season.

    In my proposed schedule (27 league matches per club, no Sapling Cup), you would have 153 total matches but you would only need minor adjustments. You only need start the season one or two weeks early or extend the season one or two weeks later.
     
  21. adrenaline11

    adrenaline11 Member+

    Jul 29, 2010
    Toronto
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    The HKFA suspends all matches and training until further notice

    HKPL clubs will still be able to train at the Tseung Kwan O Training Centre. A meeting will be held after 2 February to discuss whether the league will continue behind closed doors at the Football Training Centre or whether fixtures will be delayed.
     
  22. Angsa

    Angsa Member

    Aug 26, 2008
    Hong Kong
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    http://paper.wenweipo.com/2020/02/03/SP2002030025.htm

    Iraq has made a request to AFC to play the WC qualifier away to Hong Kong at a neutral venue due to the Wuhan coronavirus situation.

    If Iran also loses its home fixture against Hong Kong to a neutral venue, then Hong Kong will play both of its last two WC qualifiers at neutral venues.
     
  23. adrenaline11

    adrenaline11 Member+

    Jul 29, 2010
    Toronto
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    #1573 adrenaline11, Feb 3, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2020
    https://www.sportsroad.hk/archives/284209
    https://hk.on.cc/hk/bkn/cnt/sport/2...SETcif68RBbiNa2c5MFEkOWJoXFFYLbFPJQ07c66zKLYg
    • The HKFA is a race against time to complete the season before 31 May so that the clubs do not incur an addition month of expenses
    • Senior Shield Final pushed back to 12 May
    • Sapling Cup to resume next week with matches on the 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 18th played behind closed doors at the Football Training Centre
    • Pui Kwan Kay stated the remaining 16 Sapling Cup matches will be played behind closed doors. If possible, these matches will be played at Mong Kok, Siu Sai Wan and Tseung Kwan O and the group stage will be completed by the end of the month
    • The Sapling Cup Final is tentative scheduled for late April and will played in front of fans if the LCSD allows for it
    • Asked if HKFC Stadium could be used, Pui responded that although the stadium meets regulations, HKFC may not be willing to rent it out
    • The HKPL will not resume until March at the earliest
    • R&F have agreed to play all of its home matches in Hong Kong until the heath warning is lifted
    • Paul Woodland hopes that the LCSD will agree to allow Kitchee to play its AFC Cup match behind closed doors at Mong Kok and also for the AFC to allow Kitchee to play in Hong Kong
    • Woodland says the AFC will meet tomorrow to discuss Iraq's and Hong Kong's applications to play their March fixtures at neutral venues

    Should be noted that Mongolia just banned visitors from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong so Taipower, refused to board their plane to Ulaanbaatar today after their visas were cancelled. Could be the case that Kitchee's qualifiers against the eventual winners will be postponed in addition to being closed door.
     
  24. Angsa

    Angsa Member

    Aug 26, 2008
    Hong Kong
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    https://hk.on.cc/hk/bkn/cnt/sport/20200203/bkn-20200203161946387-0203_00882_001.html

    Taipower has been refused entry to Mongolia by Mongolian authorities. So how will AFC resolve this issue is still to be seen. Maybe Mongolia will be banned?

    Kitchee chairman Ken Ng said he has 3 proposals to resolve KItchee's home match issue, one of them is to play behind closed doors. The third proposal is to play at a neutral venue.
     
  25. dez112

    dez112 Member

    Manchester United
    Feb 24, 2017
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Godfred Karikari has joined Kitchee SC who was without a club having last played for R&F HK.

    In addition, Kitchee SC has also announced that Fernando, Wellingson de Souza, Manuel Bleda and Jared Lum are chosen to as the foreign player quotas for the AFC Cup 2020.
     

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