https://sports.now.com/home/news/details?id=33233002975 AFC has approved HKFA's application to postpone the AFC Cup group matches to late June.
Former R&F HK player Matt Lam who had been a free agent since the club's disbandment last year joins KC Southern. If Tse can establish himself ahead of To Chun Kiu and Chung Wai Ho as a regular for Happy Valley and had been performing well, then I could see him being named in the national team within the future.
Australian attacker Matthew Cahill had left KC Southern after being recalled by Central Coast Mariners. It is a real shame that he wasn't able to shine much during his loan stint. I do wish the KC Southern will use more of Chan Kwong Ho because ever since joining the club from Yuen Long, he really struggled to maintain his goal scoring form that he once had due to lack of first team opportunities.
New CEO of The Hong Kong Football Association 2021-05-05 Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA) is pleased to announce Mr. Joaquin (Joe) Tam to be the new Chief Executive Officer of HKFA. The Association has done an extensive global search and is delighted to successfully identify a CEO to lead Hong Kong Football into a new era. The Chairman of HKFA, Mr. Pui Kwan Kay, has expressed his gratitude for the hard work of the Selection Committee and is confident that Mr. Tam will be able to lead HKFA to bring football development to a higher level and achieve the aim of HKFA "Football For All" with his management strengths and experiences. Mr. Tam holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Throughout his career in multinational corporations, Mr. Tam actively seeks innovative ways to achieve business goals. His longstanding senior corporate experiences together with his innovative mind will undoubtably kickstart a new chapter of leadership for HKFA. Mr. Tam is a veteran sportsman who has immense interest in a variety of sports, notably his active Fencing involvement. He also has a keen interest in music and art. He feels extremely honored for his new role at the HKFA. He wholeheartedly believes that by combining his interest in sports with his corporate experiences, he is fully committed to a brighter future of Hong Kong football. His other passions in music and art will enable him to bring an even fuller experiences to football fans in Hong Kong. ========================================================== New and first local CEO for HKFA, hopefully he can achieve a little more for the players and the fans.
Dejan Damjanovic has scored a hat-trick to give Kitchee the win against BC Rangers in today's fixture. Sean Tse played his first full 90 mins for Kitchee too. I wonder when will Mixu announce his preliminary squad for the national team?
I hate them because of Peter Leung who was not just arrogant but messed up other clubs' plans. Like that time they initially gave up on playing in the ACL group matches, but after they found a big sponsor they changed their minds and disrupted everyone else. They didn't give a damn at all even though Kitchee helped them get rid of a Spanish player when they lost the sponsor.
Voting is underway for the Hong Kong Top Footballer Awards 2020/21. Here are the top three of each category so far: Goalkeepers: Oleksii Shilakotin - BC Rangers - 366 votes Yapp Hung Fai - Eastern - 144 votes Leung Hing Kit - TSW Pegasus - 144 votes Defenders: Daniel Rodriguez Cancela - Kitchee - 465 votes Jean-Jacques Kilama - BC Rangers - 280 votes Helio de Souza Goncalves - Kitchee - 242 votes Midfielders: Charlie Scott - Happy Valley - 335 votes Raul Baena - Kitchee - 320 votes Marcos A. Da Silva Goncalves - TSW Pegasus - 276 votes Forwards: Dejan Damjanovic - Kitchee - 621 votes Matthew E. Orr Wing Kai - Kitchee - 200 votes Alessandro L. Ferreira - Eastern - 172 votes Best Young Player: Ho Chun Ting - Kitchee - 432 votes Shinichi Chan - Kitchee - 281 votes Sun Ming Him - TSW Pegasus - 205 votes https://www.hkfa.com/en//vote?fbclid=IwAR1j7m2cwlCy4Wvg2C3i2z4GmBYAQ28RXpNi_U_EgAstfbPxuao7PIiwNLo
This is the fixtures list for the HKPL's 3rd stage. The top 3: Kitchee, Eastern Longlions and TSW Pegasus are in the Championship group, the 5 remaining clubs: Lee Man, KC Southern District, Happy Valley, RCFC and Biu Chun Rangers are in the Relegation group. All matches of Relegation group will be played in Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground as double headers.
No word as of yet, but I speculate that they should make an announcement of the preliminary list soon (probably sometime this coming week) in which I do expect a number of fresh faces to be named within the squad.
@Simurgh_9 According to the official HKFAofficial facebook page, I think they are going to be making a squad announcement tomorrow: https://fb.watch/5wQ40QNsIF/ It will be interesting to see which players who had featured in the E-1 EAFF East Asian Cup finals two years ago will make the cut and which ones miss out. In addition, I am eager to see which fresh faces will earn their first senior team call up.
Tse Tak Him and Wang Zhenpeng are both nursing injuries, that means that either Tse Ka Wing or Lam Chun Kit could sneak in as the 3rd keeper. Expect Yuen Ho Chun to be Yapp's backup.
My guess is that nobody who is playing in the mainland is going to get called up. But we will see some fresh faces like Matt Orr, Yu Wai Lim, Ho Chun Ting and possibly even Lai Kak Yi make the list. Thor Arnasson has said before that there is no pressure on Mixu to get results in this round of qualifying so I think he will be more relaxed about bringing in newer players and giving them experience ahead of the Asian Cup qualifiers.
Personally, I'm excited to see Diego Eli and Sean Tse in action for HK finally. But we have a serious lack of talent up front - no one to score goals. Akande is out of form, Sandro and Ha are not trustworthy outside the domestic league; might as well throw Sun Ming-him out there and let him gain experience.
Considering that the fixtures of the World Cup qualifiers are centralized, I could possibly see the fresh faces and uncapped players get an opportunity to feature.
Kitchee lost to an injury time goal by Lee Man. Eastern beat TSW Pegasus 4:0 so Kitchee and Eastern are now level on points with two matches to go. The title fight will go down to the wire as the last match will be Kitchee vs Eastern at HK Stadium.
The HKFA video is hashtagged #finalsquad, indicating that it won't be a preliminary squad. Hopefully, no injuries occur in the remaining two HKPL matches!
As expected none of the China based players are in the squad. I don't think there are very many surprises in the squad list, are there?
Notice that most of the players are from clubs playing in the Championship Group whilst James Ha is the only player from a club that is playing in the Relegation Group. I do question some of the picks like does Huang Yang and Tong Kin Man deserve to be in the squad considering that they made haven't made much appearances and games for Kitchee this season? Looking at their defensive options, they really lack a genuine left back. In addition, whilst it is nice to see that the likes of first timers Matthew Orr, Yu Wai Lim, Diego Eli and Fernando making it in the squad, but I am surprised that the likes of Ho Chun Ting and a couple of TSW Pegasus players such as Lai Kak Yi who deserve a chance miss out.
Sorry but I don't think Chung Wai Keung, Huang Yang, Tong Kin Man, or Leung Kwun Chung deserve their spots. As @dez112 pointed out, I would much rather see in form players like Ho Chun Ting, Lai Kak Yi, Lam Hin Ting, or Chan Siu Kwan make it. Also, where is Sean Tse? I can only assume his passport is not ready? EDIT: Also where is Dani Cancela! He has been excellent as LB for Kitchee and we have no LB in the squad.
In addition to Huang and Tong's questionable form due to their lack of appearances for their club this season, there are several other players which I do question whether they are deemed good enough to represent the national team such as Fung Hing Wa, Wong Wai, Chung Wai Keung, Leung Kwun Chung and Roberto as I do feel that there are much better picks Mixu could have selected. Its a real shame that the team cannot get Tan Chun Lok, Leung Nok Hang, Li Ngai Hoi and a potential first call up for Vas Nunez as I believe they can contribute a lot to the national team.
Article from SCMP: Mixu on not being able to select players from Chinese clubs: “Talking about the players who play in China not able to be included in the squad, the reason being unbelievably long quarantine requirements and difficulty of obtaining all the certificates for them to return to China. I’m very disappointed that those players are not in the squad and making us stronger.” Mixu on the new faces within the squad: “On the other hand, this gives newcomers a fantastic opportunity to come and represent Hong Kong if they haven’t done that before and show everyone they are capable of playing football at international level." “In the squad we have nine players that I have not worked with before so I’m very much looking forward to working with those players. The new players and every other player in the squad have done really well in their Premier League matches hence they are in the squad." “I’m very much looking forward to see new faces in the squad and to work with the players. I know that every single player who is in the squad is eager to do their best for Hong Kong and do their everything for the Hong Kong shirt." Mixu on the upcoming fixtures: “We’re facing very tough matches, Iran, Iraq, Bahrain. All three teams are competing to win the group. Every one of them has a chance to win the group." “We’re gonna face very, very tough matches but we’ll be organised. We’ll make sure that anybody who we play against don’t have an easy match and hopefully we can surprise.” Mixu on the newly naturalised players recieving passports: “Even though some players get Hong Kong passports it is not an automatic choice straight away into the Hong Kong team. You have to merit your place in the team and we have loads of local players who are fantastic and played really well in the Hong Kong team and the Hong Kong Premier League. It’s not an automatic thing that somebody goes for the passport that he’s in the Hong Kong team." “These players who now have received the Hong Kong passport are eligible to play for us, for Hong Kong. I welcome them to the squad and I look forward to working with them." “I think they add a little bit of strength and reading the game. They are players who are used to be in the leading roles at their clubs to make things happen on the pitch. Hopefully they can help us to perform better in Bahrain.” Source: https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kon...oss-mixu-paatelainen-rings-changes-fifa-world