Although there are still plenty of groundwork that needs to be done, Andersen is already doing a much better job than what the previous manager Mixu Paatelainen could not achieve. Other than that, only two Hong Kong players had scored in the East Asian Cup's history with Lawrence Chemezie Akandu and Lo Chi Kwan during the 2003 edition. I get the feeling that someone will score during this year's edition.
One detail I noticed about Andersen that I really like is he knows all of his players names. He rattles them off easily, and I listened to Philip's interview recently and he said Andersen really does want to get to know and understand players. Regarding a goal this year: I agree - I think we'll even see a header goal as we have a number of pretty tall goalscoring threats we can send in the box during set pieces.
Here is the best way to keep up to date with the summer transfer news for the HKPL clubs: https://www.offside.hk/league/2022-summer-transfer-tracker/ In addition according to the KC Southern FC Facebook page, the club confirmed a number of departures that include HK international James Ha, Jack Sealy, Luciano, Maddox Kong, Adrien Chan and Cheng Chun Wang. However, the club have acquired Tse Long Hin. In other news, Lee Man's Yung Hui To is set to join Tai Po on loan from the club.
Well, playing in internationals against Japan, Korea and China will showcase his talents to any potential clubs in Asia for Sean Tse. It is to his advantage rather than disadvantage. Maybe even Kitchee will come back with a better offer. But I am not optimistic with the players called up for the East Asia Cup. They look very light weight. Don't forget we got thrashed by India 4-0 and the countries we will face are all stronger than India.
Hmm you may be right, but I thought that the current squad is probably about as strong as we could've hoped (save for GK position). Who else would you want called up, besides Yapp and Fernando/Alex? I can think of Shinichi and Li Ngai Hoi as well. It looks like a 90% full strength HK squad to me, the fact that we have our CSL trio back to make up the core gives me a lot of hope.
Bad news, according to InMedia HK only Vas Nunez is with the squad; NH Leung and CH Tan should arrive in time for the match, but they will have had 0 prep.
If only Shinichi and twelve other players were not suspended and banned from selection this year, then I think he along with perhaps Chang Hei Yin and Chu Wai Kwan (whom I was impressed during their AFC Cup fixtures) would had been called up. Other than that, I think the national team will need every single opportunity they can get in order to prepare for next year's AFC Asian Cup finals in which I do see their participation in the East Asia Cup finals as a step forward. Hopefully once the Hong Kong Premier League commence this year, the players will be in much better shape and form before the AFC Asian Cup finals commence.
I'd like to see some of the Kitchee players who played in the ACL group stage, like Helio, Roberto Affonso and especially Alex Akande. They showed what they could do. But I am under the impression that Jorn Anderson has been asked to select fewer naturalized players. This team move the ball too slowly. We will be lucky to get a goal in the tournament.
I apologize in advance for saying this over and over: but why are we starting PAULO?? I am outraged. He is a terrible GK and honestly might not even make it on the plane to the Asian Cup. Why not give Ivan Ng some more playing time and experience so he can eventually replace Yapp?
So here is the starting eleven: Sean Tse will captain the team. First start for Vas Nunez. Wu Chun Ming is likely to deputise as a defensive midfielder.
Half-Time: Hong Kong Vs Japan - 0:4 That was very painful to watch as Hong Kong as their exposed defense proved costly as the team are behind the hosts in which they conceded four goals with Yuki Soma scored within the second minute of the first half, then Shuto Machino and a Takuma Nishimura double. I generally can't see Paulo making any further appearances for Hong Kong after watching his first-half performance.
Unfortunately a lot of us thought this after his performance against Malaysia, in Andersen's first match. Yet somehow Paulo has made it back into the squad and started tonight. I am disgusted.
Full-Time: Hong Kong Vs Japan - 0:6 Hong Kong suffered a heavy defeat against the hosts as Yuki Soma and Shuto Machino got their second goals in the second half. They now make preparations to face South Korea next. Paulo's first half performance showed that he was too slow to react and the second half performance wasn't any better as it looked to me he made mistakes that gifted Japan with the two goals. I don't expect him to play any further role against South Korea and China. In addition, I'm not really sure if he still has a role to play with Kitchee in the future. I probably expect Andersen to continue to experiment with his team against South Korea and China in which I expect some of those who had yet to play to at least feature in those two matches.
I never expected HK to do anything against Japan or Korea with this squad. The 4-0 loss to India informed me that. It is common practice to blame one or two players for the big loss, but I don't see any difference. The Hong Kong players in general needs too much space and time to make play. Sometimes they can't even make play when they have space and time. It was very clear early on that HK defenders and midfielders found that they could not play their way through the Japanese midfield, so all they did was back pass to Paulo for him to whack the ball upfield, hoping for some miracle from Matthew Orr which was never going to happen. If you look at the Japanese players, first/second touch fast passes is the name of the game. They know what they want to do with the ball before the ball reaches them or their teammates, they don't even think. Everything is achieved through intense training and is muscle memory. You cannot achieve this kind of performance if you are already 20. If you can't play at that tempo then you have no chance at this level.
In the post match press conference, Jorn Andersen said HK cannot compare with Japan and South Korea. So I guess we will see more of the same on Sunday vs South Korea. I guess Paulo will not play so it will be 4-0?
I think one sad takeaway from this is that a recently viral article in South Korea - that this tournament is a waste of time for SK because China and HK are too weak - may result in the termination of the EAFF cup. EAFF is super important for HK to gain experience but it is hard to see it continuing for much longer.
I would be happy to see the end of EAFF, then we can merge EAFF with ASEAN. That way the Suzuki Cup can turn into a 16 team tournament.
That would be ideal. By the way, speaking of the match against Japan - Sohgo really impressed in his limited action time, and I think Tan Chun Lok really showed that he is a cut above the rest in the HK team.
Have in mind that this time was not a preliminary round like in the past when Hong Kong lost many times to North Korea. So...
More bad news as Leung Nok Hang who was supposed to join up with the squad sustained an injury which meant that he is ruled out of Hong Kong's remaining ties against South Korea and China. https://www.scmp.com/sport/football...nship-hong-kong-dealt-injury-blow-after-japan
I really got thinking about a new combined EAFF + ASEAN tournament. Australia Brunei Cambodia East Timor Indonesia Laos Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam ASEAN total = 12 China PR Chinese Taipei Guam Hong Kong Japan North Korea South Korea Macau Mongolia Northern Mariana Islands EAFF total = 10 ASEAN + EAFF = 22. If we combine EAFF and ASEAN, then we can have a 16 team tournament. I think the top 3 countries in the FIFA rankings (or something else, maybe results of the latest WC qualifiers) and the hosts of the final tournament will qualify automatically and will be seeded. So under normal circumstances, the big guns like Japan, South Korea, Australia and the hosts will be the top seeds. We can have a qualifying tournament for the remaining 18 teams where 12 will qualify. Maybe 6 groups of 3, playing home and away and the top 2 will go through. That way even the smallest countries get 4 matches and the majority will play 4 qualifiers and 3 group matches. We should mix up the EAFF and ASEAN teams in a draw for the qualifying tournament, too, so Guam does not have to be in the same group as Northern Mariana Islands and Hong Kong does not have to be with N Korea. As for the finals, it is rather straight forward. 16 teams divide into 4 groups for 3 group matches. The top 2 of each group will go through to the quarter-finals, then semi-finals and final.
IMO, if EAFF and ASEAN want to merge, they must first allow some freedom of movement for EAFF+ASEAN players. This will have more importance than a combined tournament. For example, in Thailand you can register an unlimited amount of ASEAN players and play up to three on matchday. In Korea and Malaysia, you can sign one ASEAN player. And of course, in Japan they have the J League partner nation program which exempt players from Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Singapore, and Indonesia form being counted as foreigners. You wouldn't necessarily need to get a universal agreement between all 22 member associations. You would only need to be part of the EAFF+ASEAN bloc and then hope that other nations allow HK players to be part of the EAFF+ASEAN quota so that they can have more opportunities to go abroad. The best solution at the end of the day is for the AFC to split into two separate confederations.
Can't see this happening and I don't think is a good solution. Then Arab countries should search for a new confederation with North Africa which means another split. But they pave some pan-Arab Competitions like Arab Cup. I think is ok how it is now.