It only matters if the HK players are better and/or cheaper than what they have locally. Right now they are neither. It will only open the door for more cheap ASEAN players to come and play in the HKPL.
I am not calling for the AFC to be dissolved or split into two. I only want to merge the existing EAFF and ASEAN. I think it works better for us to merge. It won't affect those outside of these federations. The Middle East and South Asia federations can do what they please, too.
Transfer news: KC Southern had certainly been quite busy within the transfer window. Having already acquired Tse Long Hin and Lee Ka Yiu, Kitchee's Ho Chun Ting and Seb Buddle both join the club on loan which will certainly benefit the two considering that they had been sidelined with injury last season. Hopefully the two can regain their form during their loan stint. In addition, Mahama Awal was also seen training with KC Southern.
Just as an example, there are plenty Myanmar players in the Thai leagues. Some good enough to play for Buriram (T1 champions) and some are playing in T3. They compete with Brazilian players for playing time, same as Hong Kong. We cannot know if Hong Kong players are good enough to play in Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, etc. if they are not given the same opportunities as the ASEAN players. Let Hong Kong players decide if they want to go abroad - and by "abroad" this is not limited to ASEAN countries, but also Japan, Korea and Australia. Hong Kong already has a loose foreign quota. Clubs already have freedom to sign "cheap ASEAN players" if they want yet there hasn't been any ASEAN players in the league since 2015, or 2018 if you count Wong Tse Yang. We should not be afraid of competition. We should welcome more competition.
Great to see Justin Ho back! He was playing so well prior to his injury. HKNT also needs him to fill that CDM role. Also, Awal has completed his 7 years in HK and is about to receive his HKSAR passport (HKID received already).
Lau Hok Ming is set to rejoin Southern having being released by Eastern. In other news, young players Wong Wai Chun (who featured for Eastern against Tainan FC during the AFC Cup) and Nepal-born Prabhat Gurung who has applied for naturalisation, both signed their first professional contracts with Eastern.
All 3 GK's - Paulo, Ivan Ng, and Chan Ka Ho - are injured. Andersen said he may have to call up an emergency GK from HK. Ivan's injury seems to be the worst, he has been ruled out of the EAFF competition. https://hd.stheadline.com/news/realtime/spt/2357657/即時-體育-東亞盃│保羅隨時失正選-安達臣證實消息
As expected no Paulo this time. Chan starts #HongKong v #SouthKorea 1500 (HKT)Chan Ka-ho starts over Paulo Cesar, and Tan Chun-lok will partner with Wu Chun-ming and Wong Wai in central midfield.#HKPL #hkfootball pic.twitter.com/WQNkbuC7py— HK Kickers🇭🇰 (@hk_kickers) July 24, 2022
Full-Time: South Korea Vs Hong Kong - 3:0 I will say that despite the loss, this is a slightly better performance from Hong Kong in contrast to their previous match against Japan. I just think the team need to work more on pressing as well as creating opportunities.
China just held Japan to a scoreless draw. Just a reminder that even though they are "weaker" on paper than traditional Chinese sides, it doesn't mean that they won't be the favourites against us. They're also in mid-season form, whereas we're not.
Is this Japan's C/D side? A lot of players from Japan seem to get their only intl caps from the EAFF East Asian Cup, and normally would never be called up to the senior team. Regardless, I feel that Chan Ka Ho had a decent debut. Played better than his club form.
Their squad is their best available players from the J. League. Pretty much everyone who is on the fringes of the A team and isn't playing abroad is trying to use this opportunity to get on the World Cup squad.
Transfer news: Kitchee: Kitchee have confirmed that they resigned Fernando A.A. Pedriera having been released by Eastern plus the club also announced the signing of defender Oliver Gerbig who was on trial at the time. No word about Leonardo Costa's status who was the other player on trial with Kitchee. However, Eduardo Praes who joined the club two weeks ago, announced that he terminated his contract by mutual consent due to family reasons. Lee Man: Lee Man signed former Southern midfielder Ryan Cheng Chun Wang and in addition, young goalkeeper Tang Tsz Long was also offered a professional contract with the club.
Kitchee are set to travel to South Korea in order to prepare for their upcoming AFC Champions League tie against BG Patham United of Thailand next month which is to be held in Japan. Only 17 players are set to travel to South Korea that include recent signings Fernando and Oliver Gerbig (both of whom have a Hong Kong passport.) It is also believed that the Kitchee players who are on international duty at the EAFF East Asia Cup will join them once it ends tomorrow. Alex Chu stated that he is not concerned about Eduardo Praes departure in which he believed that either Roberto, Tomas Maronesi or Oliver Gerbig could fill in.
EAFF East Asia Football Cup FT: China 1:0 Hong Kong Hong Kong put in a very spirited display against China and it was a little unfortunate to lose to a Tan Long goal. Tan Long scored after Leung Kwun-Chung and Sun Ming-Him both had their clearances blocked by Chinese players. Tan Long picked up the ball in the penalty area and curved it into the side netting. I think Chan Ka-Ho ought to have done a little better but here we are. Hong Kong actually seemed to have the upper hand and attacked more than China did. But there was no real clear cut chances. The fact is that we are weak in attack, with only one real striker, Matthew Orr, cleared showed. I think some of the Chinese clubs could be on a shopping spree for quite a few of the HK national team players after this game. The fact also is that Jorn Andersen has gone through 7 games, lost 5 and won 2.
Players that impressed me: Law Tsz-chun: Plays with fire and hustle, and is a legitimate "attacking fullback or defensive winger"; e.g. a hybrid that can do it all. Vas Nunez: Stood up to the tough CB pairing of China during set pieces and was absolutely solid with his physicality. Showed some finesse too with some precision tackles. Leung Kwun Chung: Yes I know he was slow running back (as has always been his weakness), but he brought the fire and was just solid. Did very little wrong. Players that did NOT impress me: Jahangir Khan: Same story since his debut till now. Heavy touches, wayward dribbling instead of passing, and generally very amateurish mistakes, as highlighted by conceding that one corner. He is a very, very raw player, and why he keeps getting the nod over say Jesse Yu or Sogho I don't understand. Wong Wai: Too often he is looking to dribble or shoot himself; he needs to create more for his teammates, not just look to shoot.
My thoughts: Overall, I'd say it was a valiant effort by Hong Kong despite the loss to China and I'm sure that Andersen will have to find a way to bring more creativeness within his players which is something that I noticed in which the likes of Wong Wai and Wu Chun Ming made unnecessary attempts to shoot on goal rather than provide an opportunity to build-up on goal. Other than that, if there were any players that had impressed me during this tournament, my pick would be Vas Nunez.
From the highlights, you can see a lot of wasted shots, shots the players would not attempt in a HKPL league game.
Law Tsz has been the most improved player in HK over the past year. But with Everton Camargo ready to naturalize in the near future, he will have competition for his place in the starting XI. Vas made some mistakes leading to goal against Korea. He did a good job when needed but I think he is the odd man out when Leung Nok Hang is available. Actually don't think Leung played well. Of course, he was better than Wong Tsz but we're talking about a very low bar. Even Shinichi, who every assumes will be the starting LB if available, struggled against Bordeaux recently in a friendly. Will Shinichi face the same level of competition in the AFC? Rarely. But what it does show is that he too will struggle at that position. Khan is there because Andersen thinks he fits his style. Whether he will still be there when Everton becomes an option is a real question. I would add "Sun Ming" in the didn't play well category. The reason is not only because he made a mistake leading to China's goal but I don't think he did enough when he had the ball to threaten the other team.
Actually this reminded me of something interesting - in the original EAFF squad, when Fernando was available, Law was actually not picked. It was not until Fernando dropped out that Law was added back into the squad; I wonder if this was for rest reasons or whether it shows that Andersen doesn't see Law as the first / second choice?
Honestly most of the players did not play very well. It was just that the Chinese players were not very good either. They all seemed to make poor decisions when they had the ball. But I guess if they could make good decisions, then they would be playing for clubs in the better leagues and not in HKPL. They just never had the right football training when they were young.
I do agree that there are a number of aspects that Jorn Andersen and the Hong Kong national team still requires more work as they make preparations for the AFC Asian Cup finals next year. One of these is to work on their patience and creativity when it comes to making decisions on what to do with the ball, who to pass the ball to and open up opportunities for others to score rather than wasting opportunities by shooting outside of the box (in addition to Sun Ming Him who should really pass the ball back to Chan Ka Ho to let him clear away from goal) as highlighted by yesterday's performance. It will be very interesting to see which players will make the cut for next year's finals in which it will be highly competitive.
Mahama Awal has officially signed for KC Southern. Having already obtained a Hong Kong ID card, he has already applied for a Hong Kong passport which should hopefully be available later this year. Lee Man have signed Manu Gavilan who previously played for Kitchee. In other news as Kitchee are training in South Korea in preparations for their AFC Champions League Round of 16 tie against BG Patham United, Matt Orr, Law Tsz Chun, Tomas Maronesi and Paulo Cesar had all joined the training camp. On the other hand, Sohgo Ichikawa and Ellison Tsang Yi Hang will not feature and returned to Hong Kong.
Here is Kitchee's schedule as they play several Korean clubs in preparation for the AFC Champions League tie: However, there will be no live stream for their matches.