The New Look Hong Kong Football Team 2009

The Hong Kong team just finished their first qualifying game for the 2011 Asian Cup. They went down to a 3-1 home defeat against Bahrain. Though the result was more or less expected as there's a huge gulf in class between the two sides, there's plenty of encouragement for the home team, not least about the 90th minute consolation goal.

To the eyes of the loyal Hong Kong fans, it was a wonderful display of attacking football from coach Dejan Antonic and Paulic Goran. The once futile and stifling tactic of defending for 90 minutes was replaced by a willingness to attack down the flanks using the width of the pitch.

As for the goals conceded, many blamed them on the inconsistent performance of right back Lee Chi Ho. The root of the problem however lies in the middle of the park. Bahrain, driven by their midfield anchorman (who I thought was by far their best player), was more often than not given time to spread the ball to the flanks. The two defensive midfielders, Liu Quankun and Gerard, who should have worked as a partnership, rarely defended in coherent terms. The attacking minded and forward position Au Chung was never going to give protection to the back four.

What we needed was for one midfielder to hold position while the other go for the ball. In this case, neither had that understanding on Wednesday night and neither is a natural in chasing the breath out of the opposition. Employing Liu in this incident did therefore backfire despite his undoubted physical present. Having been mesmerized by the performance of one Leung Chun Pong in the Doha Asian Games,  he would have been my ideal choice to partner Gerard. His energy, his terrier like style, the simplicity of his play and his covering of right back position would have been the perfect foil to both the attacking minded Lee Chi Ho and the layback Gerard.

As for the goal Hong Kong scored, it was a typical super-sub appearance from Henry. Center forward Chao Pengfei has had four games to show his worth and none of those games suggested that he's ready for international football. The question must be who, or is there anyone good enough to start in his place? Who can provide the industry to work the defenders (as Chao is charged to do) as well as having the quality to set up play and score? With the game against Yemen in just a few days time, I doubt the current squad has a ready made replacement. It's a shame that the senior Sham brother was never fit enough to be considered for the squad.

The next game on the 28th of Jan and is away against Yemen, who has shown very little when they went down to a 2-1 defeat in Japan. Hong Kong again is the underdog in this match. There are still quite some areas where are within them to improve upon (attacking set piece, how to play against a high line, winning second ball from Cris clearance and so on), but the signs are positive and there is a level of optimism that hasn't been seen for quit some time.