Anifowose Samson
Eastern thumped Kowloon City 5-1 on Sunday to pass a stern test of their championship credentials, but boss Roberto Losada was more concerned about Hong Kong’s hastily arranged friendly against Macau next month....TAP HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY..>>
The Football Association of Hong Kong, China (HKFA) has announced a home friendly with the world No 193 team on March 19, in preparation for a crunch AFC Asian Cup qualifier away at Singapore six days later.
In a statement confirming the match, the HKFA said it had “obtained agreement from the clubs to adjust the Premier League schedule during mid-March”, to preserve players for the Singapore match.
That would suggest the Super Sunday scheduled for March 16, when Eastern are set to go to Tai Po, while Kitchee host Lee Man, could be moved to later in the season.
Losada said he had not heard about the plans, and questioned when the matches could be squeezed into an already congested calendar.
“If they give me another midweek game and we have three matches in six days, it’s not fair to me, and it’s exhausting for the players” said Losada, who has three players in the preliminary squad.
“I would prefer my players to go to the Hong Kong team and we play the match [on scheduled date] with what we have, but I don’t get to decide.”
After 10 unbeaten games to open their league campaign, Eastern had lost two out of three to risk slipping out of a four-team title race. Last week, they conspired to lose 4-3 to Lee Man, despite leading 3-1 at one stage.
They were briefly on the rack against fifth-placed Kowloon, when 16-year-old Fung Tin-wing, on his professional debut, lashed a low 18th-minute shot past Yapp Hung-fai to cancel out Felipe Sa’s opener.
“There are lots of young Hong Kong players with really good potential, but it’s crucial to use them at the right moments,” Chan Ming-kong, the Kowloon head coach, said. “He grabbed the chance to show his ability.”
Noah Baffoe scored three minutes before half-time to restore Eastern’s advantage, and the Spanish striker got a second when he headed Leung Kwun-chung’s corner past Li Hon-ho after 81 minutes.
Li, who had replaced injured keeper Yuen Ho-chun at 2-1, was beaten again when another Leung corner found Aleksander Mitrovic to powerfully head in his first Eastern goal. Alex Jojo rounded things off with the last kick of the game.
The victory moved Eastern up to third, a point behind Lee Man and five adrift of Tai Po, after the top two both won on Saturday.Tap Here To Read Full Details
