The war drums for Hong Kong’s World Cup qualifying campaign have recently started once again.
Throughout the majority of the past twelve months, the Hong Kong Representative Team has scaled the mountain heights and also sailed across the ocean to take on battles against its Asian neighbors in the World Cup qualifying campaign, using its sweat and fighting spirit to secure encouraging results one after another, only to repay the faith and passionate support from the football-mad Hong Kong public. On Monday night, the Hong Kong Representative Team will fly out once again, this time to Qatar to take on the Middle East side in its final Group C qualifying battle (round 2).
As of the time of writing, Hong Kong sits on the second position in Group C, with 4 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss and 14 points from 7 matches. Hong Kong is actually four points behind first-place team Qatar, while ahead of third-place team China by three points. However, both Qatar and China each has a game in hand, which means if Hong Kong wants to keep its dream of advancing to the next round of the qualifier as one of the several “best second-place teams”, the boys in red will have no choice but to fight for an away victory in Qatar.
The ever reliable Yapp Hung-fai has been standing tall in the Hong Kong goal ever since the start of the current qualifying campaign. Yapp knows fully well what is at stake and hopes his side can dig deep, come out with the fight to repay the public’s support. “In my personal view, China is a slightly stronger side than Qatar, but the Middle East team is extremely lethal when it comes to finishing off their scoring chances. This is something that we need to pay close attention to,” offered the Hong Kong custodian.
“Although the World Cup qualifying campaign has stopped for quite some time, while the domestic season is approaching its final stretch, I do not think fatigue will be an issue for us. Every time when you put on the Hong Kong shirt, you always feel the care and support that the fans have for us. Therefore there is no question that we will be going for it in this game and playing for a win.”
Huang Yang, a tireless runner in the Hong Kong midfield, signals the importance of the Qatar game for Hong Kong football. “We still have a legitimate chance to advance to the next round of the qualification and we will be going all out for it. On the other hand, we also want to try to snatch a seeding berth for the next Asian Cup and that is also something that we are playing for,” Huang pointed out. “Maybe some fans will think this game represent the end of a particular era for the Hong Kong team but in my eyes, this is just the opening of a new chapter.”
Speed demon Alexander Akande maintains while preparation for the Qatar battle seems to be on the short side, yet the Hong Kong forward reveals the coaching staffs have long started its scouting work for the all-important match. “Coach Kim (Hong Kong head coach Kim Pan-gon) has invited us over to watch some match tapes of Qatar and going through some of the things that he wants us to execute during the game,” Akande said. “Please forgive me for not able to talk about our game-plan too specifically at this point but nevertheless, I am very certain that we will compete hard and stand a chance of winning the match.”
