If someone says a country is just lucky to be able to qualify for the last 16 of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, there is another contestant who is much luckier. Amazingly, the participants were able to capitalize on their luck to make new history. Yes, Hong Kong is the contestant’s name. Good luck even came to Jorn Andersen’s team before the sport of football started competing.
The first stroke of luck was the withdrawal of two potential opponents, Afghanistan and Syria, just days before the kick off of the first group phase match. As a result, the composition of Group C is left with Hong Kong alone with Uzbekistan. This change in the number of participants means that both Uzbekistan and Hong Kong are certain to advance to the knock-out round. It doesn’t matter what results they get in the group phase.
One team will qualify as group winner, while the other will be runner-up. To determine who has the right to win the group, Uzbekistan and Hong Kong must compete twice. Even without competing, you can already tell who is above whom. The reason is, Uzbekistan and Hong Kong have just met. To be precise, at the recent 2024 U-23 Asian Cup Qualification event.
The Hong Kong and Uzbekistan squads that appeared in both tournaments are not 100% the same, but they are also not much different. This means that the strength between them is already visible on paper.
Moreover, the results in the U-23 Asian Cup Qualification were very striking. Uzbekistan defeated Hong Kong with a score of 10 goals without reply! Striker Khusayin Norchaev scored a hat-trick against Hong Kong at that time. The striker for the Alania Vladikavkaz (Russia) club even broke into the Hong Kong goal when the match had only been running for six minutes.
Due to his sharp performance in the U-23 Asian Cup Qualification, coach Timur Kapadze brought Norchaev with him to Hangzhou. Unfortunately, until the quarter-finals, the young man born in Yakkabog had not yet contributed a goal for Uzbekistan. Going even further back, Uzbekistan beat Hong Kong in the last 16 of the 2018 Asian Games. At that time the score was 3-0.
Hong Kong certainly doesn’t want to continue to be the butt of Uzbekistan every time they meet. So they have made a lot of improvements ahead of this postponed edition of the Asian Games. As a result, Hong Kong’s defense became much stronger. If previously they had been broken into up to 10 times, in the Asian Games they only lost by a margin of one goal.
In the first match the score was only 0-1. Even then, Uzbekistan only managed to break through Tse Ka-wing’s goal after repeatedly trying for more than an hour. Then in the second match the score was 1-2. There was another improvement here, namely Hong Kong was able to break through Uzbekistan’s goal. A quick goal in the 4th minute.
Because he was guaranteed to qualify for the Top 16, coach Jorn Andersen used two matches against Uzbekistan as an opportunity to mature the team. He established a strategy which later became a mainstay in the knockout phase. What’s that? It’s actually easy to predict, namely a fast and effective counterattack.
In this way, Hong Kong managed to break into Uzbekistan’s goal in the second match. Even though his team lost, Andersen was sure his strategy was ready. The proof is that the same method was successfully repeated in the knockout phase. Two opponents who in theory were both several levels above Hong Kong, they managed to defeat.
First, Palestine in the round of 16. Then the second, and most surprising, was Iran in the quarterfinals. If we use the U-23 Asian Cup Qualification results as a benchmark, Palestine’s performance is much better than Hong Kong. Even though they both failed to qualify for the final round, Palestine was able to win twice compared to Hong Kong who could only get one point from three matches.
It is not surprising that Palestine is more favored ahead of the last 16 match on 27 September. In fact, it was Andersen’s doorstop strategy that was a huge success. After successfully defending throughout the first half, Hong Kong scored a quick goal through Matthew Orr at the start of the second half. They then defended their advantage with all their might.
Palestine tried hard to retaliate, but Hong Kong’s fortress was too difficult to penetrate. As a result, the match ended with a score of 1-0 in favor of HK.
This result makes Hong Kong escape from the curse of the top 16. Since 2010 they have always qualified for the Top 16, but have always been stuck in that round. In the quarter-finals, most people felt they favored Iran over Hong Kong. Understandably, Iran has not been defeated in the Asian Games. Even Reza Enayati’s team’s goal has never been broken!
Then in the U-23 Asian Cup Qualification last month, the two countries also met. Hong Kong and Iran are in the same group, along with Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. In the qualifying meeting, Hong Kong lost to Iran. The score was not as striking as when it was slaughtered by Uzbekistan, but it was also big: 0-3. At that time, Hong Kong’s goal was even broken in the 2nd minute. Illustrating how fragile their defense is.
Likewise, when they met Uzbekistan again, Hong Kong showed many changes when they challenged Iran in the quarter-finals of the Asian Games. And once again, Andersen’s method was applied with great success in this match. The pattern is exactly the same as when defeating Palestine. Hong Kong defended desperately throughout the first half, then stole a quick goal through Poon Pui-hin’s volley at the start of the second half.
Once they took the lead, Hong Kong held on to maintain the score. Iran tried hard to respond, including with several good opportunities from aging striker Amirarsalan Motahhari, but the results were to no avail. Iran forced the match to take place at half court by completely enclosing Hong Kong’s defense area. However, the 2002 Asian Games champion still failed to put the ball into Tse’s goal.
The 1-0 score for Hong Kong’s victory lasted until referee Kim Hee-gon from South Korea blew the long whistle twice. For the first time in history, Hong Kong advanced to the semifinals of the Asian Games. This success was greeted with great fanfare by local Hong Kong media. The South China Morning Post glorified this victory over Iran by comparing the FIFA rankings of the two countries’ senior teams.
For your information only, Iran is ranked 21st in the FIFA ranking list. Meanwhile, Hong Kong is 148, aka 127 levels below Iran. On Wednesday (4/10/2023) afternoon, Hong Kong will meet another Asian giant: Japan. It will be interesting to wait, will Andersen’s concoction be successfully implemented again and take his team to the final?
Even if they fail, the Hong Kong players can go home with their heads held high. They have recorded a new and proud history. What has Wu Chun-ming, cs. to do in Hangzhou is a great achievement. A feat that has not been achieved since Hong Kong first took part in the Asian Games in 1954.
ASL
