Asian Cup ︱ The Hong Kong Football Club reaches the final after half a century

Since 1968, the Hong Kong football team has reached the final week of the Asian Cup again. The team has passed this year's hurdles and managed to qualify despite adversity, bringing hope to Hong Kong football again.

Affected by the fifth wave of the epidemic, local players' practice and games were suspended, but the Hong Kong football team still overcame the difficulties and wrote a new page for Hong Kong football.

There are 5 main reasons for the Hong Kong team to achieve great results in this year's Asian Cup qualifiers.

Asian Cup Qualifiers︱ Hong Kong FC benefited from the Philippines losing points and advanced to the finals for the first time in 54 years

Reason 1: Competition system

The last time the Hong Kong team participated in the final week of the Asian Cup, there were only 5 teams participating in the competition, and there were still only 16 participating teams in the competition until 2015. Due to the great increase in the strength of the Asian teams, the Hong Kong team failed to qualify for the competition.

However, the Asian Cup final week has expanded the number of participating countries or regions to 24 since the last session, which undoubtedly makes Hong Kong have a higher chance of qualifying.

The Hong Kong team benefited from the changes in the competition system and the results of the lottery, coupled with the outstanding performance of the players, and once again advanced to the Asian Cup final week.

(HKFA)

Reason 2: Signing

Even though there were 24 teams participating in the last Asian Cup final week, the Hong Kong team failed to qualify because the team was drawn in the third round of the qualifying round and met North Korea in the first place, even the third and fourth In the second grade, they also encountered higher-strength Lebanon and Malaysia. As a result, they could only finish the competition with 1 win, 2 and 3 losses, ranking third in the group.

However, this year's Hong Kong team has improved their luck in signings, avoiding old rivals such as Uzbekistan, Bahrain and Jordan in the first grade, and encountering India, which ranks the lowest in the world (104th).

Another opponent, Cambodia, was in the same group in the second round of the World Cup qualifiers. At that time, the Hong Kong team won 1 win and 1 draw; the third-level Afghanistan also had limited strength.

As a result, the Hong Kong team won two consecutive victories in Afghanistan and Cambodia, laying the foundation for qualifying.

Asian Cup Qualifiers︱Hong Kong Football Team won two consecutive victories in Cambodia after five years

Jackie's promotion to the top 16 of the AFC Champions League gave Hong Kong players a boost.

(file picture)

Reason 3: Jiezhi participated in the AFC Champions League group stage

As mentioned above, the preparations for the Hong Kong team are limited by the epidemic. However, because Jiezhi needs to play in the AFC Champions League group stage in April, the army has already gone to Thailand for training in March, including many members of the Hong Kong team, and has played a role in the state of the players. .

Anderson also seized the opportunity to inspect the performance of the players in the local area at that time. He once stated clearly that in this Asian Cup qualifiers, the focus is on the players who are in better condition. In the end, Jiezhi historically advanced to the top 16 of the restructured AFC Champions League, Anda. The minister has said that since Kit-chi can use pressing and kicking to achieve results, why can't the Hong Kong team bet a boost for the players.

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Hong Kong football coach Anderson led the team to play in the first competition, that is, there was an unexpected harvest.

(HKFA)

Reason 4: New coaches

The new coach of the Norwegian Hong Kong Football Team, Andersen, took office in January. He changed the Hong Kong team's stable style in recent years and insisted on playing high-level defensive football, emphasizing that the Hong Kong team should become more aggressive.

He seized the time when the Hong Kong Football Team went to Thailand for training and a friendly match in advance in May to win the trust of the players, and finally successfully showed his tactics in the first two qualifying matches.

The Hong Kong team entered the game quickly in these two rare games. They had a two-goal lead in the middle of the first half. Although their physical fitness decreased in the latter part, they were still able to keep the victory and score 6 points.

Interview with new Hong Kong football coach Anderson 1︱ Former Bundesliga marksman vows to rebuild Hong Kong team: Interview with new Hong Kong football coach Anderson 2︱ Talking about interesting things about coaching North Korea He has something to say about Hong Kong football

The first-generation striker combination of the Hong Kong team is worth looking forward to.

(HKFA)

Reason #5: New Players

Although the Hong Kong team has players who have left the mainland league and cannot return to the team, they have created many new faces to join. The first time to represent Hong Kong in a major event.

In fact, only Ye Honghui, Wang Zhenpeng, Huang Wei, Ju Yingzhi, Xu Hongjie and others in the Hong Kong team have rich experience in competitions, including the new generation of strikers such as An Yongjia and Sun Mingqian who have scored for the Hong Kong team. Although they have participated in the World Cup qualifiers and East Asia The football championship is the first time to play in the third round of the Asian Cup qualifying round.

However, it is this kind of vigor and vigor that brought out new tactics and brought a brand new feeling to the Hong Kong team, and successfully entered the Asian Cup final week again.

Hong Kong Football ︱ Ru Zinan was moved by the appearance and disappointed by the defeat. The new coach was surprised by Malaysia. Hong Kong Football ︱ Paul Landmark made a mistake The young player may be selected by Zhang Jianfeng and advises to seize the opportunity of the East Asian Championships. The Hong Kong Football Team's schedule has been released for two days.