PETALING JAYA, May 31 — The Hong Kong national football team have endured some tough times in recent months and, as such, are not too confident of their chances of beating Malaysia in the Tier 1 international friendly at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil tomorrow.
In fact, this will be Hong Kong’s first competitive match since last June and, after this, they will play in Group D of the 2023 Asian Cup qualifying campaign against India (host), Afghanistan and Cambodia.
Hong Kong head coach Jorn Andersen said his team could not train for four months following restrictions imposed by the Hong Kong government due to the Covid-19 pandemic and that he only managed to get his players together early this month.
Andersen, who was appointed last December, said that made it very difficult for him and the players to forge a competitive outfit.
“Since early May, we’ve had a bigger group to do basic work but the players were not in the best shape. In mid-May we travelled to Thailand and stayed there for two weeks and worked well together... now we’ve been together for four weeks.
“I’m happy now to get this last Test match here against Malaysia,” he said at the pre-match press conference at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya here, today.
The Norwegian-born coach said his team were not as lucky as Malaysia, who did not face any restrictions to run their leagues and conduct training camps.
However, he seems to know a thing or two about beating Malaysia, having masterminded two victories over the Harimau Malaya in the 2019 Asian Cup Finals qualifying round matches in 2017 when he was the coach for North Korea.
For the record, Malaysia were also drawn with Hong Kong in the same qualifiers and the Harimau Malaya drew 1-1 and lost 2-0 to Hong Kong, who were then coached by current national head coach Kim Pan Gon.
“I’ve met Malaysia twice in the 2017 qualifying round matches, so I know Malaysian football a little bit. Of course, we also study the national team now, especially their friendly against Brunei (which Malaysia won 4-0 on May 27) and their earlier games. So, I think it’s going to be a good test for us to play against Malaysia.
“They (Malaysia) play almost the same type of game like all the other teams we will be meeting in the Asian Cup Qualifiers,” said Andersen.
Tomorrow’s match also is the last friendly for the Harimau Malaya before they kick off their 2023 Asian Cup Qualifiers at the National Stadium against Turkmenistan on June 8, Bahrain (June 11) and Bangladesh on June 14. — Bernama
