AFC Asian Cup: Hong Kong closing gap on better teams but attacking quality still missing, says Andersen
- Hong Kong lost all three matches in Qatar but performances mostly exceeded expectations
- Team’s attention now turns to back-to-back World Cup qualifiers against Uzbekistan
Jorn Andersen said Hong Kong would continue closing the gap on the continent’s big guns, after a stirring Asian Cup campaign finally ran aground with defeat by Palestine on Tuesday.
Hong Kong gave their supporters plenty to shout about in Qatar, notably taking traditional powerhouse Iran to the wire in a high-quality second match.
But Andersen conceded his side were down on energy by “10 to 20 per cent” against Palestine, after running non-stop to compete with the United Arab Emirates and the Iranians.
Palestine ruthlessly exposed that weariness in a one-sided second half, scoring twice to add to Oday Dabbagh’s 12th-minute header, and creating a succession of further openings.
Those Hong Kong fans gave their players a spine-tingling ovation at full-time, and their ongoing chants permeated the media centre walls as Andersen reflected on the past six weeks.
“The four weeks of preparation was hard, for me and for the players,” Andersen said. “We were unlucky with VAR decisions against UAE … that is not an excuse, it was my feeling. Against Iran, we competed and pushed really hard.
“Today, we tried to push, but there were four or five players who came into the match not 100 per cent. What we did was not enough, and maybe 10-to-20 per cent of the energy from the past two performances was missing.”
Hong Kong were dealt a hammer blow when Vas Nunez had to give way after 25 minutes following a recurrence of his right shoulder problem.
Fellow centre-back Jacky Leung Nok-hang missed the tournament injured, and a muscle injury sustained in the New Year’s Day victory over China prevented another defender, Helio Goncavles, from getting on the field.
Big forward hope Juninho, who received his passport last month, was held back until the second half of the final game because of thigh issues.
“We were missing many quality players who, maybe, could have helped us,” Andersen said. “When we have our strongest team, I hope we can raise the quality, again, and, sooner or later, beat a big name.
“It was very important we could beat China, that has given us confidence. Overall, we had a good tournament, we took a step up and closed the gap to the bigger teams. We have to work hard, and close the gap a bit more.”
Hong Kong began brightly against Palestine, but were sliced open when right back Musab al-Battat burst forward to land a pinpoint cross on the head of Dabbagh.
“They had the quality to to score a goal out of nothing, and that is a quality we do not have,” Andersen said. “We can learn from that and try to do it better, we need it for the future.”
Andersen said the conversation about how to upgrade Hong Kong’s domestic football structure was for another day.
But when he looked ahead to home and away World Cup qualifiers with Uzbekistan in March, there was a hint towards the Norwegian’s fears over handing players back to their clubs.
“There are two big differences after the past weeks together,” Andersen said. “Firstly, the condition of the players, they trained very hard, and they could compete with big teams. Then, tactically, we tried to attack all the opponents, however excellent. We played our way, creating chances, pushing and pressing them, and disturbing their build-up.
“We are in the right way, but now we go back to Hong Kong, and have two months without training. The players go back to their clubs, then face Uzbekistan, which will be very hard.”
