Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Hong Kong: Hong Kong champions South China belatedly got their AFC Cup campaign off the mark and claimed their first three points of the competition in hugely entertaining style with a 5-3 victory over Myanmar’s Yangon United on Wednesday.
In a busy first half that featured five goals, Luk Chi Ho, Sasa Kujkut and Chan Siu Ki were all on the scoresheet for South China, while Kyaw Ko Ko and David Htan responded for the visitors.
And the second half did not slow down with both sides throwing caution to the wind as Chan completed his brace and then Lee Long Lim took the home team’s tally to five before Yangon’s Cezar (Cezar Augusto Hermenegildo) netted the game’s eighth and final goal in the closing minutes of the Group G tie.
“The team planned to play aggressively as we needed to win, and it’s good that the team could play a home game in cool weather,” said South China coach Yeung Ching Kwong.
“It was fortunate that we could score two goals early.”
In fact, the fans at Hong Kong’s Mongkok Stadium only needed to wait seven minutes for the opener from striker Luk, with the striker calmly taking a pass in the crowded penalty area before squaring it away.
And the lead was doubled less than 10 minutes later through Kajkut with the Bosnian wrong-footing the goalkeeper before sliding it home.
Yangon reacted well to the disappointment, turning the screw and five minutes later made their pressure pay as Kyaw Ko Ko made the difference by firing home from a spilled ball.
It was not long until the Hong Kong side reasserted their dominance, with a 36th minute goal from Chan to take the score to 3-1 in favour of South China.
But with only two minutes to play in the half Yangon’s Htan took advantage of some confusion in the South China penalty area to again claw one back for the visitors.
Yangon, though, were unable to build on that at the start of the second half and after a lapse of concentration in the Yangon backline, Chan went one-on-one with the goalkeeper and he maintained his cool with a composed finish.
The result looked even less in doubt on the cusp of the hour when free-kick specialist Luk sent a probing ball into the Yangon area, where it was bustled into the goal by midfielder Lee to take the South China tally to an impressive five.
But a reckless slide by Kwok Kin Pong led to a tantalizing free-kick on the edge of South China’s penalty area, with the 76 minute free-kick floated in by Brazilian Cezar.
The visitors, though, could not capitalise on the momentum and despite a late rally, remained two goals down at the final whistle.
“Conditions were very difficult and South China responded better than we did,” said Yangon coach Eric Williams.
“We’re a passing team and they play a lot of high balls. That suited them and they put their chances away.
“Despite the loss, I am confident we will progress to the next round of the competition.”