The season so far

Poon battles Lee Man

Article by Adam O'Domhnaill

As we are now in October, Kitchee sit in second place in the league, behind Lee Man, who battered us 4-1 on a dismal day in TKO. Paulo Cesar saved Everton's early penalty, before Anier gave Lee Man the lead midway through the first half. Juninho equalised for us just before halftime, and then Everton Camargo put Lee Man back in front. A silly tackle from Onazi halfway through the second half gave Lee Man another penalty (after a lengthy VAR check), and this time Anier stepped up to extend Lee Man’s lead. To make matters worse, Igor Sartori got injured, and Paulinho rounded off a comprehensive victory for Lee Man in added time.

Paulo saves penalty 

 Before this match, Kitchee had scored eleven league goals without reply, with a 3-0 win over Tai Po (Juninho with two and a Mikael penalty), and an 8-0 hammering of Hong Kong Football Club, where Kim Shin-Wook finally scored for Kitchee. He completed his hat trick by the 25th minute, with Tan Chun Lok, Mingazow and Igor Sartori opening their accounts for the season. Mikael got on the scoresheet again, and there was also an own goal from our loanee Jordon Brown. Derby day with Eastern was unfortunately postponed due to the typhoon in early September. Following the chastening defeat to Lee Man, Kitchee responded the week after with a 2-0 win at home to Rangers, with Jakob Jantscher scoring his first goal for the club, after Charlie Scott had opened the scoring with a long range effort and Paulo Cesar had saved a penalty.

Between the Lee Man and Rangers games, Kitchee opened their Asian Champions League campaign away in Jeonbuk. A very defensively set up Kitchee team came away with a 2-1 defeat, with Mikael scoring an overhead kick from a tight angle to level the scores, before Jeonbuk showed their dominance scoring a winner soon afterwards. After the Rangers game, Kitchee underwent a staff restructuring, with Alex Chu reverting to his director role, Kim Dong-Jin becoming interim head coach, and Edgar Cardoso and Poon Man Chun coming in as assistants. The first game after the managerial change saw a 6-2 win in the Sapling Cup, thanks to a hat trick from Mikael, alongside goals from Juninho, Tan Chun Lok and Jantscher, with Kim Shin-Wook missing a penalty. Kitchee’s next game was an ACL tie at home to the Lion City Sailors of Singapore. In the unsurprisingly deserted Hong Kong Stadium, Kitchee succumbed to a 2-1 defeat, with another clumsy foul by Onazi given as a penalty, although the minimal (if any at all) contact looked to be outside the box. This allowed Lion City to double their first half advantage. Kitchee were inefficient throughout, despite having the majority of possession and shots. Juninho got injured, Jantscher pulled a goal back in the 87th minute, and Mingazow went close to an equaliser later on. 

Jakob Jantscher against Lion City Sailors

Kitchee’s away match at HKU23 was cancelled due to even more adverse weather in Hong Kong in early October,which brings us up to the latest international break. With nine players on international duty, and other senior players injured, Kitchee put out a much weakened side, featuring three teenagers- Jason Kam (19), Matthew Slattery (18) and Yuen Chun-Him (17). The bench was even weaker, with two goalkeepers (including fifteen year old Tuscany Shek), four more teenagers- congratulations to Yeung Cheuk Kwan (16) and Lau Yu Ho (17) for their first team debuts, and an injured veteran in Roberto. Unfortunately Kitchee lost 3-2 at Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground, despite Mikael twice levelling the scores. On the international front, some of our players have had key international milestones. Poon Pui Hin was part of the Hong Kong squad that recently finished fourth at the Asian Games, scoring the winner in the quarter final against Iran. He also scored his first goals for the senior team with the final two goals in a 10-0 friendly win over Brunei in September. Helio and Fernando also scored their first Hong Kong goals in this game, with Tan Chun Lok on the scoresheet too. In the first round of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, Shinichi Chan scored his first goal in the 4-0 first leg win over Bhutan, with Hong Kong winning 4-2 on aggregate.

Overall, Kitchee have won three out of four in the league, lost both Champions League games and won one and lost one in the Sapling Cup. We move on to the crucial Champions League tie at home to Bangkok United on 25th October at Hong Kong Stadium, hope to see as many of you there as possible. 

As always, photo credits to Scoop. Check out his work on Instagram @whitedophotography_arbuka or on Facebook Matchday of BlueArmy.