New season, same old Kitchee? North District 2 Kitchee 2

Team news

Credits to Kitchee

The HKPL is back! Kitchee started with multiple new signings, as they looked to redeem last season's poor performance. With new manager Edgar Cardoso at the helm, there were league debuts for Talley in goal, Haddow and Bardanca in defence, and Machado on the wing. Welthon and Jordan Lam would later debut from the bench. Helio missed the match for personal reasons, Leon Jones for injury, and Kim Shin-wook continued to be away from the first team, to the surprise of absolutely no one. Tan Chun-lok and Cheng Chin-lung both started in midfield, having had limited minutes last season, and joining them was Juninho, pushed back into a new role favoured by Cardoso.

Talley; Law Tsz-chun (c), Haddow, Jones, Fernando; Tan Chun-lok, Juninho (Sohgo 80), Cheng Chin-lung (Ngan Cheuk-pan 71); Machado (Jordan Lam 80), Temirov (Welthon 58), Mingazow

Unused substitutes: Wang, Poon Chen, Buddle, Slattery, Tom Yeung, Jason Kam, 

Credits to Tommy

Match highlights

Kitchee dominated the opening exchanges, with Temirov having a couple of decent chances, after nice linkup play in midfield. Midway through the half a long ball forward from Juninho (in his new midfield role) found Mingazow, who was fouled by the goalkeeper. After the departure of regular taker Mikael in the offseason, Temirov stepped up and scored, in the same end where he scored his first Kitchee goal in last season's fixture. Kitchee were massively in the driving seat, although mostly restricted to shots from distance, but should have been a couple of goals to the good.

The second half began, and Kitchee still dominated, but could not put the game to bed. Tan Chun-lok headed in from a corner, after the goalkeeper allowed it through his legs, but it was ruled out, with Juninho adjudged to be in an offside position and obstructing the goalkeepers vision. With twenty minutes to go Juninho put a foot in to intercept, and drove from the halfway line. Despite the attention of a number of defenders he slotted home, and Kitchee felt home and dry, proven by the 'defensive' substitution of Ngan Cheuk-pan for Cheng Chin-lung. Not long afterwards Weverton latched onto a long ball on the left hand side, beating Law in the air. After some nifty footwork he got a fairly weak shot away, which went through the legs of debutant Fynn Talley, and just crossed the line. The Englishman was extremely relieved to be saved by VAR, who determined that there was an offside in the build-up. After that let off, substitutes Sohgo Ichikawa and Welthon linked together to almost extend the lead in the last ten minutes, but the chaos was yet to come.

A couple of minutes later a North District break down the Kitchee left exposed the high line, and despite the valiant efforts of Jay Haddow and Tan Chun-lok Kendy pulled a goal back. This gave the travelling Kitchee support, who made up a good proportion of the 685 attendance, flashbacks to last season, where Kitchee almost bottled a 3-0 lead, and it got worse. Kendy waltzed from inside his own half, almost unopposed. He fed the ball out wide, and despite Talley and Law both diving to try and block it, Matheus scored, sparking wild jubilant scenes for players staff and fans. Welthon almost redeemed Kitchee, the Brazilian having a nice turn and shot go narrowly wide, before North District continued their momentum, with only a good save from Talley secured the point. A disappointing day that should've promised so much more.

Fan feedback

A shambolic end to what should've been a routine win, and at times it looked like Kitchee could have handed out a thrashing. That Kitchee did not convert their chances can be partially put down to preseason rust- Kitchee had not played a game in nearly a month. Hopefully this improves as the season goes on. Part of Cardoso's resurrection of Kitchee meant bringing in a number of new players and a new playing style, which will not change completely overnight but there were positive signs to look ahead with. The unavailability of Leon and Helio meant Kitchee required Bardanca to start (after a preseason of mostly Leon and Jay), meaning a rejigged unbalanced midfield. But this is Hong Kong football and the foreign player quota is something Kitchee would have been aware of, and the system should not be so rigid that missing a couple of players causes these issues. In midfield Kitchee played a natural 8 (Lok) in the 6, with Lung and Juninho as 8s, neither of whom conventionally play there, which affected transitions, as it required a lot more tracking back from the 8s than they are used to.

Players and staff showed visible signs of frustration at full time, and while some point to low squad morale, other fans see it as a sign that the players care. Last season after poor performances there was very little indication from some players that they were disappointed with how they performed. Last season Kitchee scored eleven goals in the first two league games, before being destroyed by Lee Man, showing signs of complacency. Fans hope this result that grounds Kitchee and reminds them of their frailties- North District are likely to finish in the bottom three, so significantly tougher tests await.

There was too much wasteful finishing, while North District did setup deep, Kitchee had very few chances from inside the box, with multiple wayward shots from distance North District brought good energy to the closing stages, reminiscent from last season, as Kitchee's high energy style tired players out. Some fans criticised the timing of substitutes; Temirov had a goal and had worked really hard, but was removed for Welthon before the hour mark. Although the Brazilian held the ball up well and had a couple of chances, he did not have the same movement and energy of the Uzbek international. Similarly Ngan Cheuk-pan came on at 2-0, and Kitchee did not adjust tactically to see out the win, which left space in midfield that Kendy was able to easily exploit. Fernando is nearly thirty eight, and does not have the legs to play 90 minutes anymore, especially in this system, and Jordan Lam should have replaced him around the hour mark. Both goals came from down that side, and fresh legs would almost certainly have made a difference. Overall, a bad day at the office and fans hope the disgraceful complacency shown in the latter stages is a one off, and that the forwards can be more clinical next time.

Debut watch

Fynn Talley. The young Englishman did not have a load to do in this game, and cannot be solely blamed for either goal, as the North District counterattacks were relentless. His distribution was solid, but he made a bad error for Weverton's ultimately disallowed goal.

Jay Haddow. The youngster made his professional debut, and his composure on the ball allowed us to play out from the back. He held his position well while other players advanced down the pitch a bit too much, and there was little more he could do for the goals.

Diego Bardanca. He was probably not expecting to start, having had a heavily disrupted preseason owing to the birth of his child. But he played some nice passes out and made a couple of very important blocks. He was caught out of position slightly in the transition for the first North District goal, and him and Fernando on that left hand side of defence will be a risk against tougher opponents.

Credits to Tommy

Luis Machado. The Portuguese winger showed glimpses of quality on and off the ball, and had fluidmovement with Mingazow, with the pair swapping flanks throughout, and he was probably our best player in the first half. In the second half he faded, and needs to release the ball earlier, but with time to settle could be the difference maker we missed last season. Would've liked to see him drift infield a bit, and maybe setting Juninho down the right wing to pose different questions of the defence.

Welthon. The Brazilian made a good cameo, although appeared a bit short of match fitness intially. As the game progressed he moved well and linked up with other attackers with his hold up play. Had a couple of nice chances, and showed some good movement. Offers a very different threat to Temirov, and when up to speed could score plenty.

Credits to Tommy

Jordan Lam. Only had time for a short cameo on the left wing. No notable contributions, but many fans feel he should've played more, and at left back, given how North District exposed a tired Fernando.

What's next and other news

Kitchee do not play again until the 14th September, facing off against Southern at Mong Kok Stadiumat 6.30pm. Keep an eye out on Kitchee's social media for details of this season's Bluewave membership, offering fans a season ticket package for home games, which we expect to be announced prior to this date.

Photo by HK Kickers

Hong Kong travel to Fiji on Tuesday for games on Thursday against the Solomon Islands (3pm kick off HKT) and Sunday against Fiji (11am kick-off HKT), with new manager Ashley Westwood in charge. Both games will be available to watch on RTHK. Compared to recent years, Kitchee are scarcely represented; only Tan Chun-lok, Juninho and Poon Pui-hin (late callup) making the squad, with Leon Jones forced to withdraw through injury. 

Kitchee's women missed out on qualifying for the group stages of the maiden Asian Women's Champions League. After a win against Royal Thimphu College of Bhutan (Taylor Fu with the only goal), they needed victory over Bam Khatoon of Iran to go through, and lost 2-0.

Photo by Jared Lum

And finally former Kitchee midfielder Jared Lum brought his career to a close, playing his final game for North West Sydney Spirit in the Australian Cup. He made nearly a hundred Kitchee appearances between 2016 and 2020, winning two league trophies amongst a host of cups, before moving to R&F and then Eastern, before returning to Australia. He is fondly remembered by fans for his celebrations and taking time for photos. We wish him all the best in his retirement.

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Written by Adam O'Domhnaill