Wang bows out in entertaining 4-4 draw to close out a successful season- Kitchee 4 Eastern 4

Summary

Photo by Scoop

Kitchee took the lead three times but could not secure all three points, as the final game of the HKPL season was an eight goal thriller. Ruslan Mingazow and Yu Okubo both scored two in the first half, along with a strike from Gondra, as Eastern led 3-2 to potentially rain on Kitchee's title parade. Substitute Merquelanz's stunning freekick and Adrian's effort put Kitchee in the lead going into stoppage time, before Okubo struck again. Kitchee had won the league by nine points, despite only earning two in the championship group, and the title was celebrated long into the night, as was Wang Zhenpeng's retirement after over twenty years and nearly 400 games.

Team news

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Kitchee made six changes ahead of the final game of the season. Bear, Dantas, Lok, Chan Shing-chun, Merquelanz and Juninho all dropped to the bench, with Wang, Jordan, Illarramendi, Li Siu-hin, Cheung Yiu-hin and Mingazow coming into the starting lineup. Wang captained the side on his final appearance, and to show his longevity Kitchee started three teenagers (all born after his Kitchee debut) and two 22 year olds, who were under two years old at the time. There was a first professional start for Li Siu-hin, and a first in the league for Cheung Yiu-hin.

Wang (c) (Bear 90); Ari (Buddle 71), Jason, Haddow (Dantas 62), Jordan; Kanda (Leandro 62), Illarramendi, Li Siu-hin (Juninho 62); Mingazow, Adrian, Cheung Yiu-hin (Merquelanz 62)

Unused subs: Law, Lung, Anson, Lok, Slattery, Chan Shing-chun

Match highlights

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Kitchee were led out by retiring legend wang, given the captain's armband in his last game. Ari's first time ball through was scored by Mingazow after an Eastern defensive mixup. Initially this was flagged offside, but VAR correctly overruled the officials. Okubo headed in an equaliser to tie Granada for the Golden Boot, but Eastern were only level for a minute before Mingazow headed in a superb cross from youngster Cheung Yiu-hin. Kitchee switched off from an Eastern freekick in their own half, as Lorenz's ball forward was fired in by Gondra, and as halftime approached Okubo cemented himself as outright top scorer with a lovely goal after Kitchee failed to clear. Kitchee 2 Eastern 3 at half time, and while Kitchee had already secured the league weeks ago, fans did not want to finish on a defeat.

Wang made 2 superb saves with his legs to keep the deficit to one. Just after halftime, Kitchee made a quadruple substitution, with Jay Haddow's head injury giving Kitchee another sub to use later. Soon afterwards, Merquelanz scored an incredible free kick to level the game for the third time, and substitute Leandro teed up Adrian to score from the edge of the box, giving Kitchee the lead with ten minutes left. Seven minutes of stoppage time were announced, and in the fourth of these Wang was ceremonially substituted off for Bear to rapturous applause in celebration of a fantastic career. But in the 5th minute of stoppage time Okubo completed a perfect hat trick (header, rightfoot, leftfoot) to end the game 4-4. A cracking game to end the season, and Kitchee were presented with the trophy. A big summer ahead, with Kitchee ending a two year absence from continental competition

Fan feedback

Photo by HKFA

As has been the same for the last few weeks, the league has been wrapped up and a number of fans are not too fussed about results. You can see Calderon rotating and players playing with less intensity, but this is more than justified given the league has been wrapped up for weeks. It was good not to end the season on a defeat, although that is twice in three games that Kitchee have conceded late equalisers. Fans were happy to see young players given a chance, with three teenagers starting in the league for Kitchee for the first time in the Hong Kong Premier League era. Teenagers this season played over 1200 minutes in all competitions, and in the previous two seasons Tuscany Shek vs HKU23 in February 2024 was the only teenager to start a league game. All three played well, and along with Chan Shing-chun (who started the last two games) Kitchee have some bright prospects for the future. 

Other news

Photo by HKFA

Kitchee U22 are through to the final of the U22 FA Cup, after two Slattery goals helped to see off Eastern District (coached by former Kitchee captain Helio). The final will be on the 25th May at 8pm at Kowloon Bay Park against HKFC, and after league wins for the first team, the U18s and the U16s it gives Kitchee another chance at silverware. 

Hong Kong will take on Mongolia at Hong Kong Stadium (5th) and Cambodia away (9th) in the June international window, with Bear, Haddow, Jason Kam, Beattie, Tan Chun-lok, Juninho and Jordan Lam included in the preliminary squad. The HKFC Soccer Sevens is next weekend, with Kitchee's women's and academy sides taking part, as well as some ex Kitchee players, and members of Kitchee's coaching staff are also participating, including Inigo Calderon. 

With the end of the season comes transfer speculation both in and out of the club. Wang Zhenpeng announced on Saturday that he will leave after over twenty years at the club. In his time he played nearly 400 games, and won over thirty trophies, including ten league titles. During his time at Kitchee, he shared the pitch with nearly two hundred teammates (according to transfermarkt), which doesn't include all the other goalkeepers in the squad over the years. Law Tsz-chun will join ambitious promoted club Supreme, coached by Kitchee legend Lo Kwan Yee. Dantas will also leave after two seasons.

Photo by HKFA

Lee Man and Hong Kong duo Everton Camargo and Dudu are on their way to the club, with more signings presumably being confirmed over the coming months. We'll continue to keep fans in the loop of incomings and outgoings, with Kitchee typically announcing a released list towards the end of May. Chairman Ken Ng shut down the rumours of Edinson Cavani signing, although given he's still under contract with Boca Juniors, it was a very unlikely rumour to begin with.

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