Asian Games 2023: Hong Kong’s best laid plans almost go to waste in entertaining second clash with Uzbekistan
- Hong Kong manager Jorn Andersen had wanted to preserve his players ahead of Wednesday’s round of 16 match
- But an early goal from Li Ngai-hoi changed the dynamic for both teams in Hangzhou
Hong Kong came into their Asian Games rematch against Uzbekistan with a plan - they almost had to tear it up and start again in a 2-1 defeat on Monday.
Head coach Jorn Andersen had wanted to rest some players, protect some others and get in and out without too much damage being done ahead of their round of 16 game against Palestine on Wednesday.
It was the reason he made six changes to the side that lost Friday’s encounter 1-0, leaving out the likes of Sun Ming-him and Ellison Tsang Yi-hang and bringing in Sohgo Ichikawa into the starting line-up, and the motivation for tweaking a team leading at half-time and with a chance of causing an upset in Hangzhou.
A nasty blow Matthew Orr took in a clash of heads with Bekhzod Shamsiev aside, which Andersen said was just a knock, and a mystifying red card for Jahangir Khan, any damage was limited to the L that went go into the record books.
Still, it only took four minutes for Li Ngai-hoi’s header to alter the dynamic of the game.
Going ahead put Hong Kong level on aggregate and opened up the possibility of winning Group C. If Anson Wong Ho-chun had done better when one-on-one with goalkeeper Khamidullo Abdunabiev 15 minutes later, Andersen’s plan, as he said afterwards, would have been turned to dust.
“I said to the guys at half-time, I want to play with the same team the second half, but we have a plan,” Andersen said. “If we do that, and it goes wrong, then we will be angry with ourselves.
“It would have been crazy to play with our best team for 90 minutes today.”
As it was, Timur Kapadze’s side ultimately had too much quality, even if most of it was on the bench for the first hour. They still should have been well clear before the break, but Alisher Odilov blasted over from close range, and Sherzod Esanov’s weak header did little to trouble Hong Kong goalkeeper Tse Ka-wing.
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Kapadze’s side have been tipped as medal contenders, but have needed at least half a dozen chances to score in each game, and Odilov blasted over again from the penalty spot soon after the restart.
Bekhzod Shamsiev, Khojimat Erkimov and Khusain Norchaev all wasted opportunities to get their side back into the game before Alibek Davronov’s header finally drew his side level after 64 minutes.
Five minutes later substitute Jasurbek Jaloliddinov put his team ahead, and there was a collective sigh of relief from two sides who had no interest in extra time or penalties.
Uzbekistan did not escaped unscathed though. Maybe the frustration at missing so many chances over two games finally got the better of Erkimov, or maybe Hong Kong’s niggly approach finally went too far, but he lashed out following a challenge from Wong, which sparked some pushing and shoving and ultimately led to he and Khan being sent off.
“If we could have played with the same team at the end, as we did in the beginning maybe we could win, or draw, but the focus was on Wednesday,” Andersen said.
“If we win this game today, OK, 2-0, we’ll be No 1 in the group, but I don’t think it was possible to win 2-0. If we have to go to extra time and penalties, we lose a lot of energy and Wednesday we are dead.”
