By Peter Alsop September 4, 2015 / 12:06 HKT
Hong Kong’s seemingly relentless march towards the 2018 World Cup in Russia continued its momentum last night after a battling display against old foes China saw them secure an impressive 0-0 draw just across the border in Shenzhen.
After sweeping aside the Himalayan minnows of Bhutan 7-0 before a 2-0 victory over the islanders of the Maldives in their opening two qualifying matches, Hong Kong went into their first draw away from the cauldron that is Mong Kok Stadium sitting pretty on top of Group C.
And following the much publicised booing of the Chinese national anthem by pro-democracy supporters during those two home games – something they were warned against repeating at Shenzhen Stadium – the fuse was lit ahead of the politically-charged encounter, which coincidentally fell on the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II.
To add even more fuel to the fire, China’s National Football Association sparked controversy weeks before the match with apromotional poster stating: “This team has players with black skin, yellow skin and white skin. For such a diverse team, be on guard!” And riot police in Shenzhen were just that.
China, 67 places above Hong Kong in the FIFA world rankings, won their only qualifying game to date when they saw off poor little Bhutan 6-0, and started as clear favourites against their locals rivals, despite being three points adrift of them in the standings.
The hosts got off to a flying start and twice hit the post in the first 25 minutes through 2013 Asian Player of the Year Zheng Zhi and Guangzhou Evergrande hit man Yu Hanchao. Yu Dabao and the unfortunate Zheng then again struck the frame before the opening 45 minutes was up.
The second half continued in much the same vein, but the 2,000-strong army of travelling Hong Kong supporters almost had something to cheer about when Sun Pegasus striker Jaimes McKee had a penalty claim waved away shortly after the restart.
Normal service was resumed soon after with Zhang Linpeng, Wu Lei and Ren Hang all coming close for China, but a combination of expert goalkeeping by Yapp Hung-fai and the welcome presence of Lady Luck ensured Hong Kong returned home with a share of the spoils and their three-point gap over their opponents still firmly intact.
And it seems the frustration of failing to break down Hong Kong’s Great Wall in China clearly got to a disgruntled Zheng, with the SCMP reporting that he later took his anger out on Yapp by calling him “a dog”.
Next up for the 852 are Qatar, whose desperation to be part of the World Cup has seen them implement the world’s easiest naturalisation programme, in which they scour Africa for the finest young talent before dishing out Qatari passports.
But whatever the incentives offered for switching nationality, they’re clearly working, as the oil-rich nation followed up their 1-0 victory over the Maldives with a 15-0 hammering of – you’ve guessed it – Bhutan on Thursday. Qatar are now within one point of Hong Kong ahead of Tuesday’s top-of-the-table tie.
Should Hong Kong achieve another unexpected result in front of what will surely be a boisterous home support in Mong Kok, they’ll go into the halfway stage of the second round of the Asian qualifying campaign (it’s complicated) on top of Group C and in a strong position to advance to the third round of qualifying.
Russia 2018 may remain an unlikely dream, but with two wins and a draw from three games, we couldn’t be in a much stronger position to make it happen.
Photos: AFP
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