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'They get nervous and don't play their usual game,' says Lai

After the most positive few months for Hong Kong football, the Lunar New Year tournament was the big chance to showcase the improvements and promise shown by the national team on foreign fields.

The Cantonese-dominated League XI may have lost the game but they did just enough to impress  the 16,765-strong crowd with a stirring fightback in Thursday's 1-0 defeat by Honduras at the Hong Kong Stadium.

Barely audible above the sound of inflatable thunder sticks being stamped on, somehow imitating the firecrackers that greet the New Year, was the general consensus the team did not deserve to lose.

The fireworks, supposed to scare off the evil monster Nian, could be put to use before tomorrow's  third place match against Sweden to ward off whatever the ghouls are that seem to haunt the best of Hong Kong's footballing talent.

For an hour, the side who seemed to be progressing admirably through a series of tough challenges in Uzbekistan, Thailand and Japan last year appeared completely overawed by the opportunity to show their true abilities in what should have felt like a far more friendly environment.

'It's very important for Hong Kong's players to relax and play their own game. They didn't relax. They get nervous and don't play their usual game,' said coach Kenny Lai Sun-cheung. 'In the end every Chinese player did well enough, but again they were nervous and when they're nervous they can't play.'

The victory was Honduras coach Bora Milutinovic's first after leaving China. Cleverly, as always, he avoided expressing his opinion of his own team's far-from-stellar performance.

'A win is a win. It's very important after three matches to have my first win and for this I am very happy.'

On face value, the League XI's problem seemed to revolve around Happy Valley's Cameroonian Ambassa Guy, who looked completely out of place in the centre of midfield, lacking the acceleration to compete.

In reality, the League XI's problems were rooted in their wing-backs sitting far too deep and ceding the numerical advantage in midfield as a result.

Normally the clash of systems - 3-5-2 versus 4-4-2 - hands midfield domination to the former, in this case the local side, but on this occasion Hong Kong's three-man central midfield were exposed, especially Cheung Sai-ho's limited defensive determination.

'The first half was disappointing,' conceded Lai. 'We didn't push forward because they got worried by [Honduran striker Saul] Martinez.

'They got worried and sat back,' said Lai, who has done an admirable job improving what was previously a virtually non-existent national team over the past 12 months, but showed his relative inexperience by not solving the problem sooner.

It was only in the 55th minute after the third of his substitutions that Hong Kong finally got their shape right, due in part to the addition of Japan's Dan Ito on the right  side of midfield and in part to stopper Chan Wai-ho pushing forward when his team were on the ball.

Suddenly, Honduras were no longer guaranteed possession at walking pace in the centre of the park, and Ambassa was able to get up a head of steam to start the stampede. They came no closer than Marcio Anacleto's 60th minute free-kick, tipped away by keeper Hector Medina.

The Brazilian also argued vehemently for a penalty in added time, but Pompilio Cacho's 17th minute goal, teed up by the unfortunate Lee Wai-man, proved enough to settle the encounter.



Starstruck Hong Kong need to just do it