A final too far: Kitchee's AFC Cup dreams are over
Iraqi club's two early goals in nine minutes scupper hopes of hosts to become first Hong Kong team to reach final of regional competition
Kitchee's march to become the first Hong Kong club to reach an AFC Cup final ended following a 2-1 defeat by Iraqi team Arbil FC in the second leg of their semi-final at Mong Kok Stadium on Tuesday.
The local league champions had been dreaming of making history, but they failed despite a full house of 6,500 spectators.
The fans cheered loudly for Kitchee, and also acknowledged the Occupy Central protest in Mong Kok, Admiralty, Causeway Bay and Central.
We made some mistakes tonight, but this is football. My players did well and they fought till the very last minute
The crowd took part in an online campaign to clap for a minute at nine minutes and 28 seconds in the first half to pay tribute to the protesters who faced tear gas on September 28 in Admiralty - at the height of the Occupy Central protests.
Kitchee held the advantage going into the second leg. A 1-1 draw in Jordan two weeks ago meant a goalless draw would have been enough to see Kitchee through to the AFC Cup final. But it was the Iraqi club who took charge of the match from the outset.
Arbil were two up inside the opening 10 minutes. The first coming from Ali Faez Atiyah who scored a penalty in the third minute, his effort rebounding off the post and bouncing in off the unfortunate Kitchee keeper Wang Zhenpeng.
Iraqi striker Amjed Radhi followed up with a header six minutes later.
The priceless two away goals for the 2012 AFC Cup finalists, put pressure on Kitchee who would need three goals to reach the final.