Brazilian coach Casemiro Mior signed a one-year extended contract with South China and then admitted the Hong Kong First Division champions would have their work cut out for the coming season. The 42-year-old former Gremio left-back, who won a World Club Championship winners' medal in 1983, ended speculation by staying with the Caroliners for a third season. However, Mior has returned from a long break to find South China a different team from the ones who won the league championship eight weeks ago.
South China will pump $2 million less money into their budget for the upcoming season, but changes are more pronounced on the field. Striker Ricky Cheng Siu-chung has jumped ship and is now with arch-rivals Instant-Dict and there have been other defections with winger Chan Chi-hong joining Happy Valley and midfielder Leung Chi-wing going to Yee Hope.
Mior will also have to contend with the fact that veteran winger Lee Kin-wo will be sitting on the sidelines as he serves a one-year ban for his role in a bizarre incident during an interport match between Hong Kong and Macau in May when Lee struck the referee, who then retaliated in kind.
'It's going to be different. And it's going to be tougher to win the championship because many players are now missing,' said Mior. 'There are many things to sort out and problems to solve. We will be dealing with different players so it won't be easy for South China to win the championship again.' Meanwhile, Instant-Dict will be travelling to Indonesia next week on a pre-season tour where they will play the Indonesian national team. Instant-Dict have recently signed former Red Star Belgrade forward Dejan Gluscevic, 33, who has had stints with Singapore's Tanjong Pager United and Impact Montreal in North America. Gluscevic is the Indonesian league's all-time top scorer with 75 goals in four seasons with Bandung Raya.