'Little Zoff' a fan favourite

The date was June 25, 1997, at the National Stadium in Tokyo and the scoreboard at the final whistle read Oman 2 Macau 0. It was only the opening game of a World Cup qualifying group double-header, a match to which the home fans would normally pay little attention while they awaited the arrival of their own national team for the main event.

But this was different. The 20,000 crowd were on their feet giving a rapturous ovation to the Macau goalkeeper, Domingos Chan Tat-sun, for his sterling efforts to repel the superior Oman attack.

'Many people who were at the stadium, including myself, can still remember his performance,' said Takashi Morimoto, a Japanese freelance journalist in town for the East Asian Championship qualifiers this week. 'He was playing behind one of the weakest defences I have seen and Oman probably had about 15 shots on goal, yet some of the saves he pulled off were simply amazing.

'After Macau defeated Nepal 2-1 in their final game of the group stage, the crowd cheered him with such enthusiasm that he led his team in a lap of honour to thank them for the support.'

Chan, who plays his club football for reigning Hong Kong champions Sun Hei, has fond memories of that ovation in Tokyo six years ago but he says the most cherished moment of his 16-year career belongs to a more 'tangible' achievement.

'In 1996, a year after I started playing for Sing Tao, I was approached by a local sports equipment brand who asked me if I would be interested in having my own line of goalkeeping gloves,' the 33-year-old said. 'They were trying to develop a market in Macau at that time and I guess they found me quite suitable for their image,' added Chan, who is known as 'little Dino Zoff' to his friends and local media. 'That was just the greatest thing that has happened to me in football. And you know, even the Hong Kong national team keepers are still using them today.'

The six-foot, three-inch keeper started out with five-a-side football. 'I was 11 years old when I first joined up with a few friends to play on a hard surface near my home. I was lazy and didn't want to run around so I volunteered to be in goal,' explained Chan, who first came to Hong Kong in 1987 to play for Second Division Po Chai.