Hong Kong's half-hearted display against China in their last East Asian Championship match in Japan could have been avoided with minimal support from the government, says the general secretary of the Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA).
Hong Kong conceded three goals in a first-half display on Wednesday that coach Kenny Lai Sun-cheung described as 'nervous'. The performance undermined their admirable achievements against Asian superpowers Korea and Japan.
But the HKFA's Martin Lam Chun-ying said the Jekyll and Hyde display may not have happened if the Sports Development Board had offered the partial support the FA had been begging for ever since it was removed from the government's list of elite sports.
'We've been asking for help from the SDB with physical fitness - the use of the Sports Institute's gym facilities - with psychology and nutrition,' said Lam. 'It has been really frustrating. Each annual meeting we tell the SDB we don't want extra money. We just want help with psychology and nutrition, and their answer is always that football is not an elite sport.'
'The SDB can help us. Some of their staff are not fully occupied,' said Lam. 'Surely we can work something out? The gym definitely has capacity. We're professionals, we can use the gym any time they allocate it to us. We hope the new Sports Commission seriously considers this.'
Coach Lai highlighted the problems in Hong Kong football when he pointed to the peculiar habit of the team performing badly when they have had praise. He echoed those sentiments as the team prepared to fly home yesterday.
