Unfortunately for Hong Kong, football in 2004 looks superficially like another case of one step forward, two steps back.
A year that contained several positive steps and possibly the green shoots of a genuine recovery for a game that has been in decline locally for 20 years, received an unwelcome exclamation point with the 7-0 thrashing suffered at the hands of China in Guangzhou in a World Cup qualifier.
Fortunately for Hong Kong, on the far side of the continent Malaysia were also being thrashed 6-1 by Kuwait, who qualified for the final round at China's expense. The only thing that would have done more damage to the SAR - not just within the sport, but to its international reputation - would have been the finger pointing from the Gulf region had the mainland progressed. There was plenty of whispering in the build-up to the match, recklessly given credence by Peter Velappan, general secretary of the Asian Football Confederation who said he would be watching out for any 'funny business'.
Hong Kong talked a good game in the build-up, with coach Kenny Lai Sun-cheung, refreshingly scathing of China throughout qualifying, claiming the feng shui was good. But, it seemed not all of his players could find the same enthusiasm for a fight that was, in terms of Hong Kong's place in the group, meaningless.
What the goalfest did prove, in terms of the big picture, is that there is a need for Tung Chee-hwa to clarify Hong Kong's right to compete and try to beat the mainland in the international sports arena. Having found the women's table tennis players unable to conjure up a meaningful comment after losing to China in the World Team Table Tennis Championship final in Doha in March, it is clear there are issues to resolve. For the individual there are enough conflicting emotions surrounding the 'Motherland' before any other interests are taken into consideration. Hong Kong and Beijing need to restate the principles or risk even greater embarrassment.
Ignoring the events of the Tianhe Stadium however, the fact is that 2004 saw the Hong Kong 'national' team build on its phoenix year of 2003. Defeating Malaysia home and away in World Cup qualifying, and narrowly losing 1-0 to China in March on a memorable evening in Siu Sai Wan represents success. With more ambition it might have been even better. Hong Kong flew into Kuwait for their third group match in June with barely two days to acclimatise to the desert heat. Needless to say they wilted. The 4-0 defeat was unnecessary. Every one of the wealthy Gulf nations was playing qualifying matches that week, and an expenses-paid friendly the preceding weekend should have been easy to arrange. The mistakes made against Kuwait - no one drank water in the first 20 minutes of the game - could have been made in a meaningless warm-up instead and then who knows what Hong Kong might have achieved.
