The Hong Kong League XI will enjoy at least one small advantage over visiting English Premier League side Birmingham City when the two sides meet in the Xtep Cup invitational match today.
The home side have been practising for the past two weeks with the controversial Jabulani ball, which was used at the World Cup in South Africa and which will be the match ball at Hong Kong Stadium. But the visitors have not been so fortunate.
'The first time we used the ball was today and it's not fair,' joked City manager Alex McLeish after yesterday's practice session, saying it presented his players with a good excuse if they were dispossessed of the ball or made mistakes.
'But you have to trust your players to adapt in any situation. At the end of the day the favourites [Spain], the best team in the world, won the World Cup and they didn't seem to have too many problems with the ball.'
The extreme lightness of the Jabulani ball created some embarrassing moments for goalkeepers during the World Cup as they struggled to judge its flight.
League XI forward Chu Siu-kei said he would try as many shots at goal as possible, even if he was far from the posts. 'The ball was quite difficult to control when we tried it out in practice,' he said. 'But I don't think it will give them a big problem as they are very experienced with good ball skills. We should instead take the home-ground advantage and the hot weather and attack as early as possible before they can settle down. Other than that, it will be difficult for us against a team who finished ninth in the Premier League last season.'
McLeish admitted his players were still trying to get fully fit for the first match of their pre-season Asian tour and that they would need some top individual performances to beat the home side, whose standard he understood to be very good.
