King’s Cup: Hong Kong seek win over Fiji, and an Asian Cup bounce
Leon Jones underlines value of Thai competition ahead of vital qualifiers against Bangladesh
Hong Kong’s King’s Cup clash with Fiji on Sunday can give the city team momentum before next month’s potentially decisive AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, defender Leon Jones has said.
The third-place play-off in the Thai town of Kanchanaburi offers a chance to get back to winning ways as Hong Kong, who sit 147th in the global standings, face the 150th-ranked Fijians.
Thursday’s 2-1 loss to world No 58 side Iraq followed a winless East Asian Football Championship campaign in July. Next up are the October qualifying meetings with Bangladesh, home and away.
“These matches are what we needed to improve from the East Asian Championship and prepare for Bangladesh,” Jones said. “Our form was good going into that tournament, and after the first game against Japan [a 6-1 defeat], you could see improvement.”
Centre-back Jones’ Kitchee contract expired at the end of last season, but he played in that rout by Japan and further losses to South Korea and China, before an eve-of-season move to Eastern District ended a wait to settle his future.
He said he signed for the Premier League new boys within 24 hours of being asked. “They pushed the boat out for me and I felt I could help,” he said.