Kwok Ka-ming heads for 'dream job' at World Cup finals
Former player and coach in the SAR is a member of Fifa's Technical Study Group
Kwok Ka-ming, a household name in Hong Kong soccer as a former player and a coach, sets off for the World Cup finals in Brazil tomorrow as a member of Fifa's Technical Study Group.
Featuring some of the world's best soccer tacticians and technicians, the group, led by former Liverpool and France manager Gerard Houllier, will help analyse the skills, tactics and latest trends of the 32 participating national teams.
"This is the third time I have been assigned the job by Fifa; the first time was for Germany 2006 and I was also involved in South Africa 2010," said Kwok, now a technical director at the Chinese Football Association based in Beijing.
You can say it is a dream job for people who love the sport
"You can say it is a dream job for people who love the sport as you have the opportunity to watch the World Cup games from some of the best seats in the stadium. But the task is not simple as the group has to prepare a full technical report on the tournament to help raise standards in Fifa's member associations."
Kwok will be based in two cities in southern Brazil where he will have to analyse eight group matches, plus two round-of-16 games as well as a semi-final at Belo Horizonte.
"That match is expected to be Brazil versus Germany if the form book holds," said Kwok. "Brazil will be the favourites. But they are also under great pressure because expectations will be extremely high. If Germany can finish top of their group, they also stand a good chance of making it to the semi-finals. It will be a great clash if they meet in the semis."
In the bottom half of the draw, Kwok expects Argentina, the South American giants, to reach the last four and their possible rivals to be two top European nations: defending champions Spain and Italy.