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Asian Games 2018: Hong Kong face uphill task in men’s football as Palestine added to group A after ‘redraw’
Hosts Indonesia and reigning champions South Korea both in five-team groups as chaos descends over upcoming tournament
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Hong Kong’s hopes of making the knockout stages of the men’s football at the Asian Games have been dealt a blow after Palestine joined them in group A after the “redraw” of the tournament at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday afternoon.
Instead of redrawing all of the groups as had been expected, the two teams missing from the original draw – Palestine and UAE – were instead added to existing groups, according to the South Korean FA earlier on Wednesday.
The KFA reported that those plans had been scrapped after the AFC had consulted the Asian Games organisers and the Olympic Council of Asia.
Kenneth Kwok Ka-lok, the coach for Hong Kong’s Asian Games team, said that he is sure Palestine will be a test for his under-23s.
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“Palestine is a strong side, reaching the last-16 of the AFC Under-23 tournament last year before losing to Qatar. They have six to seven players who are playing in Europe and we are trying to gather more information on them as I don’t think we have met them in any youth tournament before.”
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He also said that the five-team format makes things more difficult.
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