EAFF E-1 Football Championship preview: Hong Kong take on China, Japan and South Korea in Busan – squads, fixtures and everything you need to know
- Trip to South Korea to face regional heavyweights is first appearance for team since 2010 tournament
- No Son Heung-min or Wu Lei as coaches focus on domestic and regional talent
This marks Hong Kong’s first appearance at the tournament since 2010, with Mixu Paatelainen’s side close to full strength and coming into the tournament on the back of a first Fifa World Cup qualifying campaign victory over Cambodia last month.
It is almost a year since Hong Kong qualified for this year’s finals after topping a group containing North Korea, Mongolia and hosts Taiwan. Coach Gary White left soon afterwards and the Finn was hired in April as his replacement.
He got a first win as Hong Kong manager against Cambodia last month to go into their first game against the hosts on Wednesday night on a high.
Paatelainen was in a positive mood at the pre-tournament press conference. “This is a great opportunity for our players to rub shoulders with the top players of these fantastic football countries,” he said.
“Very much looking forward to great big challenges for us. One thing is for sure, we will try to make it very difficult and make them worry about us as well.”