Hong Kong footballer reveals why Thailand tournament means so much for city team

Hong Kong midfielder Ngan Cheuk-pan has shot down the idea of this week’s King’s Cup in Thailand being a mere friendly tournament.

The city team will have it all on to prevent a fourth straight defeat when they face world No 58 side Iraq on Thursday, hours before the Thai hosts clash with Fiji in the other semi-final.

Either the final or third-place play-off, on Sunday, will represent a final match for 147th-ranked Hong Kong before two critical AFC Asian Cup qualifiers against Bangladesh next month.

“This is more than a friendly cup for us, the Bangladesh games are so soon after and this is a great chance to prepare and try different combinations,” the Tai Po midfielder said. “We have some changes in the squad and there’s competition for places.”

After he figured prominently in Hong Kong’s recent 10-match unbeaten run, Ngan was the fall guy when Ashley Westwood’s side quickly fell 5-0 down to Japan in July’s East Asian Championship. He was replaced after 30 minutes of the eventual 6-1 thumping, and played only briefly as a substitute in the subsequent 2-0 loss to South Korea, before sitting out the 1-0 defeat by China altogether.

“It’s motivated me to push harder in games and training, it’s not fun to just play half an hour,” Ngan added. “It’s rare for us to play against those top-tier Asian sides. You learn so much from it and I wanted the opportunity.”