Kitchee on verge of conceding Hong Kong Premier League title after Eastern defeat but Kim adamant job prospects unharmed
- Eastern break 2.5-year duck with victory over Kitchee, meaning reigning champions all but out of running for fourth straight title
- Teams will meet again in FA Cup semi-final, with date for fixture yet to be confirmed, with final confirmed for June 1
Kim Dong-jin, the interim head coach of Kitchee, says the harmful 2-1 loss to Eastern on Wednesday has not damaged his prospects of being appointed permanently.
Targeting a fourth straight title, Kitchee trail league leaders Lee Man by three points, having played a game more. To clinch a top-two finish, they need to win their final two matches, including a last-day meeting with Lee Man, and hope for Tai Po to drop points in their closing four games. With the championship seemingly out of reach, they must win the FA Cup to avoid missing Asian football for the first time since 2011.
“I don’t think [the result will harm his job chances],” Kim said. “I have the opportunity to do the role until the end of the season, then we will see what happens. We have four or five matches [including cup games], and that is the focus.”
Kim took over a listing ship when he replaced Alex Chu Chi-kwong, who was sidelined into a youth coaching post, following a poor start to the season.
The South Korean was unbeaten in 13 league matches before the defeat by Eastern. Kitchee, however, have laboured in key fixtures, and failed to score in draws with Southern, Tai Po and Eastern.
They squandered numerous openings against Eastern in midweek, before being caught with numbers upfield when chasing the winner they needed to keep alive any realistic title hopes, and to concede the clinching goal themselves.
Noah Baffoe clinically finished a precise counter to earn Eastern a first victory over Kitchee in 15 attempts – a sequence stretching back to February 2021.
Kitchee fielded a starting XI with an average age of 31.5. They had only four starters younger than 30, and one younger than 25, while the goalkeeper and two centre-backs were 38, 38 and 37, respectively. The defence was blameless, and Kitchee have conceded only 12 goals in 18 league games – four of those in a lamentable defeat by Lee Man that predated Kim’s tenure.
Surgery on an ageing squad looks necessary, regardless, but Kim said the topic of incomings and outgoings would not be addressed until the summer.
He did confirm, however, that a knee injury had ended the season of influential forward Ruslan Mingazov, the 2023 Hong Kong footballer of the year.
Kitchee could still finish the campaign with three trophies. They won the Senior Shield, after Mingazov scored deep into extra-time to beat Eastern, and will meet Rangers in the Sapling Cup final on May 15.
Remarkably, a date for their FA Cup semi-final clash with Eastern has not been set. Lee Man face Sham Shui Po in the other semi-final on May 12.
Kim’s assertion that Kitchee “dominated the second half” against Eastern felt like a stretch, but opposite number Roberto Losada conceded the reigning champions “were better in many aspects”.
Eastern raged about the refereeing following the teams’ scoreless draw three weeks ago, but Losada was adamant the controversy did not give his team added motivation.
“I am not as happy as after that match, when we had more control,” Losada said. “But we can say, finally we did it [beat Kitchee]. We struggled physically after playing three days ago, but the players gave a fantastic effort.”
Eastern, along with fourth-placed Tai Po, have a legitimate case for claiming they are the story of this season. Losada’s expressive, courageous side are packed with young talent, and are undefeated against both Lee Man and Kitchee.
They have lost only twice, both 1-0 defeats by Tai Po, and have scored 40 goals, and conceded only 10, in 18 league matches. They were desperately unlucky to lose the Senior Shield final, and the prospect of an FA Cup game against Kitchee will hold no fears.
Losada nonetheless joked that he is “OK with anything until the end of the season”, after removing the Kitchee monkey from the club’s back. And he said it would be premature to think about challenging next season for the club’s first title since 2016.
“It is difficult to say if it will be possible,” he said. “We do not know what will happen, or the size of our budget. Let’s just enjoy this, then see what is happening for next season.”
