Eastern delight for Losada turns into double celebration, as team claim FA Cup and Hong Kong come calling with World Cup job
- Eastern hold off spirited Sham Shui Po fightback to claim trophy in extra-time thriller at Mong Kok Stadium
- Noah Baffoe brace fires Eastern to 3-2 victory, but doubt remains over future of out-of-contract star
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Eastern head coach Roberto Losada had two reasons to celebrate on Saturday, his side won the FA Cup and Hong Kong officials confirmed his appointment as the city team’s assistant coach for this month’s World Cup qualifiers.
The Spaniard saw his team overcome a resilient Sham Shui Po side 3-2 at Mong Kok Stadium on Saturday, with all five goals coming in extra time.
Hong Kong football chief Eric Fok Kai-shan decided it was the best time to break the news, just when the Eastern players and staff were about to celebrate their sixth FA Cup title in club history, and the first since 2020.
Losada said the Football Association of Hong Kong, China, approached Eastern with the offer “a couple of days” before the final and he wanted to help the team on a temporary basis alongside interim head coach Wolfgang Luisser.
“They need more people around, I want to help the coach as much as I can,” he said. “I’m willing to sacrifice part of my holidays to help.
“It’s a good experience [going to a national team] even as an assistant coach, I can learn things and it’s a qualification for the World Cup. It’s beautiful.”
While Fok said the association would launch the recruitment process for a new head coach soon, Losada said he was not thinking about the role on a permanent basis.
“What comes later, I didn’t think about anything at all … I still have a contract with Eastern until June 30 and the idea is to keep going,” the two-time coach of the year said. “I don’t think it’s possible [to take both roles].”
Losada is expected to join Luisser, assistant coach Szeto Man-chun and the players when the national team gather for training on Monday, ahead of their game against Iran on June 6.
Saturday’s final would be billed as one of the all-time classics after VAR ruled out Eastern midfielder Jesse Yu Joy-yin’s effort deep in stoppage time for offside, and sent the match into extra time.
It took Eastern a further nine minutes to break the deadlock, with defender Tamirlan Kozubayev heading home from a corner, and Noah Baffoe doubled his side’s lead two minutes later, latching on to a Manuel Bleda pass to round goalkeeper Li Yat-chun, who was named man of the match, and slot it into an empty net.
Sham Shui Po grabbed one back a minute later with Nicholas Benavides putting it past Yapp Hung-fai, before substitute Isamel Dunga equalised with a powerful header just before the end of the first extra period.
A second Baffoe goal, again assisted by Bleda, five minutes from time helped seal Eastern’s sixth FA Cup title.
Baffoe brace took his tally for the season to 30, but the Ghanaian is now out of contract and his future with the club remains in doubt.
“I would love to stay here, Eastern is a very good team,” the 31-year-old said. “Eastern is like one family team, but I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
