AFC Champions League 2: Eastern hit for 5 as Hong Kong football left red-faced again
Eastern the second Hong Kong team to lose opening AFC Champions League 2 fixture, following limp defeat for Lee Man on Wednesday
Eastern were blown away by the star quality of Sydney FC, as the Hongkongers crumbled to a 5-0 AFC Champions League Two defeat in Australia on Thursday night.
Douglas Costa, the former Bayern Munich and Brazil forward, had a hand in his team’s opening three strikes, although the visitors contributed to their own downfall with a pair of second-half own goals.
There was no sign of the impending carnage when Eastern forward Victor Bertomeu had three presentable opportunities, before Anas Ouahim’s 32nd-minute goal opened the floodgates.
Spaniard Bertomeu had one shot deflected narrowly over by Jordan Courtney-Perkins. He aimed too close to goalkeeper Harrison Devenish-Meares with his next chance, before clipping the top of the net with an attempted lob over the onrushing Devenish-Meares.
By full-time, those Eastern glimpses of goal felt like a distant memory. Coming 24 hours after Lee Man’s anaemic display in a 2-0 loss to Nam Dinh, the Vietnamese champions, Eastern’s collapse came as the latest stark reminder that Hong Kong club football is slipping from relevance.
