Kim Pan-gon: Hong Kong must cope without striker Chan Siu-ki
The prolific striker is reportedly injured and will miss the Asian Cup qualifier against Vietnam
Hong Kong coach Kim Pan-gon has played down the absence of striker Chan Siu-ki as the team prepare for Friday's crucial Asian Cup qualifier against visitors Vietnam.
After making his appearance for Chinese First Division side Sunray Cave in their opening match against Chengdu last Saturday, the Hong Kong forward was reported to have suffered a hamstring injury and would not be released by the Guangdong-based club for Friday's group E match. Sunray Cave won Saturday's match 2-1 with another Hong Kong player, Leung Kin-pong, scoring the winning goal, but Leung still needs to serve his second international-match ban and is not available.
Kim, who had all the other 21 players at yesterday's practice session at Sandy Bay, said the team would cope without prolific striker Chan, who has scored 34 goals for Hong Kong.
"Chan is an important player but we have to trust the club that their player was injured," said Kim. "Indeed, we played without him in the recent friendly against Malaysia and we managed well. I don't think the team will be seriously affected just because one player is missing.
"We have already some other options up front such as Jaimes McKee and Lee Hong-lim if we are looking for fast breaks, or Chan Man-fai if we want to have more control of the ball for launching attacks."
