Asia Archive

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Kitchee wins Hong Kong FA Cup; but Canadian Matt Lam out with injury

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/12/2013

Matt Lam

Matt Lam

Canadian midfielder Matt Lam was able to savour a trophy win on Saturday, but an injury kept him off the field.

The former FC Edmonton midfielder had to remain on the sidelines as his Kitchee SC side beat Sun Pegasus 1-0 in the Hong Kong FA Cup final. Substitute Pablo Counago got the winning goal.

For Kitchee, the FA Cup salvages a season which saw it lose the league title to arch rival South China AA.

But Lam, who had been a regular starter since he signed with Kitchee earlier this year, couldn’t take part in the final. Lam told The 11 he was “disappointed” to be a game-time scratch, as Kitchee coach Josep Gombau held out as long as he could to see if his midfielder’s “tweaked” ankle would be good enough for game action. Unfortunately, the decision didn’t go Lam’s way and he had to play the role of cheerleader.
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Canadian Matt Lam off to Hong Kong FA Cup final

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/29/2013

Matt Lam

Matt Lam

Matt Lam is off the Hong Kong FA Cup final.

Lam’s Kitchee SC squad beat rival South China AA 2-0 Sunday in the second leg of their FA Cup semifinal. The Kitchee win came three weeks after the teams drew 1-1 in the first leg. Lam played an hour in Sunday’s win, which was decided by two late goals from substitute Yago Gonzalez Lopez.

The Sunday match marked the third time since April 7 that the two top rivals in Hong Kong soccer have met.
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Canadians Lam and Luk settle for draw in Hong Kong FA Cup

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/07/2013

Matt Lam

Matt Lam

Canadians Michael Luk and Matt Lam had to settle for a stalemate after the first leg of their Hong Kong FA Cup semifinal.

Neither Kitchee SC’s Lam nor South China AA’s Luk hit the scoresheet, but both were very involved in the 1-1 first-leg draw. The two rivals will meet in the second leg on April 28. The two teams also have a league match in April — and South China leads Kitchee by two points at the top of the first-division table.

Lam, who signed with Kitchee earlier this year after spending the 2012 season with his hometown team, FC Edmonton, played the full 90 minutes. Luk, a Toronto Lynx alumnus, started and played 71 minutes.
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Canadians Luk and Lam will be part of Hong Kong’s most passionate derby

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/04/2013

Matt Lam

Matt Lam

Two Canadian players will have a lot to say over the fate of the Hong Kong first-division race and that association’s FA Cup.

This Sunday, Kitchee SC, which features Edmonton’s Matt Lam, will face its rival, South China AA, in the first leg of the FA Cup semifinal. South China AA is home to former Toronto Lynx defender Michael Luk.

The two clubs are the class of Hong Kong football. And, over the course of the next four weeks, the teams will meet three times. They have FA Cup legs on Sunday and on April 28, and meet in league play on April 14.

South China leads Kitchee by two points in the table — and Lam’s side hasn’t helped itself by drawing its last two matches against inferior opposition. Lam — who spent 2012 with FC Edmonton — has started the last two games for Kitchee. And, ironically, he had initially been contacted by South China after he became a free agent. He could have been Luk’s teammate if the South China interest had turned into a contract. But Kitchee saw the opportunity and swooped for Lam.
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Mistakes aplenty as Canada loses friendly to Japan

By
Steven Sandor
– 03/22/2013

Marcus Haber: Scored for Canada

Marcus Haber: Scored for Canada

It’s the nature of soccer: Far more goals come from defensive errors than offensive brilliance. When analyzing goals, we are often looking more at what the defender did wrong than what the scorer did right.

Really, if the game was played perfectly, most games would finish 0-0 and the odd goals here and there would be the rare stuff of brilliance defeating what should have been a perfect defensive formation.

So, Canada’s 2-1 loss to Japan in a men’s friendly in Doha, Qatar Friday really didn’t go against any major script in the soccer world. All of the goals came thanks to some major defensive miscues. And, with better finishing, there could have been more.

“We are frustrated with the way we conceded the two goals,” coach Tony Fonseca was quoted on Canadasoccer.com after the match. “Working to stop conceding goals from errors is something we have been focusing on — so the team is disappointed in that sense.”
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Canadians in Hong Kong: Lam makes his debut, Luk finds the net

By
Steven Sandor
– 03/17/2013

Matt Lam

Matt Lam

Canadian Matt Lam made his Hong Kong soccer debut on St. Patrick’s Day, playing 45 minutes as his new side, Kitchee SC, had to settle for a 2-2 draw with Woofoo Tai Po.

Lam, whose first appearance in a Kitchee jersey was delayed by a week after food poisoning ruled him out of last Saturday’s Hong Kong FA Cup match against Biu Chun Rangers, didn’t figure in any of the scoring against Woofoo Tai Po. After Lam left the match, Kitchee scored twice, but surrendered the lead late in the game.

Lam, a free agent after he and his hometown team, FC Edmonton, officially parted ways at the end of the 2012 NASL season, officially made the move to Hong Kong in February.
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Canadian Matt Lam eligible to make his Kitchee debut in Hong Kong FA Cup match

By
Steven Sandor
– 03/08/2013

Matthew-Lam-225x300Canadian midfielder Matt Lam is eligible to make his debut in the blue strip of Kitchee SC on Saturday.

The Edmontonian confirmed on Friday that all the paperwork is done and he’s now eligible to begin his career in Hong Kong. Even though Hong Kong media sources reported the Lam-to-Kitchee deal at the end of February (CLICK HERE), he said that there were still some details to be worked out and the deal wasn’t signed, sealed and delivered at that time.

But now Lam is a full member of the first team, and can play in second leg of Kitchee’s Hong Kong FA Cup tie against Biu Chun Rangers. Kitchee holds a 2-1 lead after the first leg, but go on the road to Kowloon for the second leg.
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Former Eddie Matt Lam makes the move to Hong Kong’s Kitchee SC

By
Steven Sandor
– 02/28/2013

Matt Lam in his new Kitchee kit

Matt Lam in his new Kitchee kit

Edmonton’s Matt Lam has gone back to Asia to continue his soccer career.

Hong Kong First Division side Kitchee SC has announced Lam’s capture, as reported Wednesday in the Chinese media. (CLICK HERE) Kitchee is currently in second place in the Hong Kong First Division, behind powerhouse South China AA — home of Canadian and former Toronto Lynx midfielder Michael Luk. Lam had been linked to a move to South China before the deal with Kitchee.

Lam had been waiting in Edmonton for the last couple of months to get his clearance to play in Hong Kong. According to reports, he will report to Kitchee on Thursday and is expected to be ready for match action some time in mid-March. It’s an 18-month deal.
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Canadian women outgunned by South Korea

By
Steven Sandor
– 01/14/2013

Jeon Ga-Ul

Just 10 minutes into the second half of its second match at the Yongchuan Cup, the Canadian national women’s team itself down by three goals to the world-16th ranked South Koreans.

A consolation headed goal by Nichelle Prince cut the deficit to 3-1, but that’s how the game ended — and the youthful side that coach John Herdman selected for this Chinese tournament saw it’s record fall to a win and a loss.

Goals from Hyundai Steel teammates Jeon Ga-Eul and Jung Seol-Bin bookended a marker from Ji So-Yun, who plays her pro soccer in Japan, with Kobe.
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Canada’s Yongchuan Cup win over China ain’t pretty, it just looks that way

By
Steven Sandor
– 01/12/2013

Adriana Leon

National women’s-team coach John Herdman warned that the bronze-medal-winning program would take some steps back as new blood needed to be worked into the system.

For 74 minutes into the opening match of the Yongchuan cup, his warnings looked to be bang on. Canada and the hosts were locked at 0-0. But Canada hadn’t threatened the Chinese goal — and the hosts had a couple of golden chances to take the full three points. China dominated possession, while the Canadian struggled to get across half.

But then a moment of individual brilliance from Adriana Leon gave Canada a 1-0 lead — and an eventual victory by that same scoreline. Leon, who scored a hat trick against Argentina at last year’s U-20 Women’s World Cup, walked to the top of the Chinese penalty area, was able to shuffle the ball to get past a defender and then hit a low drive inside the far post to give Canada the goal that no one saw coming.
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