Home Global Game Asia Kitchee wins Hong Kong FA Cup; but Canadian Matt Lam out with injury

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

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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.

Lam, because he joined the team in 2013, after the competition began, isn’t eligible to play in this week’s AFC Cup Round of 16 match between Kitchee and Malaysian side, Kelantan. But Lam will play for Kitchee in a Hong Kong playoff for a spot in next season’s AFC Cup — which is Asia’s equivalent to the Europa League.

Lam will return to Canada at the end of May for some R and R; but Kitchee is slated to play a summer friendly against Manchester United, which will be one of Man U.’s first matches with new manager David Moyes in charge.

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One Comment

  1. BCM

    May 13, 2013 at 3:46 am

    Steven, as your man in Hong Kong – well, a man in Hong Kong – I was at both the match Matt Lam injured his ankle and the FA Cup this past Saturday.

    Last week against Citizen, Lam was injured with about 10 minutes in the match. He returned to the field and finished the game. Meaningless to Kitchee, they rested a number of players lost 1-0. Citizen needed the win to avoid relegation. Matt was one of the bigger lads on the pitch, but had a quiet game.

    Pegasus pretty much dominated the FA Cup final and the goal – a real beauty – was definitely against the run of play. Some may remember Pablo Counago from his time with Ipswich Town when they were in the Premier League. He started the match, he was not a substitute. But I can see how you may have been mistaken, as he was virtually invisible the entire match! Poor game, but one fantastic strike.

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