Jorn Andersen said ending the AFC Asian Cup dreams of four of his Hong Kong players would be “the hardest part of my job”.
The head coach had been facing the prospect of axing seven members of his 30-man training squad, but the Asian Football Confederation has increased the number of players teams can bring from 23 to 26.
Still, the Norwegian, who has ordered his players into training on Christmas Day, will have to make his decision on who gets left out before Hong Kong fly to Abu Dhabi on Wednesday for the next leg of a month-long training camp.
“Telling players [they are omitted] is always the hardest part of the job, but I have been a coach for a very long time, so I have experience of this,” Andersen said. “I try to explain [why they are left out]. We need the best and fittest players and they have to understand.
“The rule change [allowing 26-player squads] has not changed my plan, but it has given us space to not have to choose between a few players. It is a very good decision from the AFC.”
Hong Kong struggled for clear openings before scoring twice in the closing half-hour to beat Premier League side HK U23 in a practice match on Saturday, five days after suffering similar creativity issues in a 2-1 defeat by Kitchee.
Both goals at the weekend came from set pieces, with Poon Pui-hin scoring after a right-wing free-kick from Marcus Chang Hei-yin, then converting after Wu Chun-ming sent a long throw into the box.
And Andersen said mastering dead-ball situations would close the gap to superior opponents in Qatar. Hong Kong, who are ranked 150th in the world, begin their tournament against United Arab Emirates (64) on January 14, then face Iran (21) six days later, and Palestine (99) on January 23.
“We might only create two or three chances per match,” Andersen said. “Every set-piece is a half-goal chance against these big teams, so it is an area we have to improve.
“Not only corners and free-kicks, long throws, too. Before, we did not create too much from long throws, but we scored from one on Saturday, and were close to a goal against Kitchee.
“It is hard to score from open play against strong teams, it is important for a team at our level to use all our small strengths.”
https://www.scmp.com/sport/football/article/3246114/afc-asian-cup-2024-hong-kong-head-coach-andersen-says-hardest-part-my-job-dashing-players-dreams