Hong Kong leap in Fifa rankings as coach vows to make fans proud against South Korea
Ashley Westwood confident city team will learn from errors that contributed to heavy defeat by Japan
East Asian Football Championship: South Korea v Hong Kong, Friday, 7pm Hong Kong time.
Ashley Westwood said Hong Kong would learn from the mistakes that sunk them against Japan when they tackle South Korea in the East Asian Football Championship on Friday.
Despite being thumped 6-1 by the Japanese on Tuesday, Hong Kong received a boost on the eve of their second fixture in Seoul, when they climbed six places to No 147 in the latest Fifa world rankings.
That jump reflected the 10-match unbeaten run they stitched together before the Japan aberration. And Westwood, the head coach, promised he had left no stone unturned in his bid to get back on track against the hosts, who remained at No 23 in the global standings.
“We don’t take any team lightly, we’ve studied Korea in depth and we know what they’re going to do,” he said.
“We’re going to try to adjust and amend our mistakes from the first game. We have a gameplan and we’ll see if it works.”
