"I am not satisfied with the referee's penalty, because it was not worth it. The referee clearly decided the result today. But I am also happy because this match shows that Hong Kong is increasingly narrowing the gap in level with the strong teams in Asia," Mr. Andersen said at the post-match press conference.

The penalty that the Norwegian coach was upset about came in the 32nd minute. But slow-motion replays showed that Malaysian referee Bin Shukri was correct in blowing the whistle for Helio Goncalves for pushing home striker Quang Hai from behind. At the 11m mark later, Que Ngoc Hai easily fooled the Hong Kong goalkeeper to score.

Apart from conceding this goal, Hong Kong played well, despite being rated lower because they are 52 places below Vietnam in the FIFA rankings. They had less possession, but had the same 11 shots, and even created more clear-cut chances with three shots on goal by goalkeeper Dang Van Lam.

According to coach Andersen, Hong Kong were only confused in the first few minutes, when they had not yet caught the rhythm of the match. Afterwards, he praised the way his students played confidently, ready to press high and create opportunities, with striker Matthew Orr and attacking midfielder Wong Wai. "It was a pity that the ball did not go into the net when the ball hit the crossbar twice in the first half and once in the second half," said the coach.

The Norwegian coach believes that Hong Kong's biggest problem at the moment is finishing. "If we improve our finishing, we will convert our chances into goals and we can definitely score against stronger teams," he said. However, Andersen also admitted that this will take time and cannot be solved immediately when Hong Kong returns home to face Thailand in the next friendly match on the evening of June 19.

Lam Thoa