Sapling Cup Semi Final Southern District RSA - Tai Po FC Mong Kok Stadium Result: 0:3 (0:1) Attendance: 1,236
Just a day after we arrived in Hong Kong, there was already the first game of the tour waiting for us. We didn’t close our eyes for almost 48 hours since we left Europe, so when we finally got to get into bed in Hong Kong, we casually slept for 14 hours and woke up at 12pm on the Saturday. We were completely shocked when we saw the time because we thought we would get jet-lag and couldn’t sleep well. Anyway, it was a blessing to be able to sleep 14 hours straight!
Luckily, we didn’t sleep too long and missed the game, though we still had to hurry up a little bit so we could go to Yum-Cha with K’s family for brunch. Yum-cha literally means “drink tea” and this is how local Hongkongers call when they go to have Dim Sum. It is quite normal that Hongkongers don’t always have their meals at home because it is not expensive to eat out.
So we took the minibus from the bus stop in front of the doors to go to Kwai Fong. We still had plenty of time so we could enjoy our first Yum-cha of the tour and the noise in the restaurant. Then we took the MTR, the local underground, towards Mongkok, the centre of Hong Kong.
Our destination was not to the shopping district in Mongkok, but somewhere slightly outside the crowds. After crossing streets of bars and restaurants, we came to a sportpark, and behind it you would find the wonderful Mong Kok Stadium. It is the third biggest stadium in Hong Kong after Hong Kong Stadium and the infamous Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground.
This ground is normally the home ground of Eastern and Kitchee in the Premier League, but today it would host the semi-final of the Sapling Cup. This cup aim to create more chances for young players so there are certain restrictions on what kind of players a team could use, for example, a team has to play at least two U22 players during a game.
The biggest teams were already knocked out in earlier stages so it was a good opportunity for smaller cups to show what they have in these games. And today it was Southern against Tai Po.
A ticket costs $80 (or $20 for concessionary) with free seating inside the stadium, which we thought was OK. Right after you enter the stadium, you could already see a small food stall that offered local street food including fish balls and chicken drumsticks. If you don’t like these food, you could also bring your own food, all kind of food, and drinks to the stadium. Plastic cups are provided at the entrance for you to pour your drinks out from bottles or cans so you can bring them in. The guy next to us had cup noodles.
It was a really nice view to see the buildings in the background to remind us that we were in the middle of the city. When the weather is nice, you could also see the famous Lion Rock Hill at the far back behind the big TV.
The two main sides of the stands are covered by a wave-like roof, it looks nice but it was actually useless when it rains. The stands behind two goals are uncovered, which was quite empty during that day because it was a little bit windy.
We thought it would be warm already in March but we would have been frozen if we didn’t have our windbreakers. That’s why we had two packs of warm chocolate with us to we could warm ourselves up in the stadium.
We were seated on the other side of the main stand where we could have a nice view of the whole stadium and the started to look forward to the first game of our tour.
Short before the players entered the pitch, the fans of both teams started to gather and chant. On the right side of the main stand were the fans in red of Southern District FC, who recently promoted to the top league. The fans stood behind a “Southern Ultras” banner and were the loudest group of the day. They started chating with a scarf show, three big flags with club logo and some drum beats. The normal fans have inflated clapping sticks in their hands to create noise. Eh. The support wasn’t impressing at all but it was good enough already for local football.
On the other end of the stand was the fans in green of Tai Po, another district team in Hong Kong. They were on the sixth place in the league so you could say they wouldn’t have anything to do with relegation this season. There were also a few fans chanting behind some green banners. It was nice, but nothing special.
And the game? To be honest, it wasn’t bad at all. The pace of the game was quite fast and enjoyable. There was some tackles and shots during the first half but only until short before half time, a player from Tai Po scored a surprise goal that left the defenders and goalie of Southern puzzled.
The second half was more about tackles and fouls, thanks to the referee who was not being harsh at all throughout the game! Tai Po managed to do a counter attacked after the Southerners missed their chance and scored the second goal of the game. The Green fans ran down to the pitch side to celebrate with their players.
Few minutes before the game was over, Tai Po scored their last goal and secure their place in the Sapling Cup final, which they would face Pegasus FC.
After the game, we went back to the MTR station again and headed to meet up with some friends for nice food and drinks! Our next game would only be in a week, so now we would be going to enjoy ourselves in the beautiful Hong Kong!