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發表於 2009-8-30 23:08:26
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Kitchee's beautiful new world (SCMP)
Ken Ng Kin has a dream. His team Kitchee will not only win the First Division League crown this season, but win it handsomely by playing "beautiful football".
To fulfil his vision, the Kitchee boss has sailed into uncharted waters and rounded up a "Spanish Armada". Ng has hired six Spanish players, plus a Catalan coach - formerly with the Barcelona Academy. But winning is not paramount, playing beautifully is.
And he has already been given a taste of the exotic thanks to Kitchee's 2-0 win over arch-rivals South China in the inaugural Community Shield match this month, the precursor to the start of the league next Sunday.
"It was a level of football which maybe has not been seen in Hong Kong forever," gushed Ng. "Winning 2-0 was immaterial. It was how we won. We outplayed them totally."
The architects of the victory were the Spanish brigade. For perhaps the first time in the history of the local game, a club has gone to one source and brought home a pack of foreign players.
"We have not won the league title for 40-something years. The last time Kitchee won, I believe, was in 1963 or '64. We came back into the First Division in 2003 but have still to taste league glory. This can be the year," Ng says confidently.
If Ng has a dream, then the dreammaker is Josep Gombau, a 33-year-old Catalan from Amposta, a tranquil town two hours outside Barcelona. Gombau used to be the technical director of FCB Escola Barcelona - the La Liga team's academy for youth players.
He was enticed by Ng to come to Hong Kong and told he could hire six players from Spain. They are goalkeeper Sergio Aure, central defenders Ubay Luzardo and Javi Perez, midfielder Baruc Nsue and strikers Albert Virgili and Raul Torres. Gombau earmarks the latter as the player to watch. That's no stretch of the imagination considering he has the same names as two of his more famous countrymen.
Gombau is not fazed by the challenge of winning Kitchee a much-sought league title. But his task is much more than simply winning. He has to do it in style.
"When I came here, I asked Ken [Ng] what my goal was. Was it to win all games or play beautiful football? Ken told me it was `more important to play beautiful football'. His aim is to draw the fans back into the stands and to entertain them," Gombau said.
The bigger picture involves putting in place a system of football which will benefit Hong Kong in the long term. With this in mind, Kitchee set up FCB Escola Hong Kong last year, a school for children ranging from six to 14 years old where they are taught to take a Spanish approach to the game.
Escola in Spanish translates into school. The idea of a Hong Kong branch of the Barcelona academy was born when the Spanish club visited the city in 2007. While the crowds were dazzled by Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o and company, behind the scenes, serious discussions were taking place as to how this one-off visit could benefit Hong Kong in more tangible ways.
The outcome was the link-up between Kitchee and Barcelona and the creation of a school where 200 lucky children are living out their own dreams of one day becoming the next Kaka.
"We established the school in May last year. If kids are talented we pick them, give them a uniform and teach them how to play. It is all free of charge. We train three times a week and we are the only club to do this," Ng said.
It is not purely altruistic. What Kitchee will get is a reservoir of young talent. Ng admits he is following in the footsteps of world-famous clubs by setting up a youth academy that will provide him with players for the future.
"What we are trying to do is to teach young kids how to play proper football from a young age. All the children in our school follow the same curriculum taught to children in Barcelona," Ng said.
"It doesn't matter who teaches or coaches them, what matters is that they are following a set curriculum, a system that teaches them to play beautiful football."
The system is working. During Easter, FCB Escola Hong Kong were invited to send a team of eight- and nine-year-olds to Barcelona. The squad encountered some of the best teams in Europe and finished 11th out of 17 teams.
This month, the school sent a team to Macau and Guangdong for an eight-team tournament. They beat Macau 21-0, and then won the Guangdong event, scoring 104 goals and conceding only five in seven games.
On their return to Hong Kong, the same team took part in an invitation event in Taipo, winning their games 13-0 and 7-0.
"In the space of 10 days, our kids scored 145 goals and allowed only five. It was absolutely fantastic. And all what they have been doing in the past year is following a system which teaches them to play beautiful football," Ng said.
"In the past, if you put a ball in front of a bunch of six-year-olds and told them to play, they would all follow the ball wherever it went. Not our kids. They have learned not to bunch up and play like a team. This is because they are following the Barcelona curriculum to the letter."
Ng hopes this system will be the foundation for Kitchee's success at the highest level this season - winning the league title.
"A major reason for bringing Josep [Gombau] to Hong Kong was his involvement with the Barcelona youth academy," he said. "There is nobody in Hong Kong who knows better than him how to raise 11- and 12-year-olds into top-class players. He has a Uefa professional coaching licence and is an exceptional coach.
"Okay, he has got six Spanish players with him, but he still needs the local players to help out if we are to win the league. Right now, it seems our Chinese players are playing with more freedom. It seems as if they have suddenly learned how to play football, beautiful football."
Over the summer, Kitchee cleaned house and got rid of all their overseas professionals from last season. Out went two Cameroonians, two Uruguayans, two Chileans, and a goalie from Brazil. In came the Spanish.
"Winning the league is important to me. But also important is that we put in place a system which can be easily followed in the future. With this in mind, our youth development is very, very important," Ng added.
Says Gombau: "My players [Spanish] will be an example for the others to follow. Our system is to pass, retain possession with the ultimate aim of scoring goals. There is no direct mad rush towards the goal.
"It will take a lot of hard work. Step by step, match by match, we will improve. All teams will want to win the league, but for us the most important thing is to learn how to play good football," he added.
Ng will hope so, and dream the fans will soon be chanting "Bella Kitchee".
(Source: SCMP, 30 Aug 2009) |
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