AFC Champions League 2: Eastern hit for 5 as Hong Kong football left red-faced again
Eastern the second Hong Kong team to lose opening AFC Champions League 2 fixture, following limp defeat for Lee Man on Wednesday
Eastern were blown away by the star quality of Sydney FC, as the Hongkongers crumbled to a 5-0 AFC Champions League Two defeat in Australia on Thursday night.
Douglas Costa, the former Bayern Munich and Brazil forward, had a hand in his team’s opening three strikes, although the visitors contributed to their own downfall with a pair of second-half own goals.
There was no sign of the impending carnage when Eastern forward Victor Bertomeu had three presentable opportunities, before Anas Ouahim’s 32nd-minute goal opened the floodgates.
Spaniard Bertomeu had one shot deflected narrowly over by Jordan Courtney-Perkins. He aimed too close to goalkeeper Harrison Devenish-Meares with his next chance, before clipping the top of the net with an attempted lob over the onrushing Devenish-Meares.
By full-time, those Eastern glimpses of goal felt like a distant memory. Coming 24 hours after Lee Man’s anaemic display in a 2-0 loss to Nam Dinh, the Vietnamese champions, Eastern’s collapse came as the latest stark reminder that Hong Kong club football is slipping from relevance.
In respect of this season’s continental campaign, Sydney’s victory, coupled with Sanfrecee Hiroshima’s 3-0 win over Filipino team Kaya-Iloilo, suggested the Australian and Japanese sides have Group E’s top-two spots sewn-up.
