Head Coach Proud of Players as Kitchee Exited AFC

Kitchee’s AFC Cup 2015 adventure came to an end on Wednesday evening, as the Hong Kong league champion drew Kuwait SC 1:1 in the second leg of the AFC Cup 2015 quarter-final at home, exiting the tournament through a 1:7 aggregate loss. Paulo Carreiro delighted the home fans on the 9th minute as the Kitchee attacker directed the ball into the Kuwait SC net with a fine header. Unfortunately, the home side could not build on that lead and had to witness Fahad Alhajeri tying the game for the Middle East side on the 50th minute. The score remained unchanged for the remainder of the game, sealing Kitchee’s fate in the process. Kitchee head coach Abraham Garcia was proud of his side’s performance on the evening despite exiting the AFC Cup. “We scored early tonight, generally played solid for ninety minutes and I thought we deserved to win,” offered the Kitchee chief. “I want to praise the players for giving their all on the evening, despite being 0:6 down from the first leg. We talked a lot about what happened in the first leg and we vowed to learn from it. We controlled the situation tonight and stayed compact in various areas on the pitch. When the opponent allowed us to play, we also seized the opportunity and played.” Not lost amongst Kitchee’s exit from the AFC Cup 2015 was the professional debut of highly-touted prospect Cheng Chin-lung, as the youngster came on as a substitute for Kitchee late in the game. “I am very grateful to the coach for handing me my professional debut. From a personal standpoint, I was a bit nervous at the beginning but generally played okay the rest of the way. As a team, I thought we pretty much executed what the head coach wanted us to do,” commented the Kitchee youngster.