Hong Kong Beaten by Estonia at Soccer Friendly

Estonia came from behind to overwhelm Hong Kong SAR 2-1 at an international soccer friendly match here on Sunday,December 10.

To warm-up for World Cup 2002, the two sides recently named new coaches, both from the Netherlands.

Estonia, ranked 72 in the world, could not cope with their opponents' offside tactics in the first half and managed few attempts.

In the 19th minute, Hong Kong's forward Chan Ho Man shot home near penalty by catching a long elegant pass from teammate Cheung Sai Ho.

But the second half saw the Estonians pacing their attack and controlling the game.

Forward Indrek Zelinski equalized the score in the 48th minute and put his team ahead nine minutes later, both by delicate shoot in the box.

The Hong Kong team has started their World Cup warm-up in October and played against Singapore which ended 1-0 in favor of Hong Kong and tied United Arab of Emirates 1-1.

Hong Kong was grouped with Qatar, Malaysia and Palestine in the Asian qualifying round of the world cup early next year.






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