On Saturday I attended the second matchweek of the Premier League Championship Group: North District - Kitchee. Despite the Sheung Shui side being the nominal home team, the match was held at Tai Po Sports Ground rather than at North District Sports Ground. The game ended in eventful 2–2 draw.

Tai Po Sports Ground slightly differs from other district venues in having the second stand behind the goal. Spectators are not admitted to it regardless, so the difference is purely visual.

The stadium scoreboard had three clocks - two analogue and one seven-segment display. One of the analogue clocks and the seven-segment display showed the current civil time. The second analogue clock, judging by its 45-minute scale, was presumably designed to show match time, but wasn’t working, so the events of the game unfolded for me sin tiempo.

Kitchee have already clinched the title and fielded a rotated squad. North District played their first team and looked better for most of the match.

Early in the first half, Kitchee created their most dangerous chance of the game. Paez failed to intercept the pass, Revilla played the ball first-time into the box to Leandro, who couldn’t beat Dell Li.

North District then took control and fashioned several good opportunities. First, Granada dispossessed Dantas after Kitchee’s throw-in on their half, but couldn’t hit the target from the edge of the box. Then he missed from point-blank range after a neat one-two with Lo Kong-wai inside the penalty area.

And then Kitchee earned and converted two penalties. The first was awarded after a miniscule contact between Leandro and Han that required VAR’s involvement. The second resulted from a Paez’s reckless sliding tackle, who obliterated Juninho on the edge of the box.

The Sheung Shui side pulled one back shortly after the break, also from the spot. Kitchee’s goalkeeper failed to collect the ball after a powerful effort from Weverton and brought down Arboleda as he arrived for the rebound. Samuel Granada converted.

North District pressed, created chances, but couldn’t score. Twice the ball found the back of the net, but both times the officials flagged for offside.

They equalised all the same. Deep in injury time, Granada attempted a beach-football-style flick to set up David, a defender headed the ball away, but only as far as the edge of the box, where Hiu-chung Law hit it on the half-volley into the near corner.

The weather was good. I absorbed two beers and one non-alcoholic (it doesn’t count).

In two months since my last post, I have attended two North District games. On the 8th of March, the Sheung Shui side defeated Hong Kong FC in the FA Cup – 3–1, and on the 12th of April drew 3–3 against Lee Man in the Premier League.

Hong Kong FC – North District

The FA Cup quarterfinal against Hong Kong FC took place at Tsing Yi Sports Ground, in the western part of the New Territories. It is a typical district sports ground with a single stand and running tracks around the pitch. I got the impression that the stands were further away from the pitch than in Sham Shui Po and Sheung Shui.

The FA Cup is the main cup competition in Hong Kong. As in other cup competitions (League Cup and Senior Shield), only Premier League sides compete in the tournament. Cup winners qualify for the AFC Champions League 2, together with Premier League winners.

I don’t remember anything about the match. I only remember that sea salt sour ale, purchased in a supermarket next to the ground, was disgusting.

North District will face Eastern District in the semifinal on the 24th of May.

North District – Lee Man

The match against Lee Man was memorable for its ending.

North District conceded just before the break and were trailing until the 77th minute when the Lee Man defence overloaded their left side, leaving the right side unattended. Villalobos shifted the play and connected with Weverton, who took the ball on the edge of the box, carried it to the goal area, and was clinical in the finish.

In the first minute of injury time, Samuel Granada received the ball from Weverton, dribbled past the defender and attempted a shot from the same spot on the edge of the goal area. The Lee Man goalkeeper saved the ball, but it rebounded to the far post, where Kayke David found the back of the net with a point-blank finish.

As usual, North District celebrated the goal in festive fashion. As usual, it didn’t end well. Immediately after the restart, Lee Man were awarded the penalty for a handball from Arboleda who failed to keep his hands down during the aerial battle. Mikael equalised from the spot.

No sooner had I been disappointed that North District had let victory slip away, than I found myself despairing that they had let a draw slip away. Tachibana took the ball on the left, made his way unchallenged into the penalty area, and scored Lee Man’s third goal from a fairly tight angle.

The victory secured Lee Man’s mathematical chances for the league title, so they celebrated the goal in festive fashion. It didn’t end well for them. Immediately after the restart, North District charged, and Arboleda equalised from the edge of the box. The game to remember!

I have absorbed four beers.

Round-up of the first phase

The fixture against Lee Man concluded the first phase for the Sheung Shui side. After a memorable victory over Eastern, North District enjoyed a single victory (2–1 against Rangers), secured three draws (against Eastern District, Southern District, and Lee Man), and were thrashed 0–3 by Eastern.

Standings after the first phase:

In accordance with competition rules, after the first phase, the top five teams enter the Championship Group, while the bottom five enter the Challenging Group, with each group playing a single round-robin format. Thus, Kitchee secured the title with a 14-point lead over Lee Man.

Last Saturday, North District lost to Tai Po 2–3 in the first matchweek of the Championship group. They are now in fourth place, where they are likely to finish the season.

On Wednesday I went to the Hong Kong Premier League match between Eastern and North District at Mong Kok Stadium. The visitors won 4–1. Goals and highlights are available in the onTV Sports review.

Eastern are the oldest¹ of the current Premier League clubs. They have been champions of Hong Kong five times: four times before the Premier League was established (1955–56, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95) and once after (2015–16). Eastern have also won the FA Cup seven times, including the last two editions.

This season, things have gone rather badly. In the AFC Champions League Two, Eastern lost all six matches with an aggregate score of 2–30. They were beaten 7–0 at home by Thailand’s Ratchaburi and 9–0 away by Vietnam’s Nam Dinh. Domestic matters are no better: last weekend Lee Man dismantled Eastern 8–1.

North District had beaten Eastern District 2–0 away over the weekend (I didn’t attend) and came into this match as favourites — something I am still struggling to get used to (and would prefer not to).

The match began without much enthusiasm. It then continued in much the same spirit. North District monopolised possession and tried to manufacture danger from wide areas. The forwards and wingers spent long stretches offside, as if the offside law had been quietly repealed. Eastern saw little of the ball and defended in a tidy mid-block. North District’s first shot on target arrived roughly twenty minutes in. Eastern did not manage one at all.

Towards the end of the first half, Eastern briefly came to life. In one incident, North District centre-back Paez gave an opponent a nudge in the back inside the penalty area. It looked like a penalty to me, but the referee kept his whistle down, and VAR agreed. Then, in the 40th minute, the hosts scored. After a largely unnecessary corner, Eastern’s Spanish import Gondra found himself completely unmarked at the edge of the six-yard box and headed the ball across goal. Japanese forward Okubo finished from almost on the goal line. It was, annoyingly, a very good goal.

North District equalised before half-time — also from a corner. Arboleda’s delivery was met by Samuel Granada, who outjumped Gondra, hero of the previous episode.

Immediately after the break, the Sheung Shui side went ahead. Villalobos delivered the ball into the area, where it drifted out towards the edge of the box. Paez nodded it back towards the penalty spot. Eastern defender Callum Hall reached it first and appeared to be attempting a first-time clearance. He did make contact first time — that was the only part of his design that worked. The sliced clearance flew straight back towards the six-yard box, where Wong Ho-yin (North District) and Almazan (Eastern) attempted to shoot simultaneously. Neither connected: Almazan swung and missed; Wong went down when that swing caught his leg. Wong collapsed in visible agony, but play continued and was stopped only after a prompt from VAR. Following a review, the referee pointed to the spot. Granada struck firmly into the right corner. Cassaro guessed the right way — but guessing, as it turned out, was not enough.

North District continued to control the match, though for a while they struggled to convert that control into chances. Midway through the half, Kayke David pressed aggressively and forced Lau Kwan-ching into a loose pass, which Weverton intercepted. The Brazilian drove into the box and went down under Cassaro’s challenge, earning another penalty. Granada aimed for the same corner again, but this time Cassaro got down well and gathered the ball cleanly.

A couple of minutes later, Arboleda won the ball in midfield from Lau Kwan-ching (the referee ignored a gentle shove in the back) and attempted to lob Cassaro, only to find the crossbar.

In the 73rd minute, North District’s persistence in the press finally paid off. Arboleda blocked a pass from Leung Chun-pong in midfield, Villalobos collected the loose ball, went clean through on goal, and finished past Cassaro, who was caught halfway between decisions.

Two minutes later, Weverton made the scoreline definitive. Cassaro punched clear from a corner. Kayke David struck a fierce half-volley from the edge of the box. Okubo Yu cleared the ball off the line, but Weverton was first to the rebound and finished spectacularly with a scissor kick.

In the remaining minutes, Eastern’s defenders lost the ball several more times in the build-up, but the Sheung Shui side lacked precision in the final action. 4–1 — a comfortable win for North District, who have now firmly established themselves in the top three.

It was a bit chilly. I had two beers.

On Saturday I attended the Premier League match between North District and Kowloon City at North District Sports Ground. The hosts earned a comeback victory, 2–1. Goals and highlights are available in the onTV sports recap.

In the two months since the previous entry, North District have played several matches. On December 4, the Sheung Shui side drew 1–1 with Tai Po. The match took place a week after the horrific fire in Tai Po that claimed, according to the latest figures, 168 lives. I attended that game, but have never been in the right mood to write about it. North District conceded in the second half and equalised in the very first attack after the restart. A week later, North District lost at home to Kitchee, 1–2. I did not attend that match because I was teaching that day at the Moscow School. On December 21, North District also beat Southern District 3–1 in the FA Cup. I missed that match for no particularly good reason.

Before this match, North District were two points ahead of Kowloon City, with two games in hand. In the autumn, the northerners had snatched a draw in Sham Shui Po, which I wrote about in the first installment of the Northern Suffering. That match was marred by a serious injury to Kowloon City midfielder Min-gyu Park, whose leg was broken by North District centre-back Carlos Paez.

The opening phase belonged to the visitors. As early as the 5th minute, Kowloon opened the scoring. Khan and Kong Wai Lo failed to track Wan Chun Chiu’s run down the right flank; from there he delivered a cross into the box, where Kayron won an aerial duel against Ho Yin Wong and scored.

After conceding, the Sheung Shui took control of the game but were unable to turn their dominance in possession into clear chances. Kowloon defended with a back five and did not attempt to press high. North District mostly attacked down the right, but neither long switches nor short combinations found teammates in the final third.

Kowloon threatened on the counter. Twice, North District goalkeeper Hoi Man Chung saved his team after dangerous shots on target. Towards the end of the first half, Chung twice looked uncertain coming off his line, and only the attackers’ lack of composure prevented the visitors from extending their lead. In the second incident, Chung picked up an injury and remained on the turf before being carried off on a stretcher.

The pattern of the game did not change after the break: Kowloon conceded both possession and territory. In the 57th minute, North District finally equalised. Samuel Granada reacted quickest amid the chaos at the near post following a corner kick.

The equaliser did not energise the visitors. North District continued to put pressure on the right side of Kowloon’s defence, but their positional attacks bogged down against the organised back line.

All the more telling, then, that the winning goal came from moving the ball from the flank into the centre, rather than from the centre out wide. After a Kowloon goal kick, Vinicius Soares contested an aerial duel on the flank near midfield; the ball dropped to Granada, who one-touched it from the left half-space into the right, to Abadia. Abadia controlled the ball without losing speed, rounded the goalkeeper, and finished into an empty net.

In stoppage time, North District were reduced to ten men. Hiu Chung Lau unsportingly threw away the ball after it had gone out for a throw-in and received a booking, but failed to calm down and became involved in the ensuing baragoz, for which he immediately picked up a second yellow card and was sent off. Shortly after this burst of passions, the referee blew the final whistle and the match ended.

The weather was perfect. I absorbed three beers, and then another one after the game.

Yesterday I attended Lee Man – North District in the ninth round of the Premier League at Mong Kok Stadium – the very same ground that hosted the match against Kitchee. It finished as a 2–2 draw. You can watch the goals and key moments in the onTV Sports highlights.

Lee Man were founded in 2017. The club have never played in the lower Hong Kong leagues because the owners bought them a Premier League place from the outset. In 2023–24 they won the league for the first time, and in 2022–23 and 2024–25 they finished runners-up. Once again, North District arrived as underdogs – all the more so given that a week earlier the teams had met in the League Cup, where North District lost 1–2 in extra time (I wasn’t at that match).

Early on, Lee Man controlled territory and produced a few half-chances. The Sheung Shui side made some changes on the left flank compared with recent matches: Chun Ho Wong started in defence, while Jahangir Khan played as a wide midfielder. However, midway through the first half Wong went off injured and was replaced by Vinicius Soares, who moved into midfield while Khan dropped into the back line.

In the latter stages of the first half North District took the initiative and scored twice. First, Samuel Granada finished off a cross from Bobby Singh on the right. Then he swept in a first-time effort from inside the box after an attack down the left.

In stoppage time Lee Man pulled one back. After a corner the ball ricocheted around the six-yard box until, after several rebounds, it found Tursunov’s foot a metre from North District’s goal. The referee disallowed the goal (I couldn’t see why) but pointed to the spot: Mikael’s initial shot had struck Danilo Santos’s arm. Hon Ho Lee guessed correctly but couldn’t reach it.

In the second half North District surrendered possession and territory, dropped the press, and defended in a mid-block in a 4-1-4-1. For the most part it worked, but in the 57th minute Cy Goddard capitalised on slow reactions and poor coordination at the back and bundled the ball over the line.

The draw held to full time, though North District had two clear chances late on. First, after a free-kick delivery, Hoi Yin Wong and Danilo Santos got in each other’s way going for a loose ball. And right before the whistle, goalkeeper Ka Ho Chan clawed a Villalobos half-volley out of the bottom right corner.

North District keep picking up points against strong opponents. In a week the Sheung Shui side host Tai Po. I didn’t drink at the match, but I made up for it afterwards.

Yesterday I attended the Premier League Round 7 match between North District and Southern District. North District came from behind to win 2–1.

Southern District had finished fifth in each of the past three seasons, but this year the team from Aberdeen started poorly — five points from five games. I expected a laboured, low-scoring game, and that’s exactly what it turned out to be.

The match was played at North District Sports Ground in Sheung Shui — the home ground of North District. It’s a typical Hong Kong district sports complex with a running track around the pitch and a single stand for spectators. On ordinary days the stadium is open to the public; you can even book the pitch for free through a phone app or a terminal right on site. The stand has no seats, but the entire structure is covered with a roof against the rain. Unlike Sham Shui Po or Mong Kok, the nearest 7-Eleven is on the way from the MTR station, so no detour is needed. I came by bike, though, so a detour had to be made. There’s no bag check at the entrance — as it should be.

North District had the territorial advantage throughout and created more chances (see onTV Sports highlights), but in the first half the sharper moments came at their own goal. Around the 20th minute, Stefan picked up the ball in the box after a series of ricochets and shot against the movement of Hon Ho Lee, hitting the post. In the 35th minute, North District’s press collapsed, Acosta collected the ball in midfield and played it into the half-space for Stefan, who carried it into the box and finished neatly into the far corner.

In the second half, North District’s pressure and the individual skill of their foreign players produced two goals. In the 72nd minute, Samuel Granada received a pass from Weverton with his back to goal in the visitors’ penalty area, turned on the spot, and struck into the top corner. In the dying minutes, a cross from Vinicius Soares on the right flank was finished by Kayke David.

Overall the match was slow-paced, somnambulic. The weather was fine. I absorbed three beers.

Yellow and red cards were used to caution and send off players for the first time at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico.

West German referee Kurt Tschenscher showed the very first yellow card in football history in the 30th minute of the opening match, Mexico v USSR, to Soviet player Kakhi Asatiani for a foul on Gustavo Peña. The second and third yellow cards in football history also went to Soviet players — Givi Nodia and Evgeny Lovchev — in the 31st and 34th minutes respectively.

A full replay of the match in decent quality is available on FIFA+ (the first booking appears around 30:15 of the video).

The match was historic in another sense, too: the first substitution in World Cup history (though substitutions had already been used in club and international matches) also took place here — at half-time, Anatoly Puzach replaced Viktor Serebryanikov for the USSR.

A curious episode occurred in the 23rd minute (around 22:45 in the broadcast): Soviet goalkeeper Anzor Kavazashvili delayed releasing the ball, and Tschenscher awarded Mexico an indirect free kick inside the Soviet penalty area. Javier Guzmán’s shot was blocked by Lovchev.

On Sunday, I attended the sixth round of the Hong Kong Premier League — Kitchee vs. North District in Mong Kok. The match ended in a lively 3–3 draw.

Kitchee are the most decorated of the current Premier League clubs. Founded in 1931, they’ve won the Hong Kong championship twelve times — more than anyone except South China (now playing in the First Division with 41 titles). In the last two seasons, Kitchee finished fourth, well below their ambitions. So North District were clear underdogs.

The two sides had already met this season: a month ago, North District beat Kitchee 3–2 in the Senior Shield quarterfinal — a cup competition among Premier League teams.

The match was held at Mong Kok Stadium. Police were patrolling the nearby streets, and a cordon was set up outside the ground. Fans were searched before entering — unusual for Premier League matches, at least compared to other venues (in Sheung Shui, Tai Po, or Sham Shui Po nobody gets searched). The check wasn’t exactly thorough: I brought in a can of Guinness in the pockets of my shorts I’d bought during halftime at the nearest 7-Eleven, having shown the steward my empty backpack.

Unlike most other Premier League grounds, Mong Kok Stadium is a proper football stadium — no running track, and stands running all around the pitch. I watched the match from behind the goal, the best place to observe players’ movements and defensive transitions.

Kitchee started on the front foot. They created several chances from wide attacks but lacked accuracy in finishing. Once the ball did end up in the North District net, but Juninho’s goal was ruled offside.

In the 20th minute the hosts finally took the lead: after Yumemi Kanda’s free kick, the ball deflected off North District’s own defender Chun Ho Wong and into the net. The visitors equalized almost immediately — also from a set piece — when Han’s cross was met by Samuel Granada. You can watch all the goals in the highlights by onTV Sports on YouTube.

The score didn’t change before halftime, though Kitchee had several clear chances to score. North District’s fullbacks, Chun Ho Wong and Han, often failed to close down their zones, where Juninho and Mingazov were breaking through again and again. In the 30th minute, North District midfielder Hiu Chung Law picked up an injury. After a short pause he came back on and seemed to have instructions from the coach to drop into the back line between Danilo Santos and Han when defending. That adjustment helped North District put out the fire on the left flank.

In the second half, North District grew more aggressive, and chances started appearing at both ends. The visitors were first to benefit from this open play in the 66th minute. Villalobos found himself unmarked in Kitchee’s holding zone, took a bold shot from 30 meters, and the ball went in off the post.

North District’s players — especially the foreign ones — celebrated wildly for a couple of minutes. I thought to myself that such celebrations rarely end well. And they didn’t: from the very next attack after the kickoff, Jordan Lam won an aerial duel against Chunho Wong and headed the ball home after Mingazov’s cross — the Turkmen winger had just outplayed both Han and Arboleda on the flank.

In the 78th minute, Kitchee took the lead. Han had pushed almost to the halfway line to press Mingazov. Kitchee’s center-back Riera lofted a pass to the corner of the box. Arboleda didn’t reach it; Jordan Lam controlled, turned, passed to Kendi, who played a one-touch ball into Mingazov’s run. Hon Ho Lee saved the first shot, but the ball bounced back to the Turkmen forward, and he turned it in while falling — 3:2.

In the last ten minutes, North District went forward. Kitchee dropped deep and looked for counters. In the 87th minute, North District won a free kick near the box. Veverton, Villalobos, and Han had a long discussion — and for good reason. Han touched the ball to Villalobos, who stopped it as if setting up Veverton’s run-up, but at the last moment rolled it slightly to the right. Han spun around, reached the ball in a couple of steps, and smashed it under the crossbar — straight down the middle; the ball flew just over Zhen Peng Wang’s gloves and into the net. A crazy goal.

Nothing remarkable happened in stoppage time. The match ended 3–3. Thanks to goal difference, North District went top of the table — though by points dropped, the team from Sheung Shui are only fifth, behind Kitchee, Rangers, Tai Po, and Lee Man.

A third of the first stage of the season is now behind. North District have earned four points in two matches against favorites (Sunday’s draw with Kitchee and a win over Tai Po in round two) and six points from two games against clear outsiders, Hong Kong FC. It looks like North District have a realistic chance at a top-five finish — and a place in the Championship Group after the split. If only they could put out the fire on the flanks.

Yesterday I attended the Hong Kong Premier League fifth-round match between Kowloon City and North District at Sham Shui Po. The game ended in a 2–2 draw.

The Sheung Shui side took an early advantage with aggressive pressing in the attacking third. Kowloon players frequently misplaced passes in their own half. However, it was Kowloon who opened the scoring in the 18th minute, punishing the opposition for committing too many players forward.

Kowloon played long from a goal kick, clearing the ball over six (!) North District players. Luizinho won an aerial duel against Chun Ho Wong, nodded the ball to Tsz Hin Loong, and moved to support. Arboleda blocked the pass to the left, but Luizinho picked up the rebound and played it to Min-gyu Park. The Korean slowed down and found the back of the net with a stunning strike.

At the end of the first half, North District defender Carlos Paez attempted to stop a counter-attack with a sliding tackle from behind and seriously injured Min-gyu Park. Park was stretchered off, while Paez was sent off after a VAR review. Chun Ting Lee replaced Park, and North District’s holding midfielder Elian Villalobos dropped into defence.

Kowloon City extended their lead at the start of the second half from the corner kick. Kessi shook off Samuel Granada and beat Villalobos in the air at the near post.

After conceding the second goal, the North District coach made two attacking substitutions: Hiu Chung Law replaced Kong Wai Lo, and Weverton came on for Kayke David. In the 63rd minute, Weverton’s long-range effort forced home goalkeeper Ho Chun Yuen to parry the ball straight in front of him. Kowloon’s central defenders completely lost their bearings, allowing two opponents to reach the rebound first. Samuel Granada finished clinically from close range.

The pace slowed afterwards. Despite being a man down, North District created the better chances. In added time, Kowloon players collectively failed in midfield, leaving Vinicius Soares and Chun Ho Wong unmarked in the holding zone. After overlapping to the right flank, Wong cut the ball back to Arboleda, who found the net from near the penalty spot. Remarkably, Arboleda had started the move by picking up the ball after a foul on Weverton.

The weather was excellent. Around two to three hundred spectators attended the game. I consumed two beers.

Last night I came across a fish on the footpath near my house. Over the past year living here, I’ve run into (and tried not to step on) countless snails, toads, and lizards. People have warned me about snakes, but I haven’t seen one yet. And I have never expected to encounter a fish — fish inhabit bodies of water, and paths are not part of those. And yet, there it was: a fish, lying in the middle of the path.

I decided to move the fish from the path into the puddle. First, I figured it might suffocate without water. Second, one of the stray dogs — the ones the neighbours feed — might eat it. Third, it could get run over by a motorcycle. In short, I was concerned for the fish’s life.

I picked two leaves off a bush to use like napkins, and lifted the fish off the ground. The fish suddenly slipped out of my hands, flopped back down, and wriggled into the puddle — exactly where I’d meant to put it. So, nothing worked, and everything worked.

* * *

Most likely, it was a snakehead (Channa). Snakeheads live in still water, can breathe air, and are capable of moving between ponds over land. It’s been raining heavily since last night here in Hong Kong — which probably explains how the fish ended up in our little frog pond. Saving a snakehead from suffocating was an act of ignorance — but saving it from a dog or a motorcycle made perfect sense.