It was probably only right and improper that so many of the heroic villains of the English Premiership came to the mood swing capital of the world for their pre-season (ahem) warm-up. And certainly Fernando Torres went from despondent show pony to delighted showed-them pony as he scored only his second goal for Chelsea in Saturday’s Asia Trophy final in front of thousands of almost-embarrassingly adoring fans. As well as the four matches over two days at Hong Kong stadium Mrs Dip and I were lucky enough to witness some old-fashioned British humour at a gala reception at the Grand Hyatt on Thursday (think cruise liner decor; smoky-smooth jazz numbers and foie gras balls dipped in melba sauce on sticks). New protegé and depressingly articulate Chelsea manager André Villas-Boas was in noticeably low-key attire when he took took the stage with the other team managers, to answer questions before the VIP (and us) audience. Why had he come dressed in shorts and T-shirt when everyone else was in appropriate evening wear? Because wily old Alex McLeish, Villa’s gaffer, had told André that the dress-code for the do would be ‘sports casual.’ Cue laughter. ‘You call that sports casual?’ queried the Alan Partridge-a-like who was compering. The shrug and smile from Villas-Boas could have been aimed at any one of us. It certainly made this United fan shudder apprehensively – though no wine was spilt.
Despite all of the above it was Kitchee, Hong Kong champions, who Mrs Dip and I most wanted to see, and despite losing 0-4 and 0-3 in their games, they didn’t disappoint. For a start there’s the kit – either pink or turquoise with a retro Canon logo splashed across the chest. And while they were thumped by Chelsea, the Spanish-influenced HKers showed real fight against Blackburn and could have triumphed were it not for a penalty miss from seven-foot-of-tan, Keith Richards look-a-like number 5 Ubay Luzardo Santana (pictured) when the scores were 0-0. I honestly thought he was going to smudge his eye make-up (sun block?) when he put that one over the bar (and a free kick soon afterwards). There was to be no justice. Dirty David Dunn scored sweetly for Blackburn from a set-piece of his own before trying, in vain, to get himself sent off. But the best was saved until last. When Kitchee’s keeper, Wang Zhenpang, disagreed with a penalty awarded against his fine defenders he didn’t just protest – he stormed straight off the pitch in protest. The record books will record it as a substitution: I see it as proof that there’s no lack of passion in HK football. My own team’s manager has just revealed that we played against an ex-Kitchee player in our last friendly game. Quite an honour, at our modest (if aspirational) level. I’m unlikely ever to face an ex-Chelsea player but don’t think I’ll lose any sleep over that one. Now can we have United next year please?
The Diplomat’s Fiancé 