Jordan stand a good chance

Hong Kong, on the other hand has their task cut out, reading: WIN. Victory apart, the margin too would matter, as even a solitary goal win would not make them advance owing to the huge 2-4 loss they suffered to Romania.

Match analysis tips the balance in Hong Kong favour. Consider this: Jordan took 92 minutes to dent the Romanian goal. The Romanian attribute to this loss was "long traveling leading to tiredness and more so coming out off a lay-off period back home," as coach Vlad Remus put it. Hong Kong, quite in contrast, matched Romania till the half way mark — which included scoring twice, before the defensive just crumpled, leading to the loss. Even Dutchman Arie Adrianus Van der Zouwen pinpointed the defence as `the reason’, in his sum up.

Apart from the various permutations and combinations it all boils down to `actually’ playing each other on match day, as whatever be said or thought a result and only a result would matter.

Hong Kong have got a good striker in Kwok Yue Hung –two goals and a miss read his stats against Romania and with Yeung Chung Kwong and Chan Ho-Man to support, Van der Zouwen’s triumph card lies in these to deliver. "Yeah, the are good and impressed," informed Zouwen, after the team went through a grind at the Duler ground (Mapusa) on Monday. "Our defenses need tightening, and we lost grip of the match in between, which hopefully should be rectified," added Zouwen.

Jordan on the other hand need to worry about their strikers more than the defence. "We lacked penetration," explained their Argentine coach Ricardo Carugati. "Let’s see tomorrow," he makes a concluding statement.

So, with Hong Kong’s attack as their weapon and defence as their worry point as against Jordan’s tight defence and not-so-penetrative attackers the match expects to go down to the wire, particularly when both teams are in the midst of their pre-World Cup preparations.