Photo: Santiago Kwok
Before the exclusive signing of David Silva, who exactly knew who Supreme Sha Tin were?
Possibly their hardcore supporters, the good folk of Sha Tin / Ma On Shan and those ‘In the Know’ in the convoluted world of domestic Hong Kong football .
In the world of music, the bigger the ‘celebrity’ name then the higher guarantee of a larger audience. This can also apply to the world of sports and there is no doubt that Jim Wong, the owner / player of Supreme Sha Tin, knows that any publicity is better than no publicity at all.
So, on a balmy November weekend afternoon, the two worlds would mixed together.
After much hype and a marketing machine pushing to the maximum; one of the most feted and celebrated names from the world of football in recent years and a World Cup winner no less, took to the field of Kai Tak Youth Sports Park. In hindsight, surreal to view.
Silva’s legs, not as spritely as before, both ran and strolled in equal measure, yet time seemed to slow down when the ball came into his possession. A magician does not lose their tricks and importantly, their deft touch, so easily.
The midfield master’s intricate passes and close control, cheered on by a full house with fans decked out in Manchester City and Supreme shirts in equal measure.
Did some fans actually know who Supreme were? Possibly though they definitely knew Silva and that was the point.
David Silva, with all cameras and mobile phones, literally and figuratively, centred on him had an eventful game for Supreme Sha Tin.
One Match and One of Everything
One game in HK (so far) and one goal; a penalty goal in the 56th minute, after a VAR check, struck low to the left of the Ranger’s goal past Yip Ka Yu.
One game in Hong Kong and a yellow card in the 79th minute after a slight tussle with Ranger’s Paulinho Souza.
One game in Hong Kong and the chance to play with another legend, the stalwart Lam Ka Wai, for a brief period in the second half.
One game in Hong Kong and a standing ovation as he left the field and of course, he won the ‘Player of the Match’ award.
Was there really another candidate?
The Supreme match shirt was sponsored by ‘Match Legacy’ and what kind of legacy would simply playing one game leave.
Rangers: Not Just a Side Show
Rangers, seemingly happy to be there and competitive, were not overawed and daunted and ‘ruined’ Supreme’s party when Yakubu Nassam Ibrahim played a one-two after a defensive mistake to eventually score past Bryan Lau in the Sha Tin goal.
Antenor Pereira Junior of Rangers hailed the experience of playing against a former World Cup winner.
“Rangers played a great game and it was a very difficult match against Supreme Sha Tin and David Silva. We knew it would be tough and they even took the lead in the second half. We managed to get a draw and we played well.
Playing against David Silva was an enormous pleasure and satisfying because Silva is a world class player and everyone wants to play against the best!”
Poon Man Tik, part of the Ranger’s coaching staff said his team prepared for this game as they normally would.
“Regarding David Silva, Supreme Sha Tin invited a world-class player to join their team and our (Rangers) stance and mentality is that we treat this just like any other ordinary league match and face it normally.
Secondly, regarding how we respond to David Silva: first, I think Rangers won’t make a special plan just for David Silva, and we won’t change our usual approach in terms of how we defend. For example, when we face other teams—perhaps whether it’s Lee Man or anyone else—actually, their team as a whole, including some of their central midfielders or other aspects of the team, means that we still need to look at how to respond to each different player.
It is just that because David Silva is perhaps a top-tier player, we have been supporters of his before, and so in this regard, we also needed to target him and responded to him accordingly though it won’t be because of David Silva, we changed all the things we usually did.
It’s just about facing an ordinary league match and we paid attention to David Silva—perhaps how he distributed the ball, or how strong his ability to control the ball was.
Therefore, we were more defensive against him, so that he could not easily receive the ball and pass it or deliver it cleanly.”
Supreme were reduced to ten players when Maxwell Ansah was sent off for two yellow cards.
Rangers nearly snatched a last gasp winner when Flavio Dias Soares stretched at the far right post and his effort clipped the far left post in the 89th minute. This was not in the feel good ‘script’ and Rangers were frustrated not too snatch all three points.
The near 5000 fans definitely got their money’s worth with the former Manchester City player playing a total of 84 minutes.
The Rangers fans were vocal the whole game and gave their team a deserved ovation at the end.
A ‘David Silva’ One Match Bounce
The football world now knows Supreme Sha Tin’s name and the fans came out in force to see David Silva. The next challenge is to maintain and sustain these levels of interest without Silva.
The fans chanted ‘One More Game’ as Silva left the field.
Rangers are placed eight in the HKPL and Supreme are one slot behind them and unless Silva stays for the rest of the season it would be hard to quantify the ‘Silva’ effect / bounce in terms of revenue generated and how he would positively affect the team IF he extended his stay.
One game in Hong Kong for David Silva. That’s all that Supreme could possibly need.
Photo Gallery: Santiago Kwok
