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A “very happy” Jorn Andersen praised his Hong Kong side for overcoming sickness, Covid-19, and a lack of match fitness to win the opening game of their 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers.

Advertisement Two first-half goals from Wong Wai and Matthew Orr were enough to give Andersen’s side a 2-1 win over Afghanistan in Kolkata on Wednesday, with hosts India beating Cambodia 2-0

in the other match in Group D. Victory came despite third-choice goalkeeper Wang Zhenpeng being called into action, with Kitchee pair, Yapp Hung-fai and Paulo Argolo, both believed to have

fallen ill. While the Hong Kong Football Association have yet to name the two players or three officials who tested positive for Covid-19 soon after arriving in India, neither left-back Tsui

Wang-kit nor forward Fernando Pedreira were among the substitutes. “I am very happy, very proud, because it was very difficult for us to come here as we have had a lot problems in the team

since we arrived in India,” Andersen said. “We were too crowded in the hotel and there were many sicknesses in the first days because we were not used to Indian life. Advertisement “In many

of the training sessions we could not train with the whole team because one had diarrhoea, one had a headache, one had a fever, but in the end I am very happy that we won.”