Everton Camargo has vowed to repay his debt of gratitude to Hong Kong by curing the national football team’s goalscoring ills.
The Brazil-born forward will realise an eight-year dream when he makes a much-trumpeted debut for head coach Jorn Andersen’s team in a friendly away to Cambodia on Thursday.
Andersen is hanging his hat on Lee Man’s Camargo and Michael Udebuluzor, who plays in Germany for Ingolstadt II, providing the cutting edge Hong Kong have lacked for the past year. Udebuluzor could face Brunei on Monday if there are no further delays with his passport application.
Having completed his required seven-year residency last year and obtained a passport last week after a nine-month process, Camargo is eager to make an impact.
Hong Kong have been impotent in attack, their latest blanks coming in June’s 1-0 friendly losses to Vietnam and Thailand.
“Anyone who watched those games could see Hong Kong played very well and created many chances – but we have to improve in the last part of the pitch, to score goals,” Camargo, 32, told the Post.
“Last season was good for me and I came back this season in strong form. Now it is time to give everything I have to help the Hong Kong team.
“I am a striker, so that means I am the person to score the goals. We have good players and can help each other. If we fight together, we can achieve good results.”
Camargo, the 17-goal joint-top scorer in last season’s Hong Kong Premier League, is expected to line up on the right of Andersen’s attack in Phnom Penh.
Hong Kong then host Brunei for their final warm-up before October’s do-or-die World Cup play-off with Bhutan, and Camargo feels duty-bound to make a difference.
“When I arrived in Hong Kong in 2015, my first target and my dream was to represent the national team,” he said.
“In the past eight years, Hong Kong gave me a lot of chances and allowed me to show my football. Now it is time to repay that generosity.”
He added: “The process with my passport was long – almost nine months and there were many things to do. Finally, it is finished and I am so happy. Now it is time to give everything for Hong Kong.”
Spells at Wong Tai Sin, Hong Kong Sapling and Yuen Long, before four years with Eastern, led to Camargo’s move last year to Lee Man, where he has 26 goals and six assists from 32 matches.
He will be watched on Thursday by scores of family and friends back in Brazil, and sources extra motivation from wife Mareale and nine-year-old son Bernardo, who will both attend next week’s Hong Kong Stadium encounter with Brunei.
“So many people in Brazil, friends and family, will watch the games and support us,” he said. “They are very proud that I am playing for Hong Kong.”
Andersen hopes the international break’s two matches can swell confidence before the two-legged World Cup qualifier with Bhutan, the winners of which join an Asian qualification group whose opening fixtures come in November.
Hong Kong’s last visit to Cambodia, four years ago this week, ended in a 1-1 draw, but they won 3-0 when the sides met in India last year in AFC Asian Cup qualifying – a result that essentially qualified the city for next January’s finals.
“We have trained with a lot of intensity,” Camargo said. “When we attack, the coach demands we finish [the chance], and when we lose the ball, we have to recover it as fast as possible. I like playing in this style.
“I am only one more player … but I am here to add something more.”
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