Hong Kong started the campaign with a 3-1 defeat to the United Arab Emirates but did enjoy a moment of happiness when Philip Chan scored their first AFC Asian Cup goal since 1968, also marking the 1,000th goal in the history of the competition.
The East Asian side has welcomed the return of veteran center-back Helio from injury, providing a boost for Andersen before the team’s clash against Iran on Friday.
“I am very happy after our training yesterday as after a long time we had all 26 players available,” said Andersen.
“Helio is back after a while, and I am glad to have a full-strength squad. We all know that we are against a tough opponent tomorrow. We played against Iran only a couple of months ago and we know how tough they can be, but this is a new match, and we will do our best,” he added.
“Iran has many quality players who perform at the highest level in European competitions but that will not temper our fighting spirit.
“It’s not the easiest to sustain 90 minutes of high-pressing football against a team like Iran but our condition is much better now than it was when we started playing. We played three good teams before coming here and we have studied the UAE match carefully. I think you should expect a very different Hong Kong squad tomorrow,” Anderson concluded.