Sawt Falasteen - Adopted Brazilian dreams big for 'our Hong Kong' at Asian Cup

Hong Kong lost 3-1 to the United Arab Emirates in their opening match on Sunday but the 32-year-old forward set up their goal and the lowest-ranked team in Qatar are still alive in the tournament.

The powerful Everton, who only got his Hong Kong passport in August, came into the competition in pulsating international form with five goals in his first six games.

His rise to international football with the side ranked 150 in the world is the culmination of a long and itinerant career in Hong Kong's domestic game, having arrived in the Chinese city aged 24.

"In Brazil there are too many players, there is a lot of competition," Everton, one of the stars of the Hong Kong Premier League, told AFP ahead of the Asian Cup.

"If I tried to play professionally in Brazil, I was going to be one of a bunch, playing in a third, fourth or fifth division.

"Maybe I wouldn't have the chance to go any higher."

So the native of Soledade, Rio Grande do Sul state, took the "hard decision" to temporarily move away from his wife and two-year-old son Bernardo, seeking greener pastures 18,000 kilometres (11,000 miles) away.

Starting out with some of the weaker sides in Hong Kong's top league, he eventually ended up at Lee Man, who currently top the Premier League.

He is a quick and strong right-sided forward, always looking to cut inside and work a shot on his left, in a style he likens to Netherlands great Arjen Robben or Liverpool star Mohamed Salah.

"In Hong Kong I knew I could grow and that's exactly what happened," he said.

Hong Kong's Norwegian coach Jorn Andersen says Everton is "maybe the best player in Hong Kong".

"He is a player who raises the quality of the team, he's a player who makes a difference in the team," he told reporters in Qatar.

- 'Our Hong Kong' -

Many other Asian Cup nations have in recent years bolstered their ranks with players raised in countries with stronger football cultures, either through naturalisation or with members of their diaspora.

As a naturalised Hong Kong star, Everton follows in the footsteps of dozens of other foreigners -- mainly from Brazil and Spain, as well as West African countries -- who got their international breakthrough with the city's team.

The squad for Qatar includes three other Brazil-born Hong Kongers.

The fervent local support that the side receives -- partly as a lightning rod for civic pride in the face of Beijing's tightening political grip -- has rarely been matched by on-field results.

Hong Kong face Iran, one of the Asian Cup favourites, on Friday and are also grouped with Palestine.

They are not expected to reach the next round but they won 2-1 against China in a friendly behind closed doors in the build-up to the competition, a first victory over their mainland rivals in 29 years.

Everton says the team have "improved a lot in the last two years, perhaps also with the arrival of foreigners to help the Hong Kong team along with the local, Chinese players".

He added: "We are 100 percent focused on this competition because we know the importance of the competition and representing our Hong Kong."

Z.AlNajjar--SF-PST