China, which has been consistent with dirty fouls, is beautifying the game with Korea as ‘fighting spirit’.
The U20 soccer team led by coach Kim Eun-joong advanced to the semifinals by beating China 3-1 thanks to Seong Jin-young’s come-from-behind goal in extra time at the ‘2023 AFC U20 Asian Cup Quarterfinals’ held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on the 12th. On the 15th, Korea will meet the host country, Uzbekistan, in the semifinals to compete for the final.
Since China couldn’t do it with their skills, all sorts of foul play abounded. It was aegyo that the Korean player pulled the uniform from behind when he made a decisive shot. The Chinese player, who failed in the tackle, tripped the Korean player with his back foot even when he fell. There was also a Chinese player who hit a Korean player with an elbow from behind when heading.
On this day, China committed 22 fouls and tackled 25 times. China’s pass accuracy was only 35.5%. The referee gave the Chinese player 3 yellow cards, but was not sent off. Chinese coach Antonio Puche, who was born in Spain and strongly protested against the extra time, was even sent off due to accumulated warnings.
The Chinese media criticized the national team’s elimination, but glorified ‘violence’ as ‘fighting spirit’. ‘Soccer China’ said, “China was able to compete with the best teams in Asia, such as Japan and Korea, with tremendous fighting spirit and abundant stamina. Leaders need to think about how to create an environment for young players to grow after the competition,” he said.
The media continued, “In fact, expectations for the Chinese team were not high. People predicted that China would be eliminated with 3 losses. However, China scored at least a point, taking a 1-0 lead over Japan. China also recorded a draw with Korea in the first 90 minutes.” 오락실 토토
Interestingly, China’s opening goal against Japan was not China’s field goal, but Japan’s own goal. China blatantly sought a penalty shootout in the match against Korea. During the second half and overtime, exhausted Chinese players suffered cramps in their legs and lost their stamina.
‘Soccer China’ said, “Korea did not concede a goal in three group stage matches. Against Korea, China scored the first goal and scored the first goal of the tournament. China provided a new way to solve the problem with the old defensive counterattack.”
