The Chinese team unexpectedly lost 1-2 to the Hong Kong team (China) in a friendly match to prepare for the 2023 Asian Cup finals. This has never happened in nearly 40 years.
On the current FIFA rankings, Hong Kong (China) is ranked 150th. Meanwhile, the Chinese team, despite its decline in recent years, is still in the top 100, even ranking many places above the Vietnamese team at 79th place in the world .
This defeat caused the Chinese team to face a wave of criticism. Author Chen Hua on social network Sina pointed out the problems of the Chinese team.
" Losing in a friendly match is normal, even if it is a lower-ranked team. However, the way the team lost is unacceptable. This result reveals the team's weakness in strength and the error in controlling the players' psychology ," wrote author Chen Hua.
Hong Kong team surprisingly defeated China. (Photo: SCMP)
In this match, the Chinese team opened the score first thanks to Tan Long. In the 54th minute, Poon Pui-hin equalized for Hong Kong. From here, the match became tense. Wang Shangyuan (China) received a red card and was sent off.
The Hong Kong team played with one more player and scored the second goal. The scorer was still Poon Pui-hin. The Chinese team played deadlocked. Not only were they harmless in attack, but they also received two red cards from an assistant and defender Wu Shaocong.
" The defenders couldn't keep up with their opponents so they could only stop them by fouling them. The assistant couldn't keep his cool and made rude comments leading to a red card ," the author of the article commented.
Many fans still sympathize with the Chinese team, pointing out that the Chinese Super League ended in November, leaving the players without football for two months. They only regrouped a few days ago and this was just a practice match.
However, comparing the level of the two teams, the Chinese team is still stronger than their opponents. They are still among the top teams in Asia. Therefore, even when not in the best condition, coach Jankovic's students should have played better than their performance.
Van Hai
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