The Chinese men's national soccer team narrowly beat Hong Kong 1-0 with Tan Long's 67th-minute winner in the East Asian Cup, ending the tournament with a win, a draw, and a loss. After the game, the head coach of the men's soccer team, Jankovic, said in a press conference, "Compared to the previous two games, the biggest difference in this game is that we finally realized the goal. We created many chances in the first half and finally scored in the second half, which is a great boost to the young players' self-confidence."
Talking about the overall performance of the East Asian Cup, Jankovic said that the Cup was a valuable platform for training, "We were fortunate enough to play against strong opponents, with South Korea and Japan both having made it to the
World Cup
final round. Although we have a young team, this is the second opportunity to compete abroad in three years after the Dubai Cup."
Yankovic pointed out that "high-level matches allow us to recognize our own shortcomings more clearly, clarify the direction of our efforts, and build a more competitive team. For example, this East Asian Cup we have found that there are deficiencies in physical fitness, this is the third game of the week, and many players have problems with physical fitness. One of our team's goals is to excel at the Hangzhou Asian Games, which means that we will have to play six matches in about three weeks, so improving our fitness is an issue that we need to address urgently. In addition, we need to keep polishing in terms of technical and tactical details."
Yankovic summarized, "As a coach, it's hard for me to be satisfied with the performance of the team in this East Asian Cup, because we lost a game after all. But this was not due to the strength of the opponents. Overall, we gained four points and have played against strong teams, losing the first game, drawing the second and winning the third, so we can say that we are growing, which is good news for us. We will recognize our progress and keep working hard."
Jankovic emphasized, "As a coach, all the poor performances of the team are my responsibility. I will analyze and summarize them carefully and put in a new job starting early tomorrow morning."
