Soccer coverage
Beijing time on January 27, China ushered in the seventh round of the group matches of the 12-team tournament at the Saitama Stadium in Tokyo, away to Japan. With goals from Yuya Osako and Junya Ito, Japan beat China 2-0. After the match, China's head coach Li Xiaopeng said he took full responsibility for the loss and said the national team will give their best for the upcoming match against Vietnam.
Li Xiaopeng said: "Today the players have tried their best to the limit, the moment point of the two conceded goals, the rhythm of the whole game has caused a great impact. I am deeply sorry for this, I must take full responsibility for the loss of the game."
Talking about the score, Li Xiaopeng thinks: "This score is within the normal range, if we are lucky, maybe there is still a chance to turn the game over, but if the opponent grasps the timing, the score may be further expanded."
Talking about the overall tactical deployment, Li Xiaopeng said: "We had hoped that in the second half through the offensive players change up to top the opponent's attack, defense-oriented, but the second loss of goals on the team's overall deployment or have a greater impact."
Facing the current situation of hopelessness, Li Xiaopeng said of the upcoming match against Vietnam, "The national team will do their best in every game, and we will treat the next game with two hundred percent effort."
A Japanese media reporter asked Li Xiaopeng what the team's original tactical arrangement was when the team conceded the opening goal on a penalty kick. To this, Li Xiaopeng responded, "Since the Chinese team has not played warm-up matches for some time, we prepared for 20-30 minutes to adapt to the Japanese team's pace of play, but the effect was not ideal, and after falling behind 2-0, the possibility of us equalizing was already minimal."
