At 15:00 in the afternoon of July 27th, the 9th East Asian Cup 2022 was in full swing, with the 3rd round match between Hong Kong and China taking place at the Toyota Stadium in Aichi, Japan. After a fierce battle, our team narrowly beat Hong Kong 1-0. In this moment, He Yupeng and Tan Guoxi launched a continuous press in front of the field, and Tan Long broke through the opponent's goal with a precise shot from a small angle inside the penalty area. Our team has its first win in this year's East Asian Cup and is currently in third place with four points from one win, one draw and one loss, while Hong Kong is at the bottom of the table with zero points after losing all three matches. If Japan loses by nine goals or more against South Korea, our team will be expected to pick up the runner-up spot, otherwise they will reap third place honors.
Looking back at the first two rounds of the East Asian Cup, our men's soccer team was defeated by South Korea 0-3 in the first round of the tournament, and the match with Japan was a 0-0 handshake, and is now ranked third with a record of 1 draw, 1 loss and 1 point; Hong Kong's team, however, lost in the matches with Japan and South Korea, and is ranked fourth with 0 points. In the history of the meetings between China and Hong Kong in Class A international matches, China has the upper hand with 15 wins, 6 draws and 2 losses, scoring 41 goals and conceding 7. With this victory over Hong Kong, China is expected to get its first win in this year's East Asian Cup, and then secure the third place. If we win big against Hong Kong and South Korea wins big against Japan, we may even win the second place. On the contrary, if our team is unlucky to lose, it will be the first time our team will be at the bottom of the East Asian Cup. In the starting lineup for the match, Xu Haofeng and Jiang Shenglong came in for Wen Jiabao and Wong Ka Fai, who was suspended for accumulating two yellow cards, while the Hong Kong lineup remained unchanged.
[Highlights]
At the beginning of the match, Dai Weijun sent in a corner kick from the left, and Wu Shaochong attempted an overhead kick inside the penalty area but kicked the ball away.
Then in the 11th minute, Dai Weijun once again sent in a corner kick from the right, Jiang Shenglong jumped up to head the ball inside the penalty area, but was cleared by Liang Guanchong who fell on the goal line, Chen Guoxi then stopped the ball at the top of the arc and fired a shot from long range, but the ball was refracted off the bottom of the line by Ahn Yongjia.
In the 38th minute, Hu Jinming took a long shot from the top of the arc that went over the crossbar.
In the 39th minute, He Yupeng sent a precise pass to Tan Long from the right side of the penalty area, and the ball flew into the goal from a small angle. Tan Long scored his second goal in his 10th international A-grade match for China, giving our team a 1-0 lead! This was also the first goal for our team in this East Asian Cup.
In the second half, Ju Yingzhi's corner kick from the left was met by Xie Jiaqiang's header from inside the penalty area and Ahn Yongjia swept a shot in from close range, but it was crucially blocked by Han Jiaqi to avoid a draw.
In the end, our team won a narrow 1-0 victory over Hong Kong.
[Both lineups]
China (343): 1-Han Jiaqi; 3-Wu Shaocong, 5-Zhu Chenjie, 6-Jiang Guangtai (57'2-Ye Lijiang); 17-Xu Haofeng (46'16-Wen Jiabao), 8-Dai Weijun (57'13-Xu Yue), 4-Jiang Shenglong (65 '15-Diliyimiti), 18-Ho Yupeng (83'7-Tao Qianglong); 20-Fang Hao, 11-Tan Long, 14-Chen Guoxiang;
Substitutes: 12-Peng Peng, 21-Mao Xuchen, 22-Liu Zhurun, 23-Liang Shaowen, 24-Su Shihao, 25-Huang Zihao, 26-Liu Ruofan
Hong Kong, China (4141): 19 - Chan Ka Ho; 12 - Leung Kwun Chung, 5 - Tse Ka Keung, 22 - Laurence, 21 - Ru Zi Nan; 8 - Hu Jin Ming (76'24 - Kau Ying Chi); 23 - Suen Ming Chien, 6 - Chan Chun Lok, 10 - Wong Wai (76'17 - Kan Ka Hang), 7 - Lo Tze Chun (76 '16-Zheng Zhaogun); 9-An Yongjia;
Substitutes: 1-Wu Weiqian, 3-Hsu Hongjie, 4-Dumas, 11-Zheng Zhanlong, 13-Liu Xueming, 14-Yu Zaiyin, 15-Feng Qingye, 18-Paul, 20-Yao Hao Ming, 25-Chao Congwu, 26-Tzeng Yixing.
