BEIJING, July 21 (Xinhua) -- The National Football Team (NFF) has lost 0-3 to South Korea in the first match of the East Asian Cup, and the defeat has brought controversy to the NFF team, which mainly consists of U23 players. South Korea's leading media outlet "STAR NEWS" has issued a sharp commentary, accusing the national football team of "self-defeating" behavior, which reflects disrespect for the tournament.
The Korean media pointed out that the national football team lost 0-3 despite taking 23 shots to 1 and having a high possession rate of 77% to 23%, a performance that is not commensurate with a FIFA-recognized international A-level tournament. They argued that it exposed the substandard level of the national soccer team and showed disrespect for the East Asian Cup.
The Korean media reviewed the match in detail, noting that the 3-0 scoreline puts South Korea on their way to a fourth consecutive East Asian Cup title, but the match was far from "intense". South Korea's ball possession was close to 80%, while the national football team focused on defense.
An in-depth analysis by the Korean media says that the Chinese team is actually fielding an U23 national team in this tournament. In other words, the South Korean national team is facing China's U23 national team in the East Asian Cup, an international A-level tournament. Even so, their head coach is the same Yankovic who is in charge of the U23 national team, and only 2 of the 24 players on the team are overage, while 20 players have never participated in an international A-level tournament.
The Korean media also mentioned that although the Chinese media claimed that this is a U23 selection team formed to prepare for the Hangzhou Asian Games, the gap between the national soccer team and Japan and South Korea, which sent players from their own leagues because they could not draw players from Europe, is obvious. In addition, the Korean media also pointed out that the national soccer team's performance in training and matches was not up to standard, as well as the rough style of play on the field.
The Korean media emphasized that this is not the first time that the national football team has fallen into a "self-defeating" situation. In this season's AFC Champions League, in addition to Shanghai Harbor and Changchun Yatai due to withdrawal, Shandong Taishan and Guangzhou, two teams with mainly young players have not won. Shandong Taishan scored only one point and two goals against the Lion City Mariners, while Guangzhou lost all six of their matches.
The AFC openly criticized the national football team in an interview with the head of AFC Champions League operations. AFC officials believe that the Chinese Super League teams arranged for reserve and echelon players to participate in the competition for two consecutive years, which is disrespectful to the opponent and the tournament, and such a practice also reduces the overall level of the AFC Champions League. Now, a similar scenario is repeating itself in the East Asian Cup.
