It was not quite as catastrophic as when China were knocked out in the qualifying stages for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, but last night little brothers Hong Kong bared their teeth again to inflict another painful result on the mainland's soccer mandarins.
China won 1-0 at a wet Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground, but Hong Kong had already done enough before the game; the mainlanders needed to win by four goals to go through.
The result might not have led to riots like those in Beijing in 1985, when Hong Kong, coached by Kwok Ka-ming, secured a shock 2-1 victory, which knocked China out of that World Cup, but it was still galling for mainland supporters that Hong Kong did not just roll over for them.
Instead, Hong Kong packed their defence, with forward Chao Pengfei cutting a lonely figure up-front, and heroically defended wave after wave of desperate China attacks.
'It wasn't quite the way I would have liked to see Hong Kong play, but we needed to make sure that we qualified for the semi-finals,' said Hong Kong's South Korean coach, Kim Pan-gon. 'The only way to do that was not to concede too many goals.'
Despite the loss, Hong Kong topped their group thanks to a 4-1 shock win over South Korea. The South Koreans, who defeated China 3-0, finished second and will also make it through to the semis. In the other half of the draw, unbeaten Japan and North Korea have gone through. Hong Kong play North Korea in one semi-final tomorrow, and Japan take on South Korea.
