AFC Asian Cup: China under fire after a narrow win over Kyrgyzstan in opening group game

Team China came under fire from mainland supporters and media after their lacklustre 2-1 victory over Kyrgyzstan in their Asian Cup opening game in United Arab Emirates.

Although the result will still see them through to the knockout round of 16 if they can beat the Philippines in their next group C match on Friday, their performance was less-than-convincing with Asian powerhouses South Korea in the same group.

The Koreans also needed a second-half goal before scraping past the Philippines 1-0 in the other group C match.

Sina Sports headlines read “Yu Dabao saves the team alongside gifted goal from the opposition”; “Team China come from behind to score opening win” and “Marcello Lippi furious in changing room during half-time”, while the official Xinhua New Agency said: “China come back to beat Kyrgyzstan after Pavel Matiash’s bizarre own goal”.

Beijing Daily said Lippi scolded the “dreaming” national team during half-time team-talk to wake the players up as China “scored an opening victory through a blunder from the opponents”.

Korean media also criticised the performance of China, especially their top player Wu Lei. Starnews said, “The one who saved China was not Wu, who was built up ahead of the match, but the goalkeeper from Kyrgyzstan. Wu played the full match but failed to take any goal-scoring opportunity that came his way. His performance was disappointing.”

But supporters were far more critical.