Chinese football fans use women’s AFC Asian Cup triumph to mock misfiring men’s team, as ‘Steel Roses’ pocket 10 million yuan prize from Mengniu

Weibo abuzz with celebration of the ‘Steel Roses’ after their dramatic 3-2 win over South Korea in Sunday’s final

Netizens praise women’s team for ‘earning back the dignity of Chinese football’ after men’s side miss out on qualifying for Fifa World Cup

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A meme (left) mocking China’s men’s national football team after the women’s side’s AFC Asian Cup triumph (right). Photo: Twitter and AFP

Published: 1:13am, 7 Feb 2022Updated: 4:58pm, 7 Feb 2022

China’s women’s national football team completed an incredible second-half comeback from 2-0 down against South Korea to claim a record-extending ninth AFC Asian Cup on Sunday.

And the dramatic victory provided some cheer for the nation’s beleaguered football fans, who watched the men’s side limp out of the running for qualification to the Fifa 2022 World Cup on Lunar New Year’s Day.

The topic quickly trended with millions of searches on China’s Twitter-like social media platform Weibo after the game.

Netizens celebrated the women’s team’s triumph – and didn’t miss another opportunity to take a few more digs at Li Xiaopeng’s misfiring men’s team after their humiliating 3-1 defeat by Thailand.

Weibo was also abuzz with the news that Shui Qingxia’s “Steel Roses” will pocket a 10 million yuan (US$1.57 million) cash prize from team sponsor Mengniu, the Chinese dairy company, while Alipay also promised the players a bonus.