Paris Olympics: China’s men fail to qualify after U23 Asian Cup campaign starts with two defeats
- Defeats at hands of Japan and South Korea leave China bottom of Group B and out of running for Summer Games
- But head coach Cheng Yaodong says side ‘didn’t lose’ and defends using substitute goalkeeper as makeshift striker
China’s men will not be playing football at the Paris Olympics this summer, after losing 2-0 to South Korea at the U23 Asian Cup on Friday.
Defeat was the side’s second loss in as many games in Group B at the tournament in Qatar, which also acts at the regional qualifier for the Games in France.
And while the scoreline was pretty clear cut, head coach Cheng Yaodong said his team “did not lose”, with football “sometimes not measured in numbers alone”.
The numbers though make for disappointing reading, with China conceding three goals, scoring none, managing no points, and seeing any hope of making it to Paris ended with a game to spare.
“Korea are a strong team, even if we have more opportunities but fail to seize them, it showed the gap between the two teams,” Cheng said. “Maybe we can take those chances in our third or fourth match. Our players have less experience in such high-level events, after all, so they did well already.”
A pair of goals from striker Lee Young-jun on either side of the half at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, coupled with Japan’s 2-0 win over the United Arab Emirates hours later, sealed the fate of the two winless teams in the group.
