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China's World Cup Hopes Wane With Loss

Sunday, 8th June 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (2)

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Tianjin—Despite controlling the pace of much of the game, China's men's soccer (football) team fell to Qatar, 1-0. Sebastian Soria scored the game's one goal on a 14th-minute penalty. Some from the Chinese side objected to the penalty call. Watch the this CCTV video to see the foul at about 44 seconds in.

China coach Vladimir Petrovic has taken some heat from the Chinese media for the lineup changes he made for the match. He benched midfielder Sun Jihai, striker Han Peng and midfielder Du Zhenyu, going instead with a younger lineup including players whom he wanted to get experience before the Olympics.

Sun and defender Li Weifeng got yellow cards in the game, so both will miss the team's next game against Iraq June 14. China now must beat Iraq June 14 and Australia (tied for first in Group A with Qatar) June 22, in order to keep hope alive of playing in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. China played Australia to a scoreless tie in Kunming in March.

China did not qualify for the 2006 World Cup. Earlier this year, the China Football Association promised an eight million yuan bonus to the team if it qualifies for the 2010 tournament. The players demonstrated the amount of pride at stake when they took this scary oath (translated from Beijing Youth Daily):

"I pledge to advance to the World Cup, which is the professional goal that we strive for… we swear by death to kill along the bloody road of defending the honor of the motherland and realize our youthful dreams."

Image: Xinhua

Tags: football, Li Weifeng, soccer, Sun Jihai, Vladimir Petrovic, World Cup 2010