China down but not out after Cup loss to Japan

BEIJING: China was still sore yesterday after the national soccer team lost a heartbreaking Asian Cup final to Japan the night before, grumbling about controversial calls while soberly sizing up the home squad's efforts. 

“The hand of god pushed China down from the pedestal,” blared a headline in Shanghai's Oriental Morning Post, summing up sentiment after a tide-turning goal by midfielder Koji Nakata in the second half that replays showed to be a handball. 

After the game, which China lost 1-3, hundreds of exasperated fans shouted anti-Japanese slurs, hurled bottles and overturned road barriers in a face-off with riot police outside the stadium in central Beijing. 

Most were dispersed by midnight, but some continued to demonstrate at the hotel where the Japanese side was staying and near the cordoned-off Japanese embassy. 

The Beijing Times labelled the game a “deciding match without a champion.” 

China coach Arie Haan refused to collect his runner-up medal in protest at the officiating of Kuwaiti referee Saad Kameel. 

“The first goal was from a free kick to Japan that should have gone to us, the second was a handball and the third was after a foul on Sun Jihai,” he said after the match. 

Still, given the politically charged atmosphere of the rivalry, fuelled by bitter resentment over Japan's wartime invasion and occupation of parts of China, Chinese newspapers were fairly restrained. 

None reported the post-game scuffles with police. 

“The vast majority of China's soccer fans have quietly accepted the result,” said the China Youth Daily. “In sum, our skills were weaker than theirs.” – Reuters