Soccer: Japan Beats China
Those of you who follow the news links posted on Japan Probe’s front page may have read the article we linked to focusing on expectations of anti-Japanese hostility leading up to a China-Japan soccer match. Well, the match took place last night, and judging from the news photos showing up on Yahoo! Japan, fans of nasty unsportsman-like behavior weren’t let down.
The most painful-looking event in the match was a kick delivered to a Japanese player by the Chinese goalkeeper during the second half of the game (the photo at the top of this post shows the kick from a different angle):
A video of the “dangerous kung fu kick” is currently the most-viewed video on YouTube Japan:
Other photos and videos (all of which were popular on Yahoo and YouTube’s Japanese sites) show other scenes of “dirty football:”
Japan ended up winning the game, though:
“I knew it would be a tough game but my players fought calmly,” said Japan coach Takeshi Okada, whose squad missed Celtic star Shunsuke Nakamura and three key strikers including former Frankfurt player Naohiro Takahara because of poor form or injury.
“They fought patiently and produced a result,” Okada added.
China’s under-pressure Serbian coach Vladimir Petrovic praised his whole squad, including six under-23 players, for “performing aggressively.”
The AFP article linked states that Chinese fans “remained unexpectedly quiet during Japan’s national anthem and cut out the loud booing that marred their win over North Korea.” Japanese language articles, however, report that Chinese fans were quite hostile, booing loudly and even burning a Japanese flag. Jiji Press also released a photo showing Chinese guards restraining a fan whose anti-Japanese cheering got out of hand:
Fuji TV news ran a short segment on Chinese fan reactions to the match, mentioning the flag-burning incident. However, the report noted that there was less anti-Japanese protesting that usual after the match, with Chinese fans instead focusing their anger on their own team:
[Update] More on this from the AFP:
“We deplore yesterday’s performances very much. As the delegation, we are considering making some representations to the EAFF (East Asian Football Federation),” Kuniya Daini told reporters.
“Dangerous acts could threaten players’ careers.”
Daini also hit out at North Korean referee Song O-Tae, who handed out four yellow cards to the hosts but did not send anyone off.
He said he would consult with Japanese men’s coach Takeshi Okada later Thursday and may take action on Friday.
“We may seek appropriate steps to be taken with regard to both rough plays and refereeing,” Daini said.
Okada had already complained he was “very much dissatisfied” with the officiating and other matters.
“I told my players to act calmly but it was myself who was more excited,” he said after the match.
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tell me he got at least a yellow for the kick.we shall have to wait for the olympics for the real booing to kick off
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Oh the goalie got red carded for that jump kick, but in the other picture of the slide tackle, the player only got a yellow card.
This isn’t soccer, it’s K-1. Japan should file a complaint with the Olympic committee to have the Chinese team barred from competing.
Truly a disgraceful display of sportsmanship.
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No, the goalkeeper got a yellow card, shockingly enough, or not since the referee was North Korean.
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It looks like Chinese having brought over their Kung Fu team in the game. Or it’s still too early for them to have the Olympics.
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I would say there should have been 9 Chinese players left on the pitch at the end. Reminds me of a certain German goalkeeper in 1982.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coSfMSUSVPI&feature=related
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Apparently the Chinese can’t win without resorting to cheating and violence. Oh, wait. They can’t win with it either. What a bunch of losers.
And congrats to the Japanese boys for keeping their cool and playing good ball. Victory baby!
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I hate these people who criticize on youtube.. they are lame.. and it’s either chinese or australian that talk shit about japan.
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People’s perspective are not always the same, not all Chinese are anti-Japan, i hope that goalkeeper didn’t do it deliberately, i feel sympathy for the Japanese player though, but Japan team did a good job, grats
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Of course he did it deliberately. Have you watched football before? This sort of thing rarely happens.
I suppose the actions of the Chinese women’s team were just accidents as well…
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I don’t think there will be much anti Japanese sentiment displayed at the Olympics. There’s going to be hundreds of nations participating so there’s no reason to focus just on Japan, China is probably going to do better than Japan anyway and most importantly China is looking to showcase what a great country it is with the Olympics. They won’t allow flag burning with foreign heads of states in the stadium.
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You may be right, but I seem to remember that during the Seoul Olympics the South Koreans would field teams of “supporters” to pack the stadiums and cheer for whatever team was playing against Japan. Pretty clear anti-Japanese sentiment.
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man, this football style is shameful: pass are appoximative.
Even referee don’t do their job:
in the 2nd vid @ 1:30, the red guy is in the position of a last defender and is tackling a striker from behind with the two feet ahead: his move being an obvious attempt to abort rudely a promissing action should be red carded and expelled from the game.
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I liked it better as Shaolin Soccer.
They should be severely disciplined for this. What an embarrassment for China.
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Hey it’s
SHAOLIN SOCCER!!!!!!!
http://www.miramax.com/shaolin_soccer/
I cannot believe that he was not sent off and banned from football for the next 3 games.
The keeper was clearly the “last man” and when a last man fouls, it’s an immediate sending off, so FIFA needs to sack that Ref and re-think its policies for the Olympics in China.
Ridiculous.
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HAHA! That’s what they get! Good job, Japan!
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Haha, Shaolin Soccer, that’s exactly what I was thinking when I saw that flying kick.
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Nippon GANBARE. YOKATANE OTSUKARESAMA.
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Well… it’s hard to say. Anyone ever seen an Enland/Scotland game of football? The refs here were the problem… those slide kicks were always late and uncontrolled.
I just hope China doesn’t shame herself more in the Olympics and cleans up the game a little bit. There have been worse games in history, but even still… ouch.
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Forgot about this little incident last year involving China in a friendly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt0zjgT6Xxw
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well, china really seem to have played very aggressive and there are certainly several calls that should have been red flags. on the flip side, this is soccer and we know soccer is notorious for players exaggerating “injuries.” some of china’s attempts for appear legit and japan definitely appeared to play a less physical game.
the ref definitely sucked on this game
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The China vs. Japan soccer matches have now become the East’s version of the England vs. Germany soccer matches.
The goalkeeper has obviously seen “Shaolin Soccer” too many times.
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In the England v. Germany matches, one team doesn’t play like street thugs because of what happened during the war over 60 years ago.
Nationalist Chinese need to grow up and start wondering why, if the government they so revere is as wonderful as they think, it needs to censor all media in the country. If you want to be a modern nation, you need to have grown up values.
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