Team China stun S. Korea
Lippi aims for more wins in World Cup qualifiers
Marcello Lippi said the Chinese national soccer team have made progress on the pitch, but there is still a way to go despite the home team’s sensational 1- 0 win against old rivals South Korea on Thursday night in Changsha, Hunan Province.
“We saw progress, but there’s still room for improvement,” Lippi told the post- match news conference.
A header from Yu Dabao in the first half sent the near- capacity stadium into jubilation, as the Beijing Guoan forward ended China’s goal drought in the 2018 World Cup qualifying series that had lasted for more than 400 minutes.
“We played very conservatively in the first half, though we scored a goal, but in the second half we did better with solid defense as well as several opportunities to score,” Lippi said.
The World Cup- winning Italian coach said China need to continue their winning form if the team want to qualify for next year’s World Cup.
“Three points were very necessary for us, and it’s against a strong opponent,” said Lippi. “Winning today’s game means our dreams are still alive but we still need to keep our form to win games if we want to qualify for the World Cup.”
“I hope my players will not get complacent after the win, we can surely do better in our attack,” the silver- haired Italian noted.
“Now we are only five points behind the second- placed team, we must do well in the following games and win as many as possible.”
It is China’s first win in the Asian third- round qualifiers, which was rare enough for the Chinese media to give a huge round of applause to the coach at the post- match conference. Fans took to the streets near the stadium with a giant Chinese national flag to celebrate the win.
After Thursday’s win, the national team have extended their unbeaten run at the He Long Stadium to nine games since 2005.
Goalkeeper Zeng Cheng, who had been sidelined over a ligament injury since China’s home match against Iran in September, was named Man of the Match for his solid performance between the sticks.
“Actually, I prefer not to be named Man of the Match, which means our defense is not good enough,” the Guangzhou Evergrande keeper told reporters.
“I was well- prepared for the game … we always keep the wish that one day we can play at a World Cup. We didn’t give up. If we can play how the coach expects, our results in the qualifying series will not be bad.”
Goal scorer Yu said the win has boosted the team’s confidence for the future qualifiers.
“We had a lot of pressure before the match … The win has given us a lot of confidence that we can do better.”
The game was the competitive debut of Hebei China Fortune midfielder Yin Hongbo for the national team.
The 28- year- old came off the bench in the second half, but was the only Chinese player to be booked with a yellow card in the match, which many anticipated would be marred by on- field friction.
But later he became a victim after South Korea’s Hwang Hee- chan kicked him in the leg after vying for the ball in the dying moments of the game. But Australian referee Peter Green did not show Hwang a yellow.
Defeat seemed hard to accept for South Korea. Coach Uli Stielike said he bore more responsibility for the loss than his players.
“I should give my apology to fans that we were not able to take points away,” the German told the post- match news conference dejectedly.
“We did expect China to play aggressively, but we had difficulties to manage our pace in the first 20 minutes before we took control of the game. However, China’s scoring had put us into problems again.”
On Tuesday, China will visit Iran, the team that still remain top of the qualifying group with only the top two sure of a World Cup berth.