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China's reputation takes beating in soccer tourney

China's sporting reputation ahead of the Beijing Olympics took a hit at the East Asian Football Championships, with fans misbehaving and their men's team collecting 17 yellow cards.

China's aggressive tactics in the three games they played against Japan, South Korea and North Korea also earned them a US$14,500 fine from the East Asian Football Federation.

Local spectators set the tone in Japan's opening 1-1 draw against North Korea by booing the Japanese national anthem, jeering the Japanese players and burning some Japanese national flags.

When China then lost 1-0 to Japan the crowd turned their anger on the home side, demanding Chinese Football Association vice president Xie Yalong be sacked.

Xie, a native of Chongqing, had earlier fired up his team by urging them not to lose to wartime aggressor Japan.

"Never lose to the Japanese team in Chongqing," he said, citing heavy World War II Japanese bombardments of the city where Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) had a provisional government, according to Chinese sports daily Titan.

Japan knew it was never going to get an easy ride in China with the players and supporters on the receiving end of taunts and abuse when they played group matches here at the 2004 Asian Cup.

In a bid to calm tensions, the public address system repeatedly warned at both men's and women's games that it is the "traditional virtue of Chongqing fans" to respect opponents and watch matches in a "friendly atmosphere."

The ill-tempered China-Japan match saw the Chinese collect four cautions in addition to the five yellow cards they picked in going down 3-2 to South Korea.

The regional federation on Saturday fined the hosts US$4,500 for the misconduct, according to its regulations that a team can be penalized a maximum US$10,000 for picking four or more yellow cards in a match.

But it failed to deter the Chinese, who picked up another eight bookings and two red cards as they demolished North Korea 3-1 later that day, an offense that cost them a further US$10,000.
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