Xi Jinping, David Cameron, and … Sergio Aguero. What the heck?

China’s president looks like a real human being. David Cameron looks like he has FOMO. Forget “selfie of the year,” which many have proclaimed. This is a Picture of the Year candidate, and it was taken by an Argentine footballer.

The backstory is that Xi Jinping is visiting Manchester as part of his UK tour, where he’ll talk about capital investments and direct flights from Beijing to Manchester. But who cares. Look at this!:

.@aguerosergiokun: “Thank you for the selfie, President Xi” 感谢能与您自拍，习主席！#CFAStateVisit pic.twitter.com/4du2zIaacY

— Manchester City FC (@MCFC) October 23, 2015

A goalkeeper makes dozens of decisions over the course of every match, from how to position himself to whether to attack or sit back on incoming crosses, and the slightest miscalculation can sometimes be the difference between a win and something lesser. Never will this point be more obviously illustrated than during Sunday’s Chinese Super League match between Chongqing Lifan and Liaoning Hongyun, when Chongqing goalkeeper Sui Weijie’s crucial decision to take a sip of water cost his team a victory.

In the 84th minute, Chongqing was up 1-0 when it committed a foul just outside its box. While Chongqing’s defenders are pleading their case around the referee, Liaoning’s Ding Haifeng quick starts the free kick, taking everybody by surprise — most of all Chongqing’s goalkeeper, who was sipping from his water bottle when the ball rolled into his unmanned goal.

This is the face of a man who knows he done screwed up and will sleep a lonely sleep:

The funniest part, by far, is the reaction of the Chongqing manager, who can’t even be all that mad at his keeper since it looks like he was caught just as unawares… and equally thirsty:

(Via Fail Goal via Who Ate All the Pies)

Wang Dalei shouldn’t be too hard on himself for letting this ball go through, because… holy shit, Tim Cahill!

Logically speaking, all things considered, China has no reason to lament this result in what was its most meaningful soccer game in a long time. But they’ll probably look back and realize what a real opportunity they had to steal one. In the first half, China controlled more than 77 percent of possession, featuring an outstanding scoring chance in the 20th minute following a nifty build-up.

But Australia had its moments, too, and probably would have put one in if not for the brilliance of Wang Dalei in goal. One got the sense, watching, that it would require a flash of brilliance to break the deadlock.

And then… Cahill. The 35-year-old’s 49th-minute bicycle-kick goal gave Australia its first goal. He would add another, a header, in the 65th minute to give the Socceroos their final 2-0 margin.

Some game highlights:

Some day, when historians write the story of the rise of Chinese Football — the team’s long path from national laughingstock to World Cup champion — they’ll point to this year’s Asian Cup as the turning point. More specifically, they’ll cite tonight’s game (7:30 pm* China time, 9:30 Queensland), during which a scrappy and young squad caught magic and upset the tourney hosts in a sold-out and raucous Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

Or China could lose 4-0 and we’ll forget them until the next ignominious flameout in World Cup qualifying. Either way, tonight’s game — one of the most anticipated international fixtures this country’s seen in a while – should be great! It could, in fact, be the most-watched game in Socceroos history.

For those who haven’t followed, China entered this year’s Asian Cup as basically an afterthought — it barely qualified, in fact — with the following quote, from China Sports Insider’s Mark Dreyer, being the most interesting thing anything could say about the team at this tournament:

Ha! “Expect global headlines about a literal Group of Death” http://t.co/lRphxujjBy (Asian Cup group: China, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, DPRK)

— Anthony Tao (@anthonytao) March 27, 2014

Three group games later, China has the maximum 9 points possible and find themselves in the quarterfinals against the host nation, Australia. This is the first time China’s advanced beyond the group stage of the Asian Cup in 11 years, and as I told the Australian, Chinese fans have noticed:

I think it’s too early to say that Chinese fans are fully ready to embrace the national team, which has been a target of mockery, but it looks like the Chinese in Australia are warming up to them.

That could be an understatement. I was watching the Uzbekistan match in Beijing and the atmosphere looked incredible. It’ll be interesting to see whether the support carries over to China’s matches after this tournament concludes, but I tend to think it will. Fans gravitate to teams that play as hard as this current squad does.

A quick recap: in the opening game against Saudi Arabia, a 12-year-old boy helped goalkeeper Wang Dalei — who looks like a genuine star in the making — save a penalty kick…

…and then a fortuitous bounce resulted in a Chinese goal:

Talk about the smile of fortune. When the 1-0 score held up until the final whistle, China found itself atop a group that was suddenly looking very winnable.

Win it they did when they defeated Uzbekistan in the next game: a come-from-behind victory featuring two highlight-reel goals that have been replayed thousands of times on CCTV in the past week and a half:

The final game against North Korea was just icing. While Australia struggled and strained against South Korea in its final group match — losing 1-0 — China went through the motions, having already clinched first place. A 2-1 win certainly helps in terms of momentum.

Let us remember: China beat Australia 4-3 in 2013 at the East Asian Cup, finishing second out of four teams. Can they do it again?

Maybe that’s irrelevant. More valuable than any win is the hope that Chinese soccer has finally given its fans — real hope that the program is headed the right direction. So sit back and enjoy tonight’s match, soccer fans, because this is your reward from the sporting gods: a Chinese football game that matters.

(Image via Reuters)

* UPDATE: Well this was weird: Google and my Australian friends assure me Brisbane is two hours ahead of Beijing, and the AFC website clearly says the game begins at 9:30 pm Brisbane time, but… the game actually began an hour earlier. Who can you trust these days?

Some clever Taobao vendors have decided to capitalize on Luis Suarez’s penchant for human flesh by creating what appears to be a bottle opener fashioned from a likeness of the Uruguayan striker’s jaw. And look – it can be had for only 17 RMB!

As Wall Street Journal’s China Realtime Report points out, the image is taken from a photoshopped picture that circulated following the Uruguay-Italy game that saw Suarez sink his gnashers into Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini.

“One mouth, one opener….one bite and it’s open,” read one advertisement.

The quality of these products is not to be trusted, but this is apparently a very real thing. Heres ECNS.cn:

A search for the item on Wednesday returned more than twenty results on Chinese’s largest online market Taobao, with prices ranging from 888 yuan to 9,999 yuan ($142 to $1604). Some had already been added to customer watch lists.

WSJ again:

Others were more serious about turning the meme into cash. One vendor with the screen name Lin Mumu0393 said he had received 108 orders and that he was still working with manufacturers to make the product. He said he would have limited supplies in two weeks.

Get em while you can!

We’re not sure whether Liu Yuxi is a certified reporter, but she’s been assigned to CCTV studio commentary for this year’s World Cup, and judging by her Sina Weibo account, she appears to be a huge homer for front-runners and generally popular teams such as Portugal, Brazil, and Argentina (Messi, specifically). But Ms. Liu saves her true passion for Italy, which we know because — donning the Azzurri blue — she broke down and sobbed on live television tonight following Italy’s 1-0 loss to Uruguay.

Italy is out of the World Cup while Luis Suarez’s team advances. Yeah, yeah, it hardly seems fair. Still, sports journalism has surely seen better moments:

Unlike English football fans, we take no particular joy in watching the suffering of others. We’re just shocked that Liu’s sports-watching heart hasn’t already been hardened to the cycle of hope and heartbreak that is sports in general and soccer in particular.

The worst part about the above segment, by the way, was her male colleague attributing her emotional outburst to being a “female.” I don’t have the exact quote at this moment, but he said something along the lines of, “That’s the female disposition for you.”

Hopefully we can update with video when it becomes available.

UPDATE, 12:43 pm: Video is below. That music, by the way, was not added by some cheeky uploader; CCTV cued it up mere minutes after the game ended. It featured lots of violins.

We should point out that the Chinese — and much of Asia, actually — have a long history of rooting for Italy, likely attributed to how well many Serie A club teams have marketed themselves in this market.

And eight years ago, we saw a similar incident of a Chinese journalist openly rooting for Italy in the World Cup. Here’s Jeremy Goldkorn writing in Danwei in 2006:

During last night’s live broadcast of the Italy – Australia football World Cup game, CCTV’s announcer Huang Jianxiang (黄健翔) got rather excited, and took sides with the Italians, saying things like “Don’t give the Australians any chances!” and after Italy won, “Long live Italy!”

There’s a video of that, too.

Today Chinese blogs are castigating Huang, accusing him of gravely insulting Australia and being a disgrace to Chinese football fans.

We wonder if fans will be more forgiving to Liu Yuxi because, you know, of the female disposition and all.

I’m not saying green Hulk doesn’t resemble Pele, but did no one at the Global Times consider Brazil has a current player who’s actually named Hulk and looks like this?

If you haven’t been watching the World Cup, you’re missing out on the most exciting tournament since — maybe ever? Here’s a handy viewing guide for you China folks.

(Global Times, h/t Tom Phillips)

China won’t be playing in Brazil – they have appeared at a World Cup just once and failed to score a goal – but millions will stay up late to watch the games, probably starting this Friday at 4 am when Croatia kicks off against the host nation in São Paulo. Here are 10 things in this year’s World Cup with a Chinese connection.

The Balls

As with many, many other things, the official World Cup match balls — the Brazuca — have been made in China. Or at least some of them. Adidas contracted its long-time partner and supplier, Guangdong-based Longway, to make the ball after engineers and developers from both companies developed the Brazuca (notable for its thermal bonding, we’re told). But there was one problem: Longway couldn’t cope with the unexpected demand, and Pakistan’s Forward Sports was drafted in to share some of the load. 

The Fans

Shankai Sports, FIFA’s official VIP package supplier for China, says it has sold about 1,500 packages for wealthy Chinese fans traveling to Brazil, more than twice the number it sold four years ago. In addition, there will be thousands of others making the trip from China on their own.

Tencent and… Mo Yan?

Yup, that’s right, the Chinese Nobel Prize Winner That China Recognizes. Tencent, which has previously hired soccer stars Lionel Messi and Neymar to promote its WeChat app, has sent 33 staffers from China to Brazil to cover the tournament, in addition to the people it already has on the ground. But writer Mo Yan will also be watching the final in some sort of Tencent capacity. No one is really sure if he’s even a soccer fan, but we’ll find out soon enough.

Xi Jinping

Talking of the final, Chinese President Xi Jinping has been invited by his Brazilian counterpart, Dilma Rousseff, to watch the final on July 13. The big man is known to be a big footy fan and just so happens to have a BRICS summit in Brazil on July 15. It would be great if he wore a Chinese national team shirt to the game, but don’t hold your breath.

Panda Power

Paul the Octopus had an 85% success rate predicting the outcome of games at Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup, but he’s dead now. Mani the Parakeet tried to assume the mantle but only got it right 71% of the time. Enter China’s Panda Predictors. Last time we checked, the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center was still deciding whether its baby pandas would be asked to choose foods with national flags or climb trees with national flags. Either way, it’s sure to make for gripping television.

Sick Notes

Speaking of TV, the time difference in Brazil means that the majority of games will kick off at midnight, 3 am and 6 am in China. It’s a brutal schedule suitable only for the most hardened insomniacs or work-shy students. As a result, online scammers are selling fake sick notes for specified future dates to coincide with probable World Cup hangovers. They’re selling for as much as 300 yuan (close to $50), which, judging by the abundance of quality forgers in China, seems to be a little steep.

The Sponsors

Budweiser, Castrol, Johnson & Johnson, McDonald’s… and Yingli. That’s right, the Chinese solar company is an official World Cup “Sponsor” (one level below “Partner” and one level above “National Supporter”). It was surprising when Yingli signed on for the 2010 World Cup, but even more eyebrows were raised when it re-upped for 2014. Estimated cost? Up to $30 million. By the way, when you see Harbin claim to be an official World Cup beer, it’s legit — its owner, Budweiser, is allowed to designate brands to represent it in certain territories.

Lottery Boost

Match-fixing is banned and (hopefully) now out of the Chinese game, while gambling is confined to Macau, but lottery companies are preparing for a World Cup windfall. Sports lottery sales doubled during the 2010 World Cup to 4 billion yuan ($640 million). and US-listed 500.com said online lottery sales in China are expected to jump by at least 70% this year, from 42 billion yuan ($6.7 billion) in 2013, due in part to the World Cup. One small problem: no official licenses have yet been issued.

Chinese Representation

Ireland played in the 1994 World Cup with a team at least half of whom were patently not Irish, so perhaps China has some defectors in the ranks of other teams, as they do in table tennis? Sadly not, but there are six players from the Chinese domestic leagues who will be in Brazil with their national team squads: three Koreans — Park Jong-woo (Guangzhou R&F), Ha Dae-sung (Beijing Guoan), Kim Young-gwon (Guangzhou Evergrande) — as well as Australian Ryan McGowan (Shandong Luneng), Honduran Osman Chavez (Qingdao Jonoon), and Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Zvjezdan Misimovic (Guizhou Renhe). We wish them well.

Online Boost

Finally, the World Cup mode of computer game FIFA Online 3 hasn’t quite stayed true to form in China. That’s because China publisher Tencent begged developer EA Sports not to make the Chinese players too crappy. Zheng Zhi, for example, was given an average of a five-percentage point boost across the board in various skill categories, while striker Gao Lin was another who got some help behind the scenes. The jokes write themselves.

Mark blogs at China Sports Insider. Follow him on Twitter @DreyerChina. His last piece for us was a preview of the Sochi Olympics.

SCHEDULE (all times China; the first letter represents the group)

Friday, June 13:

A: Brazil vs. Croatia, 4 am

June 14:

A: Mexico vs. Cameroon, midnight
B: Spain vs. Netherlands, 3 am
B: Chile vs. Australia, 6 am

June 15:

C: Colombia vs. Greece, midnight
D: Uruguay vs. Costa Rica, 3 am
D: England vs. Italy, 6 am
C: Ivory Coast vs. Japan, 9 am

June 16:

E: Switzerland vs. Ecuador, midnight
E: France vs. Honduras, 3 am
F: Argentina vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina, 6 am

June 17:

G: Germany vs. Portugal, midnight
F: Iran vs. Nigeria, 3 am
G: Ghana vs. United States, 6 am

June 18:

H: Belgium vs. Algeria, midnight
A: Brazil vs. Mexico, 3 am
H: Russia vs. South Korea, 6 am

June 19:

B: Australia vs. Netherlands, midnight
B: Spain vs. Chile, 3 am
A: Cameroon vs. Croatia, 6 am

June 20:

C: Colombia vs. Ivory Coast, midnight
D: Uruguay vs. England, 3 am
C: Japan vs. Greece, 6 am

June 21:

D: Italy vs. Costa Rica, midnight
E: Switzerland vs. France, 3 am
E: Honduras vs. Ecuador, 6 am

June 22:

F: Argentina vs. Iran, midnight
G: Germany vs. Ghana, 3 am
F: Nigeria vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina, 6 am

June 23:

H: Belgium vs. Russia, midnight
H: South Korea vs. Algeria, 3 am
G: USA vs. Portugal, 6 am

June 24:

B: Netherlands vs. Chile, midnight
B: Australia vs. Spain, midnight
A: Croatia vs. Mexico, 4 am
A: Cameroon vs. Brazil, 4 am

June 25:

D: Costa Rica vs. England, midnight
D: Italy vs. Uruguay, midnight
C: Japan vs. Colombia, 4 am
C: Greece vs. Ivory Coast, 4 am

June 26:

F: Bosnia-Herzegovina vs. Iran, midnight
F: Nigeria vs. Argentina, midnight
E: Ecuador vs. France, 4 am
E: Honduras vs. Switzerland, 4 am

June 27:

G: Portugal vs. Ghana, midnight
G: United States vs. Germany, midnight
H: South Korea vs. Belgium, 4 am
H: Algeria vs. Russia, 4 am

June 29:

A1 vs. B2, midnight
C1 vs. D2, 4 am

June 30:

B1 vs. A2, midnight
D1 vs. C2, 4 am

July 1:

E1 vs. F2, midnight
G1 vs. H2, 4 am

July 2:

F1 vs. E2, midnight
H1 vs. G2, 4 am

July 5:

Quarterfinal 1, midnight
Quarterfinal 2, 4 am

July 6:

Quarterfinal 3, midnight
Quarterfinal 4: 4 am

July 9:

Semifinal 1, 4 am

July 10:

Semifinal 2, 4 am

July 13:

Third-place game, 4 am

July 14:

Final, 3 am

The champs of Asia lost to the champs of South America on Saturday in the 3/4 game at the FIFA Club World Cup. It was fantastic from the get-go. Both Atletico Mineiro and Guangzhou Evergrande scored early (Atletico’s Diego Tardelli, 2′; Guangzhou’s Muriqui, 9′) before Guangzhou took the lead on a 15th minute penalty. But then, in first-half extra time, Atletico’s Ronaldinho — the Ronaldinho, known as “Small Lo” in China (not to be confused with “Big Lo,” i.e. [now-fat] Ronaldo, or “C Lo,” who is Cristiano Ronaldo) — did this:

That’s spectacular and ridiculous.

But then the dude would be sent off in the second half with a red card for kicking a Guangzhou player straight in the knee. I mean, come on:

Just as the game appeared headed for extra time, Atletico’s Luan broke into the Guangzhou backfield and had an open run at the goalkeeper. He slid through a professional shot for the final dagger.

Some say Luan was offsides, but it was probably too close to call:

Extended highlights below.

European champs Bayern Munich made easy work of Guangzhou Evergrande yesterday in the semifinals of the FIFA Club World Cup, played in Morocco. Three goals within a seven-minute window (Franck Ribéry 40′, Mario Mandzukic 44′, Mario Götze 47) provided the final 3-0 margin.

Guangzhou coach Marcello Lippi previously gave his side a 1 percent chance of beating the German superpower. There’s no shame in losing to Bayern, of course. Evergrande — champions of Asia — will rule the roost as soon as it returns to China.

Bayern will play Saturday against either South American champs Atletico Mineiro or Moroccan champs Raja Casablanca. Let’s see if either of those teams manages to lose by fewer than three.

China are champions! Okay, no, it’s Guangzhou Evergrande, but judging by some headlines, you’d think this country’s united in its support of the new AFC Champions League winners. As if a Real Madrid fan would ever care about Barca in the UEFA Champions League. As if this country’s soccer fans weren’t, in actuality, cynical and parochial, likely more so than Philadelphia Eagles supporters.

Guangzhou Evergrande played FC Seoul to a 1-1 draw on Saturday in Guangzhou and won on away goals, having played to a 2-2 draw in the first leg. The result — though expected — prompted Wall Street Journal to pull out the exclamation mark for a headline: “A Chinese Soccer Club Has Won Something!”

“This can be called Chinese soccer?” asks @钟樂咸 in the comment section of the below Youku video.

Of course, it’s easier to ignore the above sentiment in favor of a more familiar narrative: a Chinese team won something! All of China is naturally celebrating because PATRIOTISM and COLLECTIVISM.

“Why do I get the sense it’s all laowai?” asks @1思维178.

“So many foreign players,” notes @皮卡充电中.

Some fans were happy for the country, resorting to the sort of cliches that will always make it to English-language print somewhere. One fan, Chen Jing, told USA Today in post-match delirium, “We have waited so long, and often felt hopeless, but now Evergrande have won glory for Chinese football.”

The editor titled the ensuing article, “China elated as Guangzhou Evergrande wins big,” as if, again, a Beijing Guo’an fan is jumping with glee despite the sinking suspicion — settling into fanbases across the country — that its team will never win the Chinese Super League as long as Evergrande remains the poster child of the Chinese Football Association (and continues paying all those foreigners!). Will a ref ever not give a favorable call to these guys for the next 18 months?

But here’s how we know Chen is just spewing nonsensical fan-speak:

“The victory will give more confidence to our national team and show Chinese parents that (soccer) is also a good route for their children,” he said. In ten years, China can produce a player like Lionel Messi, widely considered the world’s best, and will reach the World Cup Finals again, Chen confidently predicted.

Chinese Messi.

SCMP’s story, whose headline begins “China rejoices,” cites the Sina Weibo account of a provincial government plus Xinhua, as if Xinhua were representative of “China” and not a mere mouthpiece.

“After 24 years, the Asia cup has returned to China. Evergrande, this battle will live on in memories forever!” the local government of the poor northeastern province of Jilin wrote on its microblog.

The Chinese Football Association wasted little time in expressing its congratulations on the achievement many hope will spark a resurgence in the game there after years of corruption had blighted its growth.

“This is the highest honour for Chinese football,” it said in a congratulatory message carried by the state-run Xinhua news agency. “We sincerely hope you keep working hard, but guard against pride and impatience.”

Such pride marred by paternalism. Good work, Guangzhou, now remember to be good CONFUCIANS. Evergrande should reply with a message on Sina Weibo that reads in full, “Go fuck yourself.”

In any case, sorry for burying the lede. Congratulations to Guangzhou Evergrande, the first Chinese team to win in the AFC Champions League in the tournament’s 23-year history. Congratulations to manager Marcello Lippi, the first to win both European and Asian Champions League crowns. On behalf of myself and other Guo’an fans, and fans of other Chinese clubs, from a purely sports-fan perspective: we sincerely hope they never win again.

“Only can represent the club, can’t represent the country, thanks,” says @黑宫木耳.

“Does domestic soccer really have this capability?” replies @卧槽你丫真丑.

Liaoning played Xinjiang in the semifinals of a U-20 tournament at the National Games of China on Sunday, and the two sides managed to score one goal each in a mostly (we’re guessing) sloppy, mistake-ridden, difficult-to-watch contest. There was one redeeming moment for us to treasure though. Let’s go to the tape.

In the 62nd minute, a Xinjiang defender, in green, tries to clear a ball from the box. He pops the ball straight up. His teammate, thinking he can do better, attempts a bicycle-kick clearance, only to whiff completely. The ball, full of spin, bounces straight at the goalkeeper, who tries to control it with his feet but watches it roll straight past him into the goal.

If you’re Liaoning, you don’t celebrate this, do you? The proper reaction is to run, head down, back to your side, grateful, laughing only on the inside.

Xinjiang, perhaps fueled by shame, quickly countered, and found the back of the net — clarification: its opponent’s net — one minute later. The 1-1 score would hold until penalty kicks, where Liaoning would prevail 6-5.

These National Games have not been boring so far.

CORRECTION, 9/10, 1:37 pm: This article originally stated that only one goal was scored, which isn’t true; a correction has been appended with help from this game recap.

Liaoning Whowin played host to Shangai Shenhua on August 1 (yes, eight days ago; sorry, this is late), which wouldn’t be worth mentioning if not for a terrible, terrible tackle that might be called straight-up assault if it didn’t happen on a soccer pitch. (And if people in real life, hilariously, also could not use their hands.) You can watch it above, or look at the screenshots below to get an idea of how bad it was.

That’s Liaoning’s Zhang Jingyang with a jump-slide tackle on Shanghai’s Dai Lin, who didn’t even have the ball. Nice play, son. You do soccer good.

Zhang then throws up his hands in faux disbelief, as if he didn’t actually jump with both spikes up and cleat the ankle of a player who didn’t have the ball. Yes, angels in the fucking outfield carried you through the air. Shanghaiist asks, “Is this the worst tackle in the Chinese Super League?” and the answer is: let’s see something worse.

Players who should be in the local chengguan brigade, and probably will be when they stop playing: Problem No. 1 with the Chinese Super League.

And here’s Problem No. 2: outrageously shitty referees. Wild East Football, explain:

Shenhua shored up their defence and played possession football in an attempt to run down the clock. But it backfired when a long ball into their box was punched out by Wang Dalei. The clearance fell to Edu, who took a little time to bring the ball under control. Wang rushed out to block, but Edu turned him. As the Brazilian was preparing to shoot, Wang dived at his feet to snatch the ball. However the referee awarded a penalty, judging Wang to have unfairly impeded Edu. The replay is not conclusive but the award appears to be soft. The Shenhua players and bench were absolutely incensed, not for the first time this season dubious penalty calls had fallen on the Shanghai team. However it was of course all to no avail, Wang was booked, then Edu smashed the ball home for a late equalizer.

You only get one look at it here, starting at the 51-second mark, but would you have called this?

Shanghai’s been victimized before by the refs. Here’s a video on YouTube called “Shanghai Shenhua player sent off for dragging ‘injured’ opponent from field.”

If you need more proof of the referees’ incompetence, check this out from a game between Guangzhou Evergrande and Hangzhou:

TWO referees miss a goal in a PENALTY SHOOTOUT between Hangzhou & Evergrande unbelievable http://t.co/c7v03J5XyU

— Cameron Wilson (@CameronWEF) August 9, 2013

Youku vids of the above:

You could be forgiven for thinking that, entering its third and final match in the East Asian Cup on Sunday in Jamsil Olympic Stadium in Seoul, China had already exceeded expectations. Its toughest tests came in the first two games of this four-team tournament, and it passed – “won,” one might say, in the way that soccer teams can win draws. It mustered a furious late rally to erase a 3-1 deficit against Japan last Sunday, then summoned an intense defensive effort to keep a fesity South Korean squad out of the net on Wednesday — this from a team that gave its weary fans no reason to expect these results, having convincingly lost its three previous contests.

But Sunday’s game was more than merely cosmetic. China actually had a chance to win the championship.

Duly invigorated, the Chinese played their best football of the year for the first 87 minutes, and led by a resounding 4-1 score thanks to goals from four players all aged 26 or younger. Two Socceroo goals in the next five minutes took a bit of luster off China’s win, but the result was nonetheless a vital step for a team still trying to recover its pride after bombing out of World Cup qualifying, losing 5-1 to Thailand, and firing its coach.

The scoring began in the 4th minute, with Yu Dabao drilling a shot inside the right goalpost. After Australia tied it in the 29th minute — off a screamer of a 30-meter strike by Aaron Mooy, a dazzling golazo that you should watch in the video embedded below — all was quiet until 11 minutes after halftime, when China struck again. Yu fired a shot off Australian goalkeeper Mark Birighitti – who was excellent all game, and probably saved at least one more goal — who deflected the ball straight to Sun Ke. The 23-year-old, who only made his national-team debut in March, tapped in the rebound to give China the 2-1 advantage. (This was Sun’s second score of the tourney — his first was the dramatic final goal in the 3-3 tie against Japan.)

China’s best moment, however, came in the 87th minute, when it pulled off a bit of footballing artistry that one rarely sees from this side. Yang Hao, on the right wing, perfectly redirected a lob pass with his back-heel onto the foot of a streaking Yang Xu, who carried the ball 20 yards into the box before slotting it between Birighitti’s legs.

A mere minute later, Wu Lei controlled a pass just past midfield and split two defenders in a blaze of speed, nimbly turboed away from a would-be tackler, and struck the ball over the keeper’s left shoulder to give China its fourth. It was a world-class display from the 21-year-old — and the first international goal of his career. BTV’s color commentator was positively giddy, for good reason. “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen the national team perform like this!” He continued with a bit of useful advice for fans of Chinese soccer: “Remember these young names: Yang Sun, Wu Lei, Sun Ke, Ya Dabao.”

Japan, which used a 91st-minute goal to edge South Korea 2-1 in the nightcap, won the tournament. (If South Korea had held on for the draw, we would have tallied up Japan and China’s yellow and red cards received to determine the champ.) But in many ways, China won, too. The East Asian Cup was a chance for a clean start, a low-expectation tournament in which younger players could prove they deserved larger roles on the national team. They may have done themselves one better: convinced fans back home, just possibly, that the national soccer program has a future.

Here’s to hoping the people in charge don’t mess it up.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:

Aaron Mooy’s incredible strike:

China counters with a bit of brilliance:

All goals:

Youku versions of above:

Belgian international Jan Vertonghen, a key piece in Tottenham’s defense, suffered an ankle injury in the second half of a friendly at Hong Kong Stadium yesterday. He slipped on the watery turf and now may miss the start of the English Premier League campaign on August 18, depending on MRI results.

His manager, understandably, was not happy. “I was concerned but what can you do?” André Villas-Boas said about the conditions. The game was delayed 30 minutes and each half reduced to 40 minutes due to the weather.

“It isn’t great,” he continued. “The pitch is what it is. You can’t change the conditions. They are extremely poor.”

He also said:

“The choice of the venue is this one and the weather is unpredictable. The pitch is what it is and has always been like this in this trophy. It isn’t great but nobody is going to change it for next time.

“Obviously the conditions are extremely poor and the players are vulnerable to this type of situation.”

Translation: we are never coming here again.

It’s unclear how upset he was about the game itself, a 3-1 defeat to Sunderland. It was an exhibition dressed up with a fancy name, as so many of these things are — the Barclays Asia Trophy — attended by 35,900 fans. Gareth Bale was not on the pitch.

Of course, injuries happen all the time in sports, so we can’t blame Hong Kong or the stadium or the weather. AVB shouldn’t have brought on his best defender as a second-half sub if he really wanted to keep his best players 100 percent healthy going into its season-opener.

But make no mistake, this injury sucks. Every game and every player and every point counts, as the Spurs know better than anyone — they finished one point behind Arsenal last season, the difference between Champions League and Europa, millions of pounds and all the commensurate glory.