China stunned South Korea 3-0 in the East Asian Men's Soccer Championship here on Wednesday, ending an embarrassing 32-year-long head-to-head winless record in international matches.
China started aggressively into the game. In the fifth minute, Qu Bo crossed the ball from the right. Midfielder Yu Hai jumped for a header to open the scoring.
Twenty minutes later, Gao Lin moved quickly in front of the goal to flicked the ball into the net, widening the lead of the Chinese team.
Deng Zhuoxiang consolidated China's victory with a perfect teamplay counter-attack with Qu Bo. Deng dribbled the ball to reach the area, and launched a powerful left-foot slammer, which duly rewrote the score.
China's Rong Hao(R) vies with a player of South Korea during their Men's East Asian Championship soccer match in Tokyo February 10, 2010. China defeated South Korea 3-0.
The win gave the Chinese team a lot of joy at a time when China's football was marred by a series of scandals and the team's ranking kept sliding internationally. However, coach Gao Hongbo remain cool-headed after the unexpected victory.
"I was happy for about 10 minutes," he told a post-match press conference. "But now I feel the pressure was greater than before."
"China is still lagging behind Japan and South Korea in football development. All the colleagues working in this field need to work harder to further improve our football level." he said.
Coming into the game, China equalized with Japan in a goalless match, while South Korea defeated Hong Kong 5-0.
In the last round, China will meet Hong Kong and South Korea will take on host Japan on Sunday.
Separately, the Chinese women's football team also beat South Korea 2-1 in a match played earlier on Wednesday.
China's Zhao Xuri(L) vies with a player of South Korea during their Men's East Asian Championship soccer match in Tokyo February 10, 2010. China defeated South Korea 3-0.