Game finished 4-1 to Portugal. Referee made a lot of mistakes in his decisions for both sides. Next match for China is against Mexico on Thursday.
I hope Fu Bo tells the team to play with a more attacking mentality in the last game. Even when 4-1 down more than half of the passes were back to the centre backs. The only player that broke the mold were Xu Xin who tried a more direct approach, and had Yang Chaosheng had a better day he would've caught on a couple of those passes Xu Xin made. Despite the result it was a decent game from China, and i'm quite satisfied how they've played in this tournament
The players seem content with passing it back towards the defenders or slowing it down when they have a chance to go on the counter. Hopefully, the team will take a more attacking approach against Mexico. On a side note, Xu Xin and Xie Pengfei have really impressed so far during this tournament.
Exactly, and it's quite frustrating to watch when they have a good opportunity to counter and instead they pass it back home. I think Wang Tong along with those two you mentioned has had a good showing. Wang Tong has been faultless at the back, too bad the same can't be said about his partners.
Starting XI against Mexico: Yeerjieti Yeerzhati, Mi Haolun, Yang Ting, Wang Rui, Wang Tong, Xu Xin, Yang Chaosheng, Cui Mingan, Liao Junjian, Xie Pengfei, Guo Yi
According to the commentator on BT Sport, Wang Tong has caught the eye of a number of scouts from European clubs.
HT: China 0-0 Mexico Mexico has dominated possession and China has mostly been sitting back in their own half, but there have been really no clear cut chances for either sides. China is lacking that attacking edge in this game as the passing in the final third has nowhere been as good as it is supposed to be.
Daniel Hernandez scores for Mexico to make it 1-0. Liao Junjian with a third mistake in three games to help concede three goals. I don't understand why Liu Yiming hasn't played in Liao's place considering he's easily been China's worse player throughout the tournament.
Jose Van Rankin smashes a shot from outside the box off the crossbar. Almost a second goal for Mexico.
China's last substitution as Luo Senwen comes on in the 65th minute. He almost scores right after coming on as his shot from a quick counter was deflected.
I don't understand this defensive mentality. It's the last game of the tournament. Both teams have nothing to play for. Why not take risks and try to score? This is one of the reasons i never liked Fu Bo
Throughout the game, China has had some chances to take shots, but instead they go for overhit crosses which is really frustrating to see.
FT: China 0-1 Mexico China finishes fourth place out of fifth in Group A with 2 points from two draws and two losses. The best players for China were Xie Pengfei, Xu Xin, and Wang Tong. Fang Jingqi and Yang Chaosheng had decent games. Yeerjieti Yeerzhati played pretty well in his one game against Mexico. By far the worst player was Liao Junjian who looked completely out of his depth.
That's probably the best word to describe this team: Frustrating I do believe there are talent in this team and they've shown that throughout this tournament, but their decision making is sometimes downright terrible. Add that to the fact Fu Bo's tactics making it even more annoying. 4-5-1 with the whole midfield defensive minded, leaving Yang Chaosheng totally isolated. Wingers acting more like wingbacks, hardly any runs were from the midfield.
Looking forward to the 2014 AFC U-19 Championship as many promising Chinese players will probably there. (Ex: Wei Shihao, Xiang Baixu, Zhang Xiuwei, etc.)