Asian Football Confederation wants revenge on China: media

In the 81st minute of the game at Adullah bin Khalifa, Doha, Qatar on Saturday, midfielder Xie Pengfei took a corner kick for defender Zhu Chenjie to score from a header. Saudi Arabian referee Mohammed Al Hoish initially gave the goal to China.

Chinese players (L) react as referee Mohammed Khled Al Hoish is about to rule out a header from Zhu Chenjie in their Asian Cup game with Tajikistan on Jan. 13, 2024. Photo by VnExpress/Lam Thoa

However, VAR intervened because it believed that defender Jiang Guangtai was in an offside position and pushed a Tajikistan player on the goal line. The slow-motion replay showed that Guangtai’s impact on the opponent was not enough to be a foul, and he also did not participate in the goal.

However, referee Al Hoish, after watching the play in slow motion several times, decided to cancel the goal, calling it offside.

Chinese media quickly spoke out against the referee’s decision. Football expert Ma Dexing, deputy editor-in-chief of Titan Sports magazine, predicted that the Chinese national team coached by Aleksandar Jankovic would suffer because of referees at the Asian Cup this year.

“As I said before the tournament, the referees will cause difficulties for China,” he said. “The referee’s decision was forced because Guangtai was not involved or interfered with the play. Clearly, the referee had a problem with China.”

 

 

Asian Football Confederation wants revenge on China: media

Bàn thắng không được công nhận của Trung Quốc

China was initially chosen to host the Asian Cup, but they refused because of Covid-19 and other issues. AFC was forced to find another host, and Qatar was chosen thanks to their facilities that had just been used for the 2022 World Cup.

“Chenjie’s goal was rejected, because China has no one at the AFC,” Dexing wrote. “From the moment China gave up the right to host the tournament, we can see that AFC wants to take revenge on the team.”

Titan Sports, founded in 1988, is China’s most circulated sports newspaper.

On another popular online newspaper, Sohu, there are also many articles criticizing the referee, with titles such as “VAR steals three points from China” or “Referee makes Asian football look bad.”

The match ended goalless, but the result was not too bad for China. They and Tajikistan are second in group A, behind host Qatar. If they win against the bottom team Lebanon in the second match, China will still have a good chance to advance.

This is not the first time Chinese public opinion has spoken out against the AFC. After China fell into an extremely difficult group at the 2024 U23 Asian Cup with Japan and South Korea, many fans also expressed suspicion that the AFC arranged the draw results.