Chinese media disappointed with football team after U23 Asian Cup elimination

China (red jersey) play South Korea in the U23 Asian Cup on April 19, 2024. Photo by AFC

China went to the 2024 U23 Asian Cup in Qatar with high expectations of surviving the group stage after exiting the tournament early many times. However, it happened again as they lost to Japan and South Korea in the first two games.

The team still have the final match against the UAE on Tuesday, but the game has little meaning as they are already eliminated.

Chinese news site 163 did not hide the disappointment and called China’s poor result at the tournament "really funny."

The site also expressed concern for the future of Chinese football.

"Looking at the results of U23 China, it’s unfortunate to admit that Chinese football is far from going in the right direction," it said.

At the start of this year, China national football team was eliminated from the Asian Cup without scoring a single goal and somehow the U23 team's performance was even worse.

"The most worrying thing is that in the next few years, these players will become the core of the national team," the website added.

Newspaper Sina said that it was a disappointing result but within expectations.

"In the past six months, the U23 team's performance has not met the standard. They lost too many friendly games, especially the defeat to U23 Malaysia.

This was the first time China lost to Malaysia. At that time, there were concerns that the team would miss the 2024 Paris Olympics, and now that has become a reality," Sina wrote.

Sharing the same point of view is newspaper Sohu, who strongly criticized coach Cheng Yaodong's move to put the 2m tall goalkeeper Jin Yong on as a striker.

"China have lost 13 matches and been eliminated from the group stage of the U23 Asian Cup for the fifth consecutive time. This embarrassing result is no longer the problem of just a few players or coaches," Sohu wrote.