China National Football Team

Now, being Chinese, I urged myself to watch today's match, China v Brazil. I was absolutely distraught, althought it was not entirely surprising that Brazil won. The Chinese held up pretty well against the mighty Brazilians - defending quite well, and having a few good chances to score, but in the end, they did not have the strength of the group favourites. China were shattered and battered by the 4 R's - first Roberto Carlos put away a great free kick (despite Jin Jiang's best efforts). Then came Rivaldo, Ronaldo, and of course, Ronaldinho's penalty. However, the Chinese were not without character. With only 1 striker, it was ...  Read the complete review

China has a population of 1.3 billion (the world's largest) yet this is the first time they have reached the World Cup Finals so, although they are highly unlikely to win the competition (but never say never), I thought I'd give you a run-down on their team and chances of at least getting through the group stage. Whilst this may be the first time China have reached the World Cup Finals, their task was hardly an arduous one compared with, say, England's. The Asian qualification consisted of two group stages. In the first China topped a group also containing Cambodia and the Maldives before then beating the might of the UAE, Oman, Qatar and Uzbekistan ...  Read the complete review

For the largest nation in the world in terms of population some people may be surprised that this is China’s first ever World Cup Finals appearance. In their defence they have only been trying since 1982 for political reasons, but at least they will not have too far to travel to Japan and Korea. China have at last made the World Cup finals at the sixth time of asking, pushing past the might that is the Maldives 10-1 on aggregate and finally coming out on top above Oman, UAE, Qatar and Uzbekistan. Not too hard, it is a wonder they have not done this before. After some very near misses this time at last they have made it to the end. Football like in most ...  Read the complete review