Honours even after China vs Korea quadruple

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It was, so the Chinese media were saying, the Asian equivalent of the recent Italy vs England Champions League last 16 series. 

In the space of roughly 24 hours, four Chinese teams did battle with four South Korean sides in the group stages of the Asian Champions League.

It's not only China and Korea who have an entire quartet of representatives in the expanded continental competition along with Japan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and UAE. It is not democratic or balanced, but it doesn't pretend to be. It is all about raising standards.

As far as China is concerned, Korea sets the standards in Asian football, so much so that there is even a syndrome among Chinese footballers which is roughly translated as 'Koreaphobia' - and the Koreans absolutely love it.

"Koreaphobia lives on" read the headlines in Seoul, while the Chinese had to lick their wounds and bide their time again.


South Korea topple China again 

One Korean who wants a stop to this is Beijing Guoan head coach Lee Jang-soo. Lee is Korean and ahead of his team's encounter in the Korean industrial city of Ulsan, he told his players that there was nothing to be scared of.

"I have been in China for a long time," he said. "I know something about Chinese and Korean football. Because of their poor history, Chinese players might think too much of the opposition when they met a Korean team but is there so much distance between them and us?

"As long as we realise that Korean players don't have three legs and have two like us, we will be OK."

"I can say nothing about this match," he said. "I saw just defending again and again. Both the coach and his players did something wrong. We have invested a lot of money." Luo ensured a frosty flight home by demanding a meeting with the coach back in the Chinese capital.

Luo would not have been too comforted to learn that bitter rivals Shanghai Shenhua pulled China back on level terms. The game with Suwon Bluewings was eagerly awaited as Li Weifeng, the former Shanghai star and Chinese captain, returned to his homeland with the Korean team.

"Li Weifeng is Chinese, and Shanghai is his former club. So we can say he headed an own goal tonight. Haha" joked Shanghai owner Zhu Jun.

"It is a very important match and I told them we must win tonight. They did it and we now have confidence to pass the group stage."


Shanghai Shenhua celebrate

So 2-2 at half-time between the Chinese Super League and the K-League. C-League teams had fought hard to win at home but had been disappointing away. "Why do Chinese teams never try to win when they play in Korea?" an unhappy Titan Sports Reporter asked me.

Much to my surprise, my casual and brief chat with him 24 hours earlier had appeared on a half-page spread of one of China's biggest-selling newspapers the next morning in the form of a lengthy interview.

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