By: Ben Maxwell
The fourth edition of the East Asian Football Championships concluded at Tokyo's National Stadium on Sunday, and yet again there was frustration for the hosts as they crashed to a 3-1 defeat to arch-rivals South Korea.
The big story of the four-team, nine-day round-robin tournament, however, was the performance of China, who, despite the disappointment of again failing to qualify for the World Cup, continued their pattern of alternating the title with the South Koreans, going undefeated in claiming their second EAFC title.
Ranked a measly 87th in the world by FIFA entering the roughly-bi-annual tournament (there was in-fact a three-year break between the '05 and '08 editions), and considered rank outsiders up against regional powerhouses and World Cup qualifiers Japan and South Korea, China sufficiently blunted the 40th-ranked Japanese in the tournament opener, holding the hosts to a frustrating scoreless draw, before shocking the world (well, perhaps thats a bit over the top) by blasting the South Koreans (ranked 49th) 3-0 for their first ever senior men's victory over the R.O.K.
The Chinese had far less possession, and were outshot 22-7, but their relentless pressure on the ball and quality finishing meant they were good value for what was a historic victory.
That result left the Chinese knowing that a win in the opener of the tournament's final day double-header over minnows Hong Kong (officially known as Hong Kong - China) would almost certainly assure them of the championship, barring a Japanese scoring outburst against South Korea in the later game, and China duly took care of business, cruising past their island "cousins" 2-0 thanks to a brace by Qu Bo, the tournament's joint-leading scorer.
Japan then proceeded to fluff their lines, as they have always done since the EAFC's inception, scoring the game's opening goal but then falling behind by halftime, before being finished off by Kim Jae Sung's clinical strike 20 minutes from time.
Japan and South Korea can point to the absence of their European-based players as an excuse, but in Japan in-particular pre-World Cup desperation is growing, as their wholly unconvincing performances in the EAFC followed a bland 0-0 draw with Venezuela in a pre-tournament friendly.
For China, World Cup qualification remains a riddle to be solved, but they fully deserved their title here and stand proudly for now as the Kings of (East) Asia.
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